You Don't Know..What you Don't Know

Chapter Seven: Summer

Torri and I didn't get another moment alone until Friday night.

The last few days of my trip seemed to disappear faster than the first week ever had. Anna spent an entire afternoon going through her closet and somehow managed to send me home with half of it. Some of the clothes still had tags on them. Every time I protested, she rolled her eyes and shoved another shirt into my arms.

Our relationship had changed over the summer. Somewhere between the makeovers, basketball games, and late-night conversations, she'd stopped feeling like a cousin I barely knew and started feeling like a sister. The thought of leaving made my chest ache.

As if Anna wasn't enough, Aunt Mary decided I needed a proper send-off too.

"Boys, I have boys," she announced while dragging me through another department store. "Let me spoil a girl for once."

I insisted I didn't need anything.

She ignored me completely.

By the time we were finished, I had two new pairs of sandals, an Urban Decay Heat palette, jewelry, and enough shopping bags to last me until Christmas.

We shopped until our feet hurt and our hands were full.

For my last night in Baltimore, Aunt Mary decided we were all going to the drive-in movie theater.

I didn't even know drive-in theaters still existed.

Everything about the place felt like stepping back in time. Cars filled the giant lot. Families unfolded lawn chairs. Some people hung speakers from their windows while others listened through an app on their phones. Kids ran between vehicles while parents carried blankets and coolers.

It felt like summer wrapped up into one perfect evening.

Almost perfect.

Because all day I'd been thinking about Torri.

Not in the dramatic movie way I'd admit out loud. Just enough that every time I spotted him across a room, my stomach did something strange.

As everyone got ready to leave, I caught myself daydreaming.

A real date.

Not sneaking conversations.

Not stolen moments.

Just sitting together, laughing through a movie while everyone left us alone for once.

"Tia."

I blinked.

"Earth to Tia."

One of the boys was staring at me.

"You good with that?"

I had absolutely no idea what they'd been talking about.

I shrugged.

The boys groaned.

"That's not an answer."

"It is today," I informed them.

Apparently they'd been arguing about which movie to watch.

An action movie won.

Shocking.

The movie wasn't really my priority anyway.

Anna loaned me a pair of trendy jean shorts and a cute top. I piled my hair into a messy knot and stared at myself in the mirror.

Not bad.

Definitely not the same girl who'd arrived two weeks ago.

When I walked into the living room, the reactions were immediate.