Nathan regarded me skeptically—and I didn't blame him.

He wasn't the only one who felt out of sorts after the awkward brace we just shared. That was the main reason I decided to ask for my second wish. It would buy me a little alone time to process all this.

"And what would your second wish be?" he asked.

"I'm hungry...but I don't want to eat the food here. How about you ask some of the workers what's good in the area. Then after we finish our games, we can grab some food."

His eyes narrowed slightly. "Your wish is for me to find out what restaurants are nearby...so I can take you to get some food?"

"Yep. But the challenge of this wish is that I'm a picky eater," I explained. "Let's see how much you really know me, Nathan. Once you find out what's nearby, you pick the place and surprise me."

Uncertainty clouded his eyes. "I don't know if—"

"My wish," I reminded him, repeating his words from earlier. "Your command."

His shoulders fell and he sighed with defeat. Then a sardonic smile followed by, "I did say that, didn't I? I'll be back in a few minutes."

I fell into the chair behind me after he was gone. What the hell was going on here? For the past fifteen years, Nathan Jenkins has always been my best friend's older brother. He was the boy in school that almost every girl wanted.

And he didn't hesitate to give in to them.

I kept trying to convince myself that all of this was just him being nice, but there was this little voice in my head that said it was something else. I refused to investigate what that could be. There could never be anything other than friendship between Nathan and me.

First off, he slept with girls as often as he inhaled oxygen.

Two, he and I believed in totally different things. I wanted to be in love someday. He didn't.

Yin and Yang.

And three, I didn't even like Nathan that way.

You sure about that? Yes. I was. I had to be.

Okay, fine...I wasn't blind. It was obvious to any girl with eyes that he was one of the most attractive boys in school. Hence the Happy Meals that chased after him.

But it wasn't like I stole glances of him without his shirt on. Or had dreams about him.

Never. Not once.

Shit. Okay, once. Maybe twice.

It never happened before the night that we watched Idle Hands. Even before that, when we were on the beach and Harper sprayed him with sunscreen, I could tell he started looking at me differently. If his eyes betrayed how he really felt, then that would mean he was interested.

Interested in me. Or something about me.

But why? I was nothing like the other girls he hooked up with. I was not a one night stand type of girl. I was a relationship girl. And Nathan Jenkins did not do relationships. Ever.

Not to mention he was Lanie's brother. My best friend's brother. That had to be against the rules or some girl code or something.

Not that I'm interested in him anyway...

God I was going to drive myself crazy thinking about all this.

"I'm back," Nathan said in a singsong voice.

Glancing up at him, I arched a brow. "That was quick. You picked a place already?"

He nodded and came down the steps to the lane area. "I did."

"How do you know I'll like it?"

"Oh you'll like it," he gloated. "And not only will you like it...you'll love it."

With a small smile I teased, "Challenge accepted, Jenkins. Now it's time for me to kick your ass in bowling."

He threw his head back with a laugh before joining me next to the ball return. "Yeah right, Fitzgerald. This game is mine."

A part of me was surprised that he knew my last name. Not because he's known me since I was three, but because I just didn't expect him to pay attention to that stuff.

At least when it came to me.

One other thing I didn't expect was that he didn't take it easy with me during our games. I assumed since I was a beginner that he would let me win. Not so much. He kicked my ass at all three games—and he didn't seem to mind rubbing it in my face either.

But even though he was arrogant about how skilled he was and that he beat me, he still tried to coach me. And by the end of the last game, I was bowling strikes more often than getting those damn gutter balls.

"Karma, listen to what I'm saying. You did good. You are good. You're a natural. You're just not as good as me."

I shook my head. "Classic Nathan Jenkins. Always a showoff."

"Oh hell yeah," he boasted before making a right hand turn as he drove to whatever restaurant he picked for us. "If I got skills, or something somebody else wants, I'm showing it off. Plain and simple."

At least he was honest. Nathan Jenkins was good at a lot more than just hooking up with girls. He's played nearly every sport during middle school and high school. This year he was supposedly going to get back into hockey. He played it freshman and sophomore year, but took his junior year off.

"So where are you taking me to eat?"

When I asked for this second wish I wasn't thinking about how he would take it. What I asked for kind of sounded like a date even though it wasn't one. Not for me and I'm pretty sure not for him either.

"If I tell you then it won't be a surprise, will it?"

I leaned back in the seat with a huff before crossing my arms over my chest and just stared out the window as we passed by multiple plazas with stores, banks, and restaurants.

"Are you seriously pouting over there?"

"No," I grumbled.

"I swear, Karma, if that lip of yours was sticking out any further, it would fall off."

