I pulled into the parking lot of Hotcakes. Unsurprisingly, I was the first one here. I didn't really go to my locker, so I left school right when the bell rang. Ethan had to drive his girlfriend home. Harvey usually took his time because he chatted to other friends and other girls. Chris drove so freaking slow. The only person who wasn't here yet was Sophia, which was strange. She usually sped here because she loved breakfast food.

I stepped out of my car and headed inside. The guy working today nodded my way, so I sat down at our usual booth. The tacky decor brought back fond memories of spending time here with my friends and the softball team. I slipped my phone out of my pocket and checked my messages. I had made sure Harvey knew we were meeting at Hotcakes, but no one else texted back.

"Already on your phone?"

I looked up to see Harvey standing in front of the booth. He slid in beside me, shoving me against the wall. "Hey!" I said as my head came very close to hitting the wall. 

He smiled. "I heard you were late today. Why?"

"Mom didn't wake me up because she found out I talked to you at midnight." I sighed. "Dad actually woke me up."

"You really still have your mother waking you up?" His eyebrows were raised.

"Yeah. I never got around to setting an alarm, and she doesn't seem to mind."

"What else happened?"

"How did you know?" I asked, laughing. "I fell down after I showered. Thankfully I didn't fall down the stairs."

"Are you okay?"

I shrugged. "My shoulder slammed into the banister, but I think it's better now."

He brushed my long hair out of the way before starting to rub my shoulder, so I leaned into his touch. I lied. It hurt really bad. But he was making it feel so much better. 

"You're very tense," he mumbled in my ear. "Why?"

"No idea."

His other hand settled near my hip, sending shivers up my spine. I made myself believe that the shivers were from him rubbing my shoulder. Nothing else.

"Does it feel better?"

"Much." He still continued, kneading his thumb into my shoulder blade. I groaned and said, "You should do this more often. Softball messes up my shoulders."

"If I do it to you, you should do it to me, too."

"Deal." He finally took his hand off of my shoulder, but we stayed right where we were sitting. I tilted my head to face him and whispered, "Your turn?"

He shook his head, nodding toward where our friends were coming in. He kept his hand near my hip, but I really wanted to scoot away from him. Sophia and Chris slid into the other side of the booth together, and Ethan pulled up a chair. 

"What were you two doing?" Sophia asked, raising her eyebrows. 

"Talking," I replied. "What about you?"

"Talking."

Why was she acting like that? There was nothing going on between Harvey and me. She knew that. Even though I wanted to move away from Harvey, I didn't. I didn't want to give any sort of satisfaction to Sophia. 

"Would you guys like your regular orders?" the dude asked, walking over to us.

"That would be nice." Chris nodded. "Thanks."

My arm brushed up against Harvey's, so I rested it against the table. "You all wouldn't believe the day I had," I said. 

"I know what happened!" Chris said, raising his hand. 

"Besides you," I replied with a laugh.

"What happened?" Ethan asked, frowning. He honestly looked really worried about me, and that felt nice.

"I woke up late," I started out. "Then I fell after my shower. After that, I got stuck in traffic and totally missed weights."

I filled them in on the smaller details, only leaving out the part where Harvey came to my house at midnight. I hated the look that most everyone gave me when I said he was my best friend. Sophia had mastered the look by now, but most of the time she only brought it out when she was teasing me. Most of the time.

Right now, she was giving me it to me. And I knew she wasn't teasing me. I ignored it as the waiter came back with our drinks. I took a sip of my water as Chris said, "Yo, we all need to play some basketball together."

"It's slowly becoming less and less fun because you're on the varsity team," Sophia whined. "You remember when we used to play basketball in middle school? We all sucked. Now, you're really good, and it's not fair."

"I bet I could take you four on by myself," he challenged. His eyes twinkled as he looked at all of us.

I glanced at Harvey to find him already staring at me. I raised my eyebrows at him and he smiled.

"That sounds like a plan," Harvey said, nodding. He stuck out his hand, so I placed mine on top. Sophia covered mine, and the other two boys took up the rear. "When are we doing this?"

"This weekend?" Ethan said hopefully.

"I have my first regional baseball game on Friday, but I bet we could do it Sunday," Harvey replied. 

"As long as it's in the afternoon," I said. "Me and the softball girls are having a sleepover on Saturday night."

"Sounds good." Sophia nodded with that statement. We took our hands away from each other as the waiter set our food down in front of us.

"Here's your food!" the waiter said brightly. "I hope you all enjoy it!"

"Thanks!" 

Harvey finally took his hand away from me, so I waited until Sophia was looking away to scoot a little to the left. I squirted a helpful amount of syrup onto my pancakes before handing it to Harvey. His hand brushed mine, sending a jolt through my wrist. I jumped away from him, and Sophia looked my way.

