Ro and the Last Light Tide

Aya's message arrived at 3:41, right as Ro was pretending to take notes in science. *My cousin bailed on me. Want to go to the beach tonight? Sunset's supposed to be good.* Ro read it six times. The word *beach* felt normal. The word *tonight* did not. The real problem was the part his brain kept circling in neon: *Want to go?* He typed *sure*, deleted it, typed *yes definitely*, deleted that too, and finally sent: *Yeah. I know the fastest route.* The three dots appeared almost immediately. *Of course you do,* Aya wