Daydream (Maple Hills, #3)(14)

“I was invited to a party.” I don’t know why it sounds like I’m lying when I’m not, but there’s a hint of I can’t quite believe it in my voice. It’s enough to stop Gigi’s incessant chair spinning and for her to dramatically plant her hands on her desk, and drop her jaw in shock. “And I think I’m going to go.”

“Since when do you go to parties without Will?” She picks up her laptop and carries it with her as she drops onto her bed, tilting it onto its side as she lies against her pillows. “Who are you going with? Where are you going? Is it a book club thing?”

“Cami—the girl I work with—invited me. It isn’t a book club thing; I think it’s the basketball team or something. I can’t remember.” Can’t remember being code for the fact Cami said the name of the guy who’s throwing the party and I have no idea who it is, so I’m guessing from the basketball emoji she sent. “So, yeah. More interesting than high school English homework.”

Her surprise isn’t even that insulting because it’s very un-me. “What are you going to wear?”

This is the thing I love about Gigi—she doesn’t dwell on things. Once she’s processed it, she rushes on to the next thing. The next thing being telling me I can’t wear what I wanted to wear because it makes me look like an elementary school teacher.

“Maybe I want to look like an elementary school teacher.” I do not.

“And maybe you watched Matilda too much in your formative years. Can you borrow something from your friend?”

“I don’t really know if she’s my friend, so I don’t know if it’s okay to ask to share her stuff. Plus, she’s really slim, so realistically no.”

One of Gigi’s eyebrows creeps up to allude to her confusion. “What do you mean you don’t know if she’s your friend? She invited you to a party.”

How am I supposed to explain to a fifteen-year-old—who once called our mailman her friend because she sees him every day and, to her, that’s friendship—that making friends is not easy for every person? Especially as an adult when it’s difficult as hell? That there are new categories that spring up with no instructions? That it’s a directionless minefield that I’ve been failing to navigate since birth?

Cami is great, but is she a work colleague? Is she a work friend? Is she a friend that I also work with?

I could obsess over this for hours. I have obsessed over this for hours before. “Why couldn’t you have just let me live in ignorance?” I ask, not entirely talking about my outfit given how my friendship status is the main thing on my mind.

“What kind of sister would I be if I let you go to a party looking like Miss Honey’s socially inept twin?” she says playfully.

“A good one, because I don’t think I have an alternative. And hey! I’m not socially inept. I’m just out of practice.”

Out of practice feels like an understatement. I used to go to parties with Will at his college, and he’d encourage me to get ready with the girlfriends of his teammates. I’d go, I’d try, and no matter how hard I did try, I’d never had a good time. I just didn’t fit into his college life as his girlfriend the way I’d fit into his high school life as his friend. I don’t know exactly what I did wrong, but Will eventually stopped encouraging me to get ready with them. Or they stopped inviting me, I don’t know.

Sighing, Gigi rolls onto her back and balances her laptop against her knees, giving me the perfect view of the top of her head and a poster for a K-pop band I’ve never heard of on the wall above her bed. “Okay, well, I’m going to go, because watching you spiral is bumming me out and I have math homework to do.”

“Drop a bomb and leave why don’t you.”

“You’ll be fine. Love you. Bye, Hallebear. Make good choices.”

The top of Gigi’s head disappears as she ends the video call and I sit for five minutes working out the best thing to do. I finally admit defeat and pull out my phone to text Cami.


CAMI WALKER

Hey. Thanks for the invite but I don’t have anything to wear

My sister says I look like Miss Honey

miss honey was my ex’s bisexual awakening and i only have enough energy to think about one person who doesn’t want me anymore currently

ava (one of my roommates) said she has stuff you can wear

Oh, thanks! What size?

i’d say she’s a couple of sizes bigger than you, but she literally has every size bc she’s a fashion student/long-term clothes hoarder

Are you sure she doesn’t mind?

i don’t know her SUPER well yet bc i’ve only lived with her since last month, but she’s so chill and she said she’s excited to dress you up

so anyway let me know when you’re outside bc our building can be a pain to get into

Location Shared

also don’t be alarmed but i dyed my hair red and it’s the patchiest thing you’ve ever seen in your life

i’ve been dyeing it blond since i was 14 but i have a salon appointment to fix it in the morning.

feel free to come and keep me company



My trust issues have me sprinting to see which Avas Cami follows because I’ve been stung by the “oh, you’re basically the same size” so many times in my life, and it’s always by someone significantly smaller than I am. Thankfully, the first picture on her page is with a girl called Ava Jones, and one minute of scrolling through her page soothes all my worries.