“A road trip?”
“Yes.” She pulled on a t-shirt over a sports bra. “Juliet and I’ve been talking, and you need this.”
“Need what exactly?” I still hadn’t gotten out of my chair. I’d learned that the ask questions later mentality could be dangerous with Mallory.
“A pick me up. You’re in Chase withdrawal. You’re listening to his music on repeat and staying up all night talking to him.”
“How do you know I’m staying up late?”
“Because love, those circles under your eyes didn’t get there by accident.”
“I’m fine. As much fun as a girl’s weekend sounds, I’m really okay. We’re all busy—”
“Who said anything about a girl’s weekend?” She grinned.
“Wait, what are you suggesting?”
“He’s in Nashville. I already checked. If we leave right after morning classes, we’ll make it to his show tonight.”
“Isn’t that like eight hours from here?”
She laughed. “And you just happened to know precisely how many hours Chase was from you?”
I picked up the duffel off the floor. “Yes…”
“Pack up now so we don’t have to do it later.” She tied her running shoes.
“Who’s we? Is Juliet in?”
“Of course, plus Jade’s coming, and Colt volunteered to drive.”
“Colt? So, the guys are coming?” Considering we were going to see Chase, I didn’t mind if they brought the guys, but Mallory hadn’t mentioned that part of the plan yet.
“Just Colt. Reed’s working.”
“He really doesn’t mind driving us up there?”
“Nope. He enjoys long drives.”
“I’m going to see Chase in a few weeks, I can make it.”
“Yes, technically you can. But why should you suffer?”
“You are all seriously okay with this?” I tried to contain my excitement. As much as I wanted to see Chase, I wasn’t looking forward to putting my friends out.
“Yes. One hundred percent.”
I grinned. “All right. I can’t wait to tell Chase.”
Mallory paused in the doorway. “Surprise him. Call when we’re already on the way.”
“Strangely enough, I agree with you.”
She laughed. “Strangely enough? Like this is the first time?”
“Not the absolute first time.”
She rolled her eyes. “In all your excitement, don’t forget to pack before you leave for class.”
“I won’t. Thanks for this.”
“Of course.” She walked back in and hugged me. “This is going to be fun.”
“I’m sure it’s going to be quite the experience.”
***
We weren’t as excited as we sat in completely stop dead traffic on the interstate that evening. I stared at the time on my phone even though it would have been just as easy to look at the clock mounted to the dashboard of Colt’s Suburban.
“I’m sorry, Cara. I can’t believe how much traffic we’ve hit.” Colt turned over his shoulder to look at me.
“Why are you apologizing? You’re the one who was nice enough to drive me. I’m the one who should be apologizing, since the rest of you would rather be back on campus.”
“Not true.” Juliet patted my leg. “I’m excited to see Chase perform.”
“I don’t think we’ll be seeing anything tonight.” Jade glanced at her watch. “There’s no chance we’ll get there in time.”
“I guess this is why it’s good we didn’t tell Chase we were coming in advance.” I tried to hide my disappointment. My friends were being awesome by schlepping all the way up to Tennessee with me.
“You should probably give him a heads up we’ll be there eventually.” Mallory turned around. “We may miss the show, but the real reason we’re going has to do with what happens after.”
Colt stretched and rested his hand behind Mallory’s seat. He’s one of those sexy cowboy types that you’d think just exist in magazines. Mallory and Colt had grown up together, and sometimes I wished I’d had that happen to me. Maybe relationships would be simpler if you knew each other so well beforehand. Going down that line of thinking just made me think about Aaron’s ex back home. I pushed off the thoughts. “I’d call him. At least let him know you’ll be there tonight.”