Turning towards him, I tried the puppy dog eyes. "Please tell me where we're going. Please?"

"That's not gonna work on me," he drawled before making another right turn. "Besides—" arrogant smirk "—we're here."

My head snapped to the right and I looked out of the windshield to see where we were. "Mel's Hot Dogs?"

He pulled into a parking spot and opened his door. "Yep. Trust me."

I got out of the car and followed him into the red and white diner. When I stepped inside, I was amazed. The dinner was very old fashioned. You know, one of those hole-in-the-wall places. It had a jukebox in thr corner, booths and old fashioned tables. There was a ping-pong table to the far right. And the menu was on a large wall next to the register.

Literally...their menu was the wall.

Damn. Nathan was right. I loved these types of diners.

My stomach grumbled and I scanned the items they offered. Not only did they have hotdogs here, but they had chicken sandwiches, too. And fries. I loved fries. Especially cheese fries.

"See anything you like?" Nathan asked from beside me.

My eyes paused on a certain menu item. "Oh yes. I think I found a winner. What about you?"

Nathan tapped his chin as he scanned the menu. "I'm debating between the Mighty Mel Hotdog and the Chicago Style Mighty Mel Hotdog."

I looked at the toppings for both items. "Well you don't like sauerkraut. So you should get—"

"The Chicago Style one," he agreed and snapped his fingers. "You're right. That's perfect. Looks like you know me pretty well yourself, Karma."

His tone was teasing, but the truth was that I wasn't sure if I knew the real Nathan or not. The boy in front of me was completely different than the one I've known all these years.

So who's the real Nathan? Mr. Nice And Caring or Mr. Hooks Up With Everyone?

"Karma? He's ready for our order."

I shook my head to focus on the task at hand. "Right. Sorry."

After we placed our orders, Nathan offered to wait for our food while I found us a table. Since it was around dinner time, there weren't many available. There was only one, actually. A secluded booth in the back corner.

Private. Intimate.

Definitely not what either of us wanted or needed. With no other choice, I sat down and waited. During those seven or so minutes, I eyed the other patrons of the diner. It was mostly families here. Then two sets of couples. There was also an older gentleman who sat alone at one of the round tables. Then there was me and—

"It's chow time!" Nathan's voice drew my attention as he took the seat across from me. "For the lady," he said with a smile, setting the tray in front of me.

My stomach rumbled again as I stared at the food. It smelled delicious and I was starving. Apparently bowling worked up my appetite.

I reached for a fry that was dripping with melted cheese. "Nathan, are you sure I can't split the payment for this with you? I should at least pay for my own."

He waved my question away like it was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard before flashing a wry smile at me. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm on a roll with this nice guy thing. You better enjoy it before my supply runs out."

"Yeah, yeah," I teased.

Surprisingly—and thankfully—the rest of our time at the diner went smoothly. We talked about random stuff while we ate. Mostly it was about Lanie and the many ways she annoyed her brother. I may not know who the real Nathan was, but I knew enough to know that behind that fake annoyed tone, he loved Lanie. And all her annoying habits.

The trip back to the beach was spent in a comfortable silence. The sun was just setting by the time we started across the Howard Franklin Bridge. I rolled my window down and held my hand out to feel.the wind dance in between my fingers. That plus the soft rhythm of 'Dayz of Our Lives' by Bone Thugs 'n' Harmony that was coming out of the speakers was finally starting to wash away the residual stress of the day.

And I had the person in the driver's seat to thank for that.

Roughly fifteen minutes later, he was turning into the hotel parking lot. I knew I was going to have some explaining to do to Lanie. She called Nathan while we were getting food and asked if he'd seen me. He kept his promise and didn't mention anything about the whole USF thing. Instead he told her that he and I went to get food for everyone and got lost.

Honestly, I was worried she wouldn't buy it, but he was sure I didn't have anything to worry about.

Once we got to the door of the condo, I adjusted the food we picked up in my hands and turned towards him.

"Before we go inside and Lanie starts her interrogation, I just wanted to say thanks. What you did for me today..." I exhaled a heavy sigh before my eyes met his. "Anyway. Thank you, Nathan."

When I turned back to open the door, he reached for my hand.

"Karma, wait."

I looked back at him.

"You're welcome," he murmured. "I promise I won't say anything. But I need you to promise me something, too."

I got worried by the seriousness of his expression. "Okay."

"I need you to promise me...that you won't tell anyone that I'm secretly a nice guy."

I chuckled and shook my head. "Your secret and reputation are both safe with me, Nathan. Besides..." I shot him a look over my shoulder. "I still have one wish left."