I busied myself with cutting my pancakes into smaller bites. Something was wrong with me. I couldn't be around Harvey without weird things happening. Maybe it happened when I was around everyone. I acted rude this morning to Sophia. 

"Are you turning your food to mush?" Chris asked.

I looked up at him, frowning. "What do you mean?"

"Look at your food."

I glanced down and sighed. I cut the pancakes into tiny bites and the syrup helped make it more mushy than golden crispy. "I've been distracted today," I said.

"Why?"

"I think it started with me waking up late," I said with a laugh. 

I scooped up some pancake on my fork and quickly ate it before it fell off. It still tasted good. I wouldn't waste the food. 

"So, Cat, are you going to Prom with anyone?" Sophia asked, her mouth full of half-chewed food.

"Could you chew before speaking?" I asked. She flashed me a smile. "And, no, I don't think so. Do you have a date?"

"Not yet."

"If you don't have a date, we could go together," I replied. 

She narrowed her eyes, but the smile permanently stayed. "Sure! That sounds like fun."

"Since we don't have any dates," Chris said with a grin, "Harvey, do you want to be my date?"

"Of course!" he said brightly. "I would love to be your date. Do you want to go to dinner before it starts?"

"Yes!"

I laughed as Chris fist bumped Harvey. "Ethan, have you asked your girlfriend to prom?" I asked.

He shook his head. "She actually doesn't want to go."

"What?" Sophia screeched. "You can't just skip your senior prom!"

"She's still a junior," he argued. "And she has next year. I went last year. That's enough for me."

Chris covered Sophia's mouth before she yelled something else. People were already looking at us, and the waiter was walking over to our table.

"How's the food?" he asked.

"Good," I replied.

"That's good."

He turned on his heel and walked away from us. Surprisingly, Harvey hadn't said much tonight. He was usually the life of the party. I caught his eye, and he dipped his head toward mine. 

"This food is really good," he whispered. I rolled my eyes. 

"Really? That's it?"

"That's it."

"Hey, Sophia," I said suddenly. She looked at me, her eyes wide. "Did your younger sister recently break up with her boyfriend?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"You and me and Harvey are going to be matchmakers," I replied, grinning. 

"What?"

"We're going to set up her brother and your sister," Harvey said with a sigh.

I gasped. "Why are you acting like that?"

"Do you remember the last time you set someone up?" he asked.

I thought about it. Ethan popped into my head, but that wasn't failed. "It was me, remember?" Chris said, laughing. "You set me up with this girl who talked literally the whole time we were together. She wouldn't let me say anything."

"Oh. Yeah." I nodded.

"I actually wasn't talking about him," Harvey said, shaking his head. "I was talking about me."

"When did she set you up?" Sophia asked.

"We went out last night, actually," he said, laughing. I giggled too because I remembered the story. He told the others about what happened. 

"I think you should stop setting people up," Ethan said, smiling. "You should have quit after your only successful attempt with Priya and me."

"My only successful attempt?" I asked. "I had more than just you two. Look at Harper and Trent. They're still together."

"Actually," Sophia said, raising her hand. "They broke up like a few days ago."

"What?" Why wouldn't Harper tell me? She was on the softball team, too. "Why?"

"She walked in on him going down on some random girl."

I had to be more successful. I set up most of the softball team on dates that sucked, but Ethan couldn't be my only one. I prided myself on that. But I guess I didn't realize how bad I was at it. 

"That sucks," I said softly. 

Harvey ran his hand across my back a few times. That made me feel a little better. I glanced at the clock and wished I were already home. I thought spending some time with my friends would make my day feel better than it actually was, but it was doing the opposite to me. Sleep would be the only thing to cure me.

"Hey guys," I said. "I think I'm gonna go. I forgot that I'm volunteering at the hospital tonight."

"Don't you do that every Wednesday?" Ethan asked. "Today's only Monday."

"Yeah, but I promised my mom I would go tonight," I lied. "It's someone's birthday, and I'm going to surprise her."

"Have fun!" Chris said, nodding. 

"Thanks." I looked at Harvey, but he didn't get up at all. "Dude, let me out."

"I think I'm fine right where I'm at." He gave me a little grin that sent anger flaring through me. 

"Fine."

I stood up and shoved my shoulder into his. He grunted as he nearly fell out of the booth. "That was mean, you know?"

"I know."

He stood up and allowed me to pass. I sent a wave to the rest of the group and dropped a twenty on the table before walking toward the door. The walk to my car was short, and by the time my other friends walked out of Hotcakes, I was pulling onto the road. I blasted the radio, trying to figure out why I was feeling like that.