And they let him.
I roll my eyes because he should not be charming them. I already have enough crazy in my life. I don’t need to invite more. I don’t even know why I asked him here in the first place.
“What are you doing here?” I ask my sisters.
Eliza holds up binoculars. “We came to pick you up so we could all spy on Luke. We heard what happened.”
“Can’t believe you even had to ask us that,” Jane mutters and then meets my gaze. “If you checked our group chat, you’d know what’s going on.”
“Oh my god,” I grumble, shaking my head. “I am not doing this. I will not do this.”
But instead of walking inside the house, locking the door, and hiding in my room, my legs move toward the minivan parked on the street. I have lost complete control over my body. Aliens have taken over. It’s off to outer space now.
“Ooh, so we’re spying on the ex, yeah?” Lex says.
“We were never together,” I mutter as I move into the front seat. The rest pile in behind me, and Eliza slides behind the steering wheel. She barely fits, her pregnant stomach much too large.
“You should not be out and about, Eliza. You’re about to pop,” I tell her.
“Do not tell me what to do,” she hisses. “I am not an invalid. I’m just ginormous.”
I remove my glasses and dig my fingers into my eye sockets. “Fine. If we do this,” I begin, making sure to speak loudly so everyone can hear, “we have to be discreet. No shenanigans. And I mean it.”
Kate snorts. “He means it, guys.”
“Oooh,” Jane replies sarcastically. “Don’t mess with El ‘cause he means it.”
I lean my head back against the headrest and sigh in annoyance. I don’t know why I even bother. No one listens to me anyway.
Lex pipes up, “You know what? If we can distract this Luke guy, I can get inside his phone and put a tracker on it. Or on his car. Do you perchance happen to know his password?”
“Oh my god, no and we are not doing that,” I say, looking over my shoulder at him. “You willnotdo that.”
He stares at me and then nods. “Sure thing, Ellie-Belly. I totallywon’tdo that.”
But I get the feeling he will do what he wants, when he wants.
“Do not call me that.”
“Ooh, but we all like it. Ellie-Belly,” my sisters say.
I just close my eyes and count backward from ten.
“So where is this mysterious non-ex of yours?” Lex asks. “Where is this stakeout going to be? Hopefully near some good fast-food place because I’m a hungry bug. My tummy is a-rumblin’.”
“Well, he said he’d be at…” Eliza glances down at her phone, “his brother’s place.”
“Wait, you’ve been texting him?” I ask, feeling my heart sink. Because he’s not texting me. Not that I expect him to, but deep down, I’m hurt that he hasn’t reached out at all.
Actually, it’s more like a deep-seated ache lingering within me.
He must really hate me to ignore me like this.
“Well, sort of,” Eliza says and doesn’t give me any more than that, which only makes it worse.
“Anyone know where his brother’s place is?” Kate asks.
And before I can tell myself that this will be humiliating, that I absolutely should not behave this way, I blurt, “I do.”