Jorie is pounding on my door.

“I am not talking to you,” she says as she storms in. “I just came over to tell you one thing. You’re wasting your time. Forget about it.”

Jorie has looked better. Hair in a messy ponytail. No lip gloss. Old cutoff shorts. Puffy, red eyes.

“What are you talking about?”

“Him.” She tips her head in the direction of Eli’s house. “He’s asking someone else. Not you. Not me.”

Swallow. “How do you know?”

“He told me.”

Take a breath. “Who’s he asking?”

“I don’t know. It’s killing me. He wouldn’t give me a name. He just said, ‘There’s this other girl.’ I stalked him on Facebook, but I couldn’t figure it out.”

I sink into the sofa. I get it now. I get the whole thing. Eli comes off as this really sweet guy, taking care of Thomas and asking for help with pasta, but he’s a player. All summer, he’s been flirting with both of us, and he was planning on asking another girl. Probably someone gorgeous, in honors classes and a star athlete and on student council, amazing in a million ways.

Jorie crosses her arms. “I saw him at school with Tyler’s cousin. It’s probably her. We’ve both been completely stupid.”

She takes a tissue from her pocket and wipes her nose. “Why did you kiss him? You knew I liked him. We’re friends. You don’t do that.”

She’s right. “I’m sorry, Jorie, I really am. I didn’t mean for it to happen. I swear.”

“How can you not mean for it to happen when you were the one who kissed him?”

I look down. “He kissed me first. Last week.”

“What?” Her face crumples. “How did that happen?”

“He was upset, his dad came over, they were fighting—”

Jorie drops onto the floor, then starts to cry. She covers her face. Her shoulders are shaking. I fall next to her, crying too. We’re sitting cross-legged, our knees touching. But she moves away. Her mascara is running black rivers down her cheeks.

I choke back a sob. “You’re a mess.”

She sniffles. “Yeah, because of you.”

I get her another tissue and she dabs her eyes, then looks at me. “I can’t just forgive you. I wish I could go back to being little. It was so much easier.”

I put my arm around her. “I know.”

She shakes off my arm. “I’m still mad. I never thought you’d do something like this. Other girls, yes. Not you.”

“I’m sorry, Jorie. I really am. I didn’t flirt with Eli. He and I are friends. I was just trying to help him.”

She gulps. “I thought I knew you.”

I look at her teary blue eyes. She stands, straightens her shoulders, pulls down her shirt. Then slips out the door.

Things happen when they’re meant to happen. Did I mean to hurt Jorie? I wanted to kiss Eli.… 

Grandma didn’t explain that there could be complications.