Despite everything that had happened over the past few days, I woke up on Wednesday with a warm feeling in my gut.

We had lost a day and yet it didn't matter. Something about the air felt right. I could feel it, but more importantly, Lana could feel it, and I trusted her instinct more since she was a supernatural being.

"He's going to ask today," Lana said as we bounced along on the school bus. "Oh my demon, I can feel it."

"I feel it too," I said. "When do you think he'll do it?"

"The break after first period is too rushed, so I'm thinking lunch." Lana smoothed her hands on her skirt. She was dressed to the nines today, with her nails painted and her shoes shined. "Do you mind skipping lunch again today? I need an excuse to sit at his table."

"Already ahead of you: I asked Taylor if I could join her in the art studio and she said yes."

"Perfect." As we pulled up into the parking lot, Lana stood up from her seat and flashed me a smile. "Show time."

The first half of the day went by fairly uneventfully, although I did catch Billy and Lana chatting a bit during homeroom. He laughed at one of her jokes, and when he turned back to his desk, Lana sent me a reassuring nod.

At lunch, we parted ways, although not before I squeezed her hand and said, "Good luck. You got this!"

She crossed her fingers and disappeared among the throng of students.

I brought a Tupperware of fresh cookies to the art studio, and Taylor and I munched on them as we chatted and painted. I realized how much I had missed Taylor these past few weeks. Lana had been sucking up my time as much as Clarissa had been sucking up hers, and I missed being around her infectious smile and her quirky style and her no-nonsense attitude. And, for the first time, I was really getting excited for the dance on Friday. Not just because the deal would finally be over, but because I would get to tear up the dance floor with my best friend.

In two days, life would finally be back to normal, and I could not wait.

When the bell rang, Taylor and I took our sweet time walking to English class. I wanted to give Lana as much alone time with Billy as possible, even if that meant I was a few minutes late to English. When I finally walked into the classroom, I saw Lana sitting in her seat, tapping her thumbs together.

Did he ask? I mouthed as the teacher began her lesson.

She shook her head, but Lana didn't look upset. Instead, she had a determined set to her jaw.

"The table was super crowded," she explained in a hushed whisper. "So he couldn't ask me during lunch. It'd have been too awkward. And then he had a math test this period, so he had to run out right at the bell to get there on time. But I'm not worried... you've seen how he's been acting around me. I just need to intercept him when he leaves gym class this afternoon, so he has time to ask me before we all head to his house to work on our government project."

So after our last class, Lana made a beeline towards the gym. I meanwhile waited at Billy's Toyota, watching the gym doors with bated breath. After a few minutes, I saw Lana and Billy stroll out of the building... along with Peter Thatcher.

Peter? I thought in shock as all three of them walked towards me.

Peter wasn't supposed to be carpooling with us today. Last time we had met, Peter had specifically asked if he could Skype into this meeting. What was he doing here?

"Hey," I said as the three of them drew nearer. As Lana got close to me, I could see the annoyance in her eyes. I trained my gaze on Peter. "Peter, are you... meeting with us in person today?"

He nodded and adjusted his glasses. "Yeah. I was feeling up to it. Figured it would be good to... work with people in person."

I tried to contort my face into a smile. Damn it, Peter. You had to confront your agoraphobia today?

Sam showed up a few seconds later. She looked a little frazzled—nothing new—and demanded the keys from Billy. "Shot gun!" I called immediately, beating Billy to the front seat. Sam looked at me like I was crazy, and I did feel a bit obnoxious considering this wasn't my car, but I needed Billy and Lana to share the backseat.

The entire ride home, I kept sending glances back at the two of them. I'm not sure exactly what I was hoping to see—it would be entirely unrealistic for them to just start making out in the backseat—but at least their shoulders were touching. It wasn't much, but it was something.

When we got to their house, Sam disappeared upstairs while the rest of us gathered in the family room. Billy went straight to business, and for a long while, all we talked about was the project. We had compiled a Google Doc—Lana and I had honestly put just thirty minutes of effort into it the night before after our baking extravaganza—and Billy was determined to get us to work, quickly editing through our contributions so that the draft of our paper was somewhat readable.

It bothered me how focused Billy was. I needed him to connect with Lana, and that wasn't happening. I had initially planned to fake a stomachache and disappear into the bathroom for thirty minutes, playing games on my phone until Lana had asked him to the dance. But with Peter present, even if I left, he would still act as a third wheel.

I couldn't think of any grand scheme or subtle way to sneak both Peter and myself out of the room, and after stressing about it for the majority of the meeting, and worrying that we were running out of time, I suddenly just stood up.

"Peter," I said, "can I talk to you about something in private for a minute? Outside?"

Peter stared at me in shock, as did Billy and Lana.

"Uhh..." Peter said, trying to piece together words. I didn't wait for a coherent sentence. I grabbed his arm and pulled him out the front door.

"W-What's going on Jessa?" Peter asked me as I paced on the front lawn. I barely looked at him; I was shooting glances at the front window, but my view of the family room was blocked by thick navy curtains.

"Jessa," Peter repeated, clearly uncomfortable. "We haven't even finished the project. Isn't it rude to just... leave them in there?"

My nerves were on edge and I didn't know how to respond, so I changed the topic.

"I was really surprised you came today," I said, tapping my heel on the grass. "What caused the change of mind?"

Peter seemed surprised by my question. "Um, well, I was thinking about what you said to me a few weeks ago. About... you-know-who."

Sam, I translated.

