“What is going on?” I said aloud.
Just then another coin arced through my open window, hitting me square in the face and causing me to do this dramatic tuck-and-cover move that I’d learned in elementary school earthquake drills. But by the time I hit the floor I wasn’t freaked out anymore. I knew what was going on.
Someone was throwing money at me through my window. Which meant that either a government official was here to let me know that I’d won the Italian Powerball or Ren was trying to wake me up. Either way, my night had just gotten a whole lot better.
I jumped up and ran over to the window.
Ren was standing about six feet from the house, his arm cocked back to hurl another coin.
“Look out!” I dropped to the floor again.
“Sorry.”
I slowly raised myself back up. Ren’s jacket and tie were sprawled out on the grass, and he was holding a white paper bag in his nonthrowing hand. I was so happy to see him it made me want to punch his lights out.
I know. Mixed signals.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi.”
We just stared at each other. Part of me wanted to chuck The Dress at him and the other part wanted me to let down my Medusa hair so he could use it climb up to my room. I guess it all depended on why he was here.
Ren seemed like he was having an internal debate as well. He shuffled around for a second. “Would you mind coming down here?”
I held out for exactly nine-tenths of a second, then threw one leg over the windowsill and slowly lowered myself out. Some of the bricks were uneven, and I used them as footholds to slowly climb down the house.
“Be careful,” Ren whispered, holding his arms out to catch me.
I had to jump the last few feet, and I smashed right into Ren, who did this awkward crumpling thing that left us tangled up on the ground. We both sprang to our feet, and Ren took a step back, looking at me with an expression I couldn’t read.
“You could have used the stairs,” he said.
“Stairs are for stronzos.”
He cracked a smile. “You left the party.”
“Yeah.”
Suddenly a light turned on in Howard’s room.
“Howard!” Ren whispered. He looked like he’d just spotted a yeti in the wild. He was never going to get over that first conversation.
“Come on.” I grabbed his hand and we ran for the back fence, trying—and failing—to not trip over every single curb we came across. Hopefully we’d never have to resort to a life of crime, because I was pretty sure we’d be the worst fugitives in the world.
“There’s no way he didn’t hear us,” Ren panted when we reached the back wall.
“I think he went back to sleep. Look. His bedroom light is off again.”
Minor lie. Most likely Howard had figured out what was going on and decided to let my middle-of-the-night escapade slide. He really was kind of the best. I turned to look at Ren, but I was so nervous that my eyes kept sliding off his face. He seemed to be having the same problem.
“So what did you want to talk to me about?”
He kicked at the grass. “I, uh, didn’t tell you earlier, but you really looked amazing tonight. It was your version of The Dress, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah.” I looked down too. “I don’t think it worked, though.”
“No, it did. Trust me. So back there . . . at the party.” He breathed out. “I was pretty upset when I saw you with Thomas.”
I nodded, doing my best to ignore the flicker of hope in my chest. And . . .
“I really need to apologize. I was pretty upset back in Rome when you said you’d never, ever, ever, ever considered me as more than a friend—”
“I only said ‘ever’ twice,” I protested.
“Fine. Never, ever, ever. It was like a slap in the face. And then when it comes to Thomas, I’m a total idiot. He’s like a British pop star. How do you compete with that?”
I groaned. “British pop star?”
“Yeah. With a fake accent. He actually grew up near Boston, and when he gets really drunk he forgets about the whole British thing and sounds like one of those guys you see yelling at Red Sox games with letters painted on their beer bellies.”
“That’s horrible.” I took a deep breath. “And I’m really sorry that I told you I’d never, ever, ever—”
“Ever,” Ren added.
“. . . ever consider you as more than a friend. It wasn’t true.” I cleared my throat. “Ever. Also, you’re not a stronzo.”
Ren grew a tiny, hopeful smile on his face that immediately transplanted itself onto my face too. “Where’d you learn that word, anyway?”
“Mimi.”
He shook his head. “So, did you mean it back there? When you said you aren’t with Thomas?”
I nodded. “Are you really not with Mimi?”
“No. I am one hundred percent available.”