Alex was in mid-sip of her drink when Charlie Weidner walked into Sal’s. She nearly spewed soda all over the table.
“Are you okay?” asked Emily, slapping Alex on the back several times.
Alex managed to stop coughing enough to gasp that she was fine, that she’d just swallowed a sip the wrong way.
Charlie hadn’t seen her yet. He stood near the door, scanning the crowd. A few kids looked up at him curiously. Despite her shock, it struck Alex that it really was obvious when someone showed up who wasn’t from Ashland. She couldn’t put her finger on why—Charlie wasn’t dressed in different clothes or anything. He was still the same freckled, red-haired kid she remembered, although he seemed to have grown at least two inches since she’d last seen him. But somehow he looked like he wasn’t from around here.
She glanced over at where Ava was sitting with Jack. Ava had definitely seen Charlie walk in, because she’d picked up the huge menu no one ever looked at—everyone always ordered the specialty, pizza margherita—and had it propped up in front of her. She was clearly hiding behind it. Alex saw her sister’s eyes peek out over the top of the menu, and she could tell that Ava was completely freaked out.
“Do you know that kid?” asked Lindsey, looking curiously at Charlie.
“Yes,” said Alex. “That’s . . . Charlie.”
Corey looked up sharply from where he was sitting, farther down the table. Everyone was now staring from Alex to Charlie and back again.
“I thought you said you’d broken up!” hissed Emily under her breath.
“We did,” Alex responded weakly.
“So he came all the way from Boston to beg you to come back to him?” asked Emily. “Wow. That is so totally romantic.”
Alex stood up. “Be right back,” she said to her friends, and she hurried over to where Charlie was standing.
“Charlie? Oh my gosh! I can’t believe it!” she gushed, giving him a huge bear hug.
“Hey, Alex,” said Charlie. He half hugged her in return, patting her awkwardly on the back.
“What are you doing here?”
“Surprise, ha-ha. How’s it going? What happened to your chin?”
“Oh, I fell. You know me, I’m a total klutz! But—” Her eyes flicked to Ava’s booth. She was still hiding behind the menu. “But what—how—how did you—”
“I’m here with the whole family,” said Charlie. “We have a week off at school and we’re heading to Mexico. But our connecting flight doesn’t leave until midnight tonight, so my mom and your mom are having dinner. And Isabel and I told her not to tell so we could surprise you guys. Izzie’s got a temperature, so she’s with my dad, but she told me to be sure to say hi to you. She’s really upset she doesn’t get to see you.”
“Wow, that’s awesome! Except the part about Izzie being sick, that’s not awesome,” said Alex, blinking rapidly, trying to think. She needed to look happy to see him, for his sake, but not too happy, because she was aware that an entire table full of her friends was watching how she interacted with this pretend ex-boyfriend, the guy she’d told everyone in the whole school she’d recently broken up with. And then what do I do about Ava?
“So where’s Ave?” asked Charlie, looking around.
“Ave?”
“Ava.”
“Ava?”
“Yeah. Your twin sister?”
“Oh! Ava! Why she’s, uh, well, let’s see. Where is she?” Alex was madly stalling for time. She prayed that Ava would have the sense to crawl between the tables and get to the bathroom. Then she could shimmy out an open window and escape down the water pipe.
“Charlie!” It was Ava. She’d set down her menu and was calling to him and waving from across the room.
Alex closed her eyes and inhaled a long, cleansing breath. She couldn’t believe this was happening.
Charlie gently moved past Alex to head over to Ava, who was now standing up and walking over to them. Jack stood up too and was looking at Charlie with serious confusion. Ava had a fake frozen smile on her face, as though she were into the third hour of cheerleading tryouts. This time, though, her face was as white as paper.
Alex briefly contemplated running, but then turned and followed after Charlie.
“Hi!” said Ava when she reached Charlie and Alex. She gave Charlie a quick hug, and then they both jumped backward. “What—what are you doing here?”
Charlie explained quickly.
“Oh. So that explains the mysterious date our mom had with an old friend,” said Ava. “She was weird about not giving any details.”
“Yeah,” said Charlie. “We thought it would be cool to surprise you guys.”
“Ha-ha, what a surprise,” said Ava. It was a hollow laugh. The conversation faltered, and then ground to a standstill. The three stood in awkward silence.
Alex looked from one to the other, wondering what to do. Finally, when the silence between Ava and Charlie became intolerable, she blurted, “So, Charlie. See that guy over there that Ava was sitting with? He’s on the school paper. And he’s interviewing Ava. About being the only girl on the football team. It’s not like a date or anything. Right, Ava?”
Ava’s mouth fell open. She looked over her shoulder at Jack. Then she turned back to Charlie.
Jack must have seen the look and interpreted it as an invitation to come join them, which he then did.
“Jack! This is Charlie. Charlie, this is Jack,” said Alex desperately.
“Hey, Charlie,” said Jack with an easy grin. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“You have?” asked Charlie.
“Yep. Alex has talked about you a lot.”
“Alex has?”
“Oh, you know my sister,” said Ava, jumping in quickly. “Always the chatterbox.”
“Um, yeah,” said Charlie. “So are you and Jack still talking, or do you have time to hang out?” Charlie asked Ava.
Ava turned bright pink.
Charlie turned to Jack. “I’m impressed you don’t need to write anything down. I would never be able to remember what people said.”
Jack looked puzzled. “Write it down?”
Ava pulled her phone out and looked down. “Oh, wow, it actually looks like I have to go, you guys,” she said. “My brother’s texting me and he really needs my help with a, um, a situation, and I’m going to catch a ride back with the Cahills over there, who look like they’re heading out. Sorry, Jack. Gotta go. Bye! So awesome to see you, Charlie!”
And she fled.
Alex shot her a reproachful look, but Ava was already on her way out the door. Alex stood there awkwardly between Charlie and Jack, conscious of the fact that Corey and Lindsey and Emily were all looking curiously at the three of them from the long table across the restaurant.
“So, uh, Jack,” said Charlie, “Alex says you’re an ace reporter for the paper. That’s awesome.”
Jack looked at Alex and raised an eyebrow.
Alex looked at him and pleaded with her eyes for him to go along with this.
He seemed to understand, because he turned to Charlie and grinned. “Oh, yeah, well, thanks. I try.”
Alex felt a surge of gratitude toward Jack.
“Well, Alex, our moms are having dinner together right down the street at a place called the Pain or something.”
“Le pehn,” Alex corrected him automatically, pronouncing it the French way. Yes! A way out! “Why don’t I walk you there?” she suggested. “We can talk on the way, and catch up and stuff.”
Charlie nodded, and after saying good-bye to Jack, Alex led Charlie out. She turned toward the table where her friends were sitting and gave them what she hoped was a look that said, I’ll try to let the poor guy down easy, before they walked out the door.