The Improbability of Forever (Kismet #2) ✓

7. One Big Happy Family

"I think it's great that your mom and Mr. Summers are colleagues," said Vanessa, straightening a crooked fork. "We're only going to be moving a few houses down from the Summers. Won't it be nice to start at a new school knowing someone, especially someone who'll be as effortlessly popular as Andrew will be?"

"I guess." I'd fallen into the popularity trap once before and had never looked back. Vanessa belonged there, but me? I was more at home away from the crowd that partied on cruises and in basements on the weekends.

A booming voice interrupted my train of thought, and before I could even think about being nervous Andrew and his parents entered the dining room. His dad was tall, with the same shock of dirty blonde hair as his son, but Mrs. Summers was tiny and had jet black hair.

"Quinn!" she exclaimed, scurrying forward to envelop me in a hug. I nearly choked on her floral perfume. "How nice to finally get to meet you! Andrew is so excited to go to prom with you."

I glanced over at Andrew, who was standing with his arms crossed a few feet away and trying very hard not to look embarrassed. Beside him, Vanessa stood with her eyebrows furrowed, clearly waiting for someone to pay attention to her.

"It's nice to meet you, too," I said to Mrs. Summers, reciprocating her hug with a quick squeeze. When she pulled back Mr. Summers shook my hand enthusiastically, wrapping both of his giant palms around my much smaller one. Then they both moved on to Vanessa, with slightly less enthusiasm.

"Shall we start eating, then?" asked Mom.

Dinner was extremely awkward. The adults sat around and talked business for most of the time, and because Andrew was sitting between his parents it was hard to have a conversation with him without interrupting our parents. He joined the adults' discussion effortlessly, though, showing genuine interest in Mom's pursuit of a Master's degree and commenting on the move like the well-socialized person he was.

I, however, sat on my hands and tried not to fidget, occasionally reaching up to take a bite of lasagna. Vanessa looked just as uncomfortable as me, though her eyes kept flicking to Andrew as if she were suddenly realizing just how attractive he was.

"I'm so glad to be moving with another family from the area," Mrs. Summers said halfway through dinner, patting her mouth with her napkin. "Andrew and Quinn are already such great friends! And Quinn, you're such a beauty—who knows what else you two could become?"

Andrew suddenly had a coughing fit over his bread and turned everyone's attention away from the conversation. Vanessa rolled her eyes and handed him his glass of water, which he took gratefully. "Sorry," he said. "Got caught in my throat."

After he'd been successfully recovered and the adults had turned back to their conversation, he winked at me. I crossed my ankles extra tight under the table and tried not to smile back.

The single weirdest part about dinner was the fact that Andrew Summers was in my house. He hadn't just stopped at the porch to drop something off, or had stepped inside for a second to say hi—no, he was actually sitting at my dining room table, eating the food I had helped make off of the same dishes I had been eating off of since I was five. He was sitting across from me as if he'd never been more at home, carrying on a lively conversation with my own mother, his blue eyes sparkling. And the creepiest part about this whole endeavor was that I didn't feel comfortable. I felt displaced.

Cody inside my house was so different than Andrew in my house. Cody would walk right inside and kick off his tennis shoes, then tromp up the stairs with me to crash on my bed and watch TV with me. Then I'd send him downstairs and he'd rummage through the pantry to search for snacks, raiding half our food supply and still managing to charm my mother on his way back up with his haul. Yet Andrew sat at the table reserved only for formal dinners, with his elbows precariously off the table and his napkin in his lap.