April 2019
Dinkytown
Today, I lied to my mom about going to the Mall of America. I told her I wouldn’t be home until very late as I was also going to catch a movie there with friends. I also lied to Lily, telling her I was going to be holed up studying. I had lied because a few weeks ago when I told Lily what had happened with the blond girl waiting for Ali, she had gotten a smug look on her face. I hadn’t brought him up since.
Having lied to my mom and my best friend, I pointed my mom’s old Volvo toward Dinkytown. I stopped by the bookstore for a few minutes first and then headed toward the river.
For some reason my heart was pounding when I stepped onto the porch of that yellow house. Had I got it all wrong? I checked the address I had copied down from our mailing list.
922 Oak Street. It was the right house.
It had been nearly a week since I saw him. What if he was back with his ex-girlfriend or what if I’d read him entirely wrong? I held the book in front of me as if it were precious and important and not just an excuse for me to be there. My heart pounded and my breath was coming fast and shallow. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so nervous.
I knocked lightly, but the door immediately swung open.
When I saw the smile on his face, I knew I had gotten everything exactly right.