"And I decided," Peter continued, "that I'm not going to ask her to the dance Friday, but I... I want to go. Which means I need to get better at... going to things with people. Which is why I went to Alex's party, which was a good first step because you-know-who wasn't there, but I figured I needed to practice being in her presence, so I decided to come to the meeting in person today." He looked at me, suddenly distraught. "I seem a bit better, right? Like, compared to last time, right? I don't seem as freaked out around her?"

I thought of the car ride over. I had mostly been paying attention to Billy and Lana, but Peter was right; he had looked fairly calm even though Sam had been less than three feet away the whole ride.

"You're right. Actually... that's pretty good, Peter. I'm glad you're doing better."

He grinned, rubbing his hands on the side of his pants. "I figured that, maybe if I keep this up, I can work up the courage to ask her to prom... of course, that's months away. And I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it... but who knows at that point."

He looked at me. "So, is that all you wanted to know? About why I came here today? If so, maybe we should we... head back inside?"

We'd been outside for less than two minutes. No, we cannot head back inside, I wanted to say, but I couldn't think of a way to stall him. He was doing well; he had actually worked up some courage and was facing his fear. People ramble when their lives are a mess. When things are going well—as they were with Peter now—conversation can run dry.

So I brought up the only topic I knew would convince him to stay outside with me: the truth.

"So the reason I dragged you out here is because Lana was hoping Billy would ask her to the dance," I explained. "The problem is she hasn't had much time alone with him, so..."

"Ahh," Peter said, understanding. He adjusted his glasses. "You could have told me that."

"Well, it's sort of a secret."

Peter shrugged. "Not really."

I blinked. "What?"

"I mean, I guessed Lana was into him last week. And I think Billy's into her. He brought her up in gym class today, said she sat at his table at lunch. He was saying how cool she was and how surprised he was that he hadn't gotten to know her until recently. It was rather sweet."

I felt that flicker of hope again. Lana felt it, I felt it...even Peter Thatcher felt it. Now that they were finally alone, it would happen; I just had to be patient.

"So you understand why I dragged you out here?"

He nodded. "How long should we give them?"

I glanced at my phone. "I think fifteen minutes should be enough. If he doesn't ask by then, I don't know what else I can do."

The front lawn wasn't very exciting, so we ended up rounding around the side of the house and entering into the Stevens' backyard. They had an old swing set, so Peter and I swung for a bit, making light conversation about school and the weather and other normal things as we passed the time. After only ten minutes, I saw Lana come into view, making her way into the backyard to find us.

"Hey!" I said, jumping off the swing and running up to her. "What happened?"

"Did Billy ask?" Peter called from behind me.

Lana sent Peter a confused look. "Can you leave?" she said, a bit sharply.

Peter's eyes widened, but without saying another word, he scurried away.

I was a bit annoyed by the way Lana had treated Peter, but when I looked at her face, there was a confusion in her eyes that made my heart twinge. "What happened?" I asked again.

She brushed a piece of black hair behind her ear, her eyes locked on the swing set. "I brought up the dance in some conversation, asking if he was excited for it. And he told me that he wasn't going because he has some volunteer thing Friday night." She chewed the inside of her cheek. "And then he looked at the clock, saw the time, and ran upstairs to get changed to go volunteer again."

"Oh Lana—"

"It sounds fishy to me," she said, cutting me off with a shake of her head. "He volunteers every day of the week. He couldn't take one night off for the dance? It's not like he's one of those guys who thinks dances are dumb. I don't understand it." She tapped her toe on the grass. "Something is up."

I wasn't quite sure what to say, but I could see the wheels were churning in Lana's head. If she was convinced something was wrong, I strongly doubted I'd be able to convince her otherwise. "Do you mind if... we head back inside so I can use the bathroom?"

Lana nodded, but it was the slightest incline of her head; her mind was elsewhere.

When we walked back through the front doors, I could hear the shower water running upstairs—Billy getting ready for the hospital—but Sam was now in the kitchen, organizing all the decorations we had made for the dance on the kitchen island.

"Hey," I greeted, about to ask if there was an unoccupied bathroom somewhere in the house, but Lana grabbed my hand and held me back.

"Hey Sam, I have a question for you."

Sam looked up from her work, clearly annoyed at the intrusion, but tried to twist the corners of her mouth into a smile. "Yeah, what's up?"

"Considering all the work you're putting in, I'm surprised your brother isn't going to the dance."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not surprised at all."

"Really?"

"Really. He doesn't care about anything I put effort into." She puffed out her cheeks in annoyance.

"But he dances and he has friends who are going... Don't you think it's weird that he doesn't want to go?"

Sam laughed. "Oh, it makes perfect sense. There's this girl at the hospital—"

"Girl?" Lana repeated, eyes narrowing.

"Yeah, some girl volunteers with him. Don't know her name, but when I dropped him off at the hospital the other day, I saw her walking in with him. As soon as I saw what she looked like, I knew the real reason he volunteers there so often." She rolled her eyes. "Boys, am I right?"

Lana nodded her head, but her eyes were wide, and I saw her lip begin to quiver. "Thanks Sam," she muttered, and the despair in her voice was as thick as toffee.

As for me, my stomach felt like lead. Because despite all my hard work, all my planning, and all my scheming to make this deal come to fruition, I had forgotten to do the simplest thing: check if Billy Stevens was single.

- - -

Oh Jessa, how could you have made such a silly mistake?? How do you think Jessa and Lana are going to deal with this issue? I'd love to hear your thoughts :) And thanks for reading!