''Okay,'' I say. ''No, really. I've never seen him this way. It's both exciting and sickening at the same time.'' ''Jen.'' ''Don't you start with the 'Jen' thing,'' she warns me. ''I'm just tellin' you how I see it, and I can see more fireworks between you two than the fifth November.'' ''The things you come out with..'' I shake my head. ''Lexy, you can tell me.'' She sits up and is serious. ''Do you like him?'' ''I like him. As a friend.'' I skirt around her meaning. ''Nice dodge, Lexy.'' She lies back down. ''I don't know what you mean.'' ''Well, we'll see.'' ''Despite everything he said yesterday, I'm pretty sure he just wants to get in my pants. That's all.'' I check my phone and see that Bing is coming back to Lilac Bay on Friday, two days early. ''Alec's never asked anyone for a chance. Ever. Trust me, he wants more than a roll in the hay.'' ''Well, I don't want a summer romance.'' I don't know who I'm trying to convince.
