“You’ll be fine. See you Saturday.” I hung up the phone, the smile still on my face. There was nothing that made a girl feel better about a guy humiliating her than a different cute guy asking her out.

Behind me, Gage said in a low voice, “He will not be fine.” Then he laughed maniacally.

I whirled around. “If you ever do that again, something really bad is going to happen to you.”

“As in you are going to do something bad to me, or Fate is going to even the score? I really need to know, because it will make a difference in my decision.”

I shook my head.

“Who’s Evan?” Braden asked, his hazel eyes on me.

“Someone who is taking me to the A’s game this Saturday. And I know you both know who the A’s are playing. That’s right—the Giants.” I sang out a high-pitched note of taunting. “Who’s jealous?” I knew Braden was. I knew beyond anything that he would love to go to that game, and I felt terrible. But rubbing it in his face seemed the correct way to deal with those feelings.

Gage went to the kitchen drawer beneath the phone and pulled out a paper and pen. “Okay, you’ll need to write his full name here so Dad can run a background check.”

I sighed. “No.”

“How did you meet him? Where does he go to school? How old is he? Is he even an A’s fan?”

“Pretty sure he’s an A’s fan, since he has season tickets.”

“Call him back and ask if he has any extra,” Gage said.

“He does, but those are for my other friends. So tough luck.”

“Isn’t What’s-his-name’s wedding on Saturday anyway?” Braden asked.

“Who’s What’s-his-name?” I asked. “Wait, did I forget about some lame wedding I’m supposed to be at?”

Gage waved me off. “No. It’s this guy we know from years and years of soccer camp. He’s a couple of years older than Jerom.”

I pointed at Braden. “But obviously you don’t know him or you’d actually know What’s-his-name’s name.”

“I never went to soccer camp, Charlie.”

“I know.” Hadn’t we established I knew his life pretty well? “Soccer camp people do actually leave soccer camp at some point, though.”

Gage interrupted any comeback Braden might’ve come up with by saying, “His name is Ryan, and you’re right, his wedding is Saturday. Crap. How are we supposed to humiliate Charlie’s date?” He patted Braden on the shoulder. “Looks like it’s all on you, my brother. Make us proud.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Gage got up to leave, Braden trailing after him.

“Please don’t do anything to Evan,” I said to Braden as he reached the door.

He turned back. “No worries. I’ll steer clear.”

“Thanks.” If only I believed him.

Chapter 22

I came home from my shift at the store on Saturday just in time to see my brothers all tuxed-out for the wedding. “Look who cleans up nice,” I said.

“You’re one to talk,” Gage mumbled.

“Have fun,” I said, bounding upstairs. I only had about two hours before Evan would show up at my door, and I hadn’t exactly planned what I was going to wear yet. Last time Evan saw me, I was wearing my work clothes and more makeup than I had ever worn in my life. I knew I wasn’t going to replicate that, but I had no idea how far back I wanted to scale it.

My phone rang and I picked it up. “Hello?”

“Hey, Charlie, it’s Amber. So I bought a really cute A’s jersey to wear to the game because I had no idea what to wear to something like this. And then I wondered if that’s what I should wear and I didn’t want to feel stupid being the only one wearing an A’s jersey.”

She honestly thought it possible that she’d be the only one wearing an A’s jersey at an A’s game?

“So I bought one for you, too. They aren’t the same because I didn’t want to be twinsies or anything, but they were kind of boring so I bedazzled them.”

Bedazzled? What the heck was a bedazzle?

“I hope that’s okay. What do you think?”

“That’s cool. Jerseys are good. Thanks. How much do I owe you?”

“No, nothing. It’s on me.”

“Are you sure? Jerseys are expensive.”

“I’m sure. When do you want me to come over? I could come over soon and we can get ready together. Do you want me to, or would you rather I just come over right before the guys are going to come get us?”

“Yeah, why don’t you come over. I haven’t decided what to do with my face yet. You can help me.”

I heard her clap. “Yay. I’ll bring my makeup case.”

And when she said “makeup case,” she meant a large briefcase contraption that opened up and then expanded even further with different layers and pullouts.

“Just more natural this time, okay?” After all, my dad was downstairs. He’d see me.

“Of course. This is a baseball game, not a night at the club.”

“Right.”

She got to work right away on my face.

“What are you going to do with your hair?” she asked.

“I was just going to throw it back in a ponytail.”

“Yeah, that will be cute. Then our hair won’t take away from our awesome shirts.”

“True.” She hadn’t yet shown me these supposedly awesome shirts, but I was beginning to feel nervous about them. And I was right to feel that way, because when she revealed them I learned that bedazzling meant turning something cool into a glittering atrocity. My mouth hung open for a full minute while I took in the glowing gold A on the green V-neck jersey.

“I know, awesome, right?” she said, throwing it to me, then stripping off her shirt and putting her own jersey on. Hers was black with a silver A. There was no way out of wearing this and I knew it. So instead, I took off the shirt I wished I were wearing and put on the bedazzled jersey, thanking whatever form of good luck had made it possible for my brothers to be gone at What’s-his-name’s wedding.

“You look so good,” Amber said.

She did a full circle, and I realized that girl code required me to return the compliment. “Yeah, you too.”

My phone rang and I picked it up. “Hello?”

“Charlie, hey, it’s Evan.”

“Hi. What’s up?” I glanced at the digital clock on my nightstand. It was four thirty.

“Bad news.”

For a millisecond I hoped he was calling to cancel so I could take off this shirt.

“Dustin is sick. Like, beyond sick. Vomiting and the whole works. I’ve been trying for the last hour to find a replacement with no luck. Do you think one of your brothers can go with us instead?”

“My brothers are at a wedding. . . .” I stopped and looked at Amber, who was checking out the back of her shirt in my mirror, a big smile on her face. “I’ll find someone.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. See you in half an hour.”

“Sorry,” he said as he hung up.

“I’ll be right back,” I told Amber.

In the hall, I put the phone to my ear and listened to it ring three times.

“Hello?”

“Braden.”

“You don’t need to give me any threatening speeches. I really wasn’t planning to bug your date at all tonight.”

“The fact that you remembered I have a date makes me doubt that entirely.” Wait, why did he remember? Did it bother him? No. That didn’t matter. We were friends. “But actually, I have the best news ever. You will love me for eternity.”

“Uh-oh.”

“It’s not a bad thing.”

“Okay. What do I have to do?”

“One of our friends got violently ill today. . . .”

“Wow, that is good news.”

I laughed. “Well, I guess that’s not good news. But his ill fortune is your gain, because he can’t go to the game. Do you want to come with us?”

“To the A’s game?” I could hear the excitement in his voice.

“Yeah.”

“So am I replacing a guy or a girl?”

“A guy. Dustin. His date is Amber. She’s hot. Another reason you should be forever indebted to me.” I couldn’t believe I was doing this. I was setting up Braden with Amber. He really would fall for her. This was a good thing, I told myself. Exactly what I needed to happen so that Braden and I could maintain the amazing friendship we’d had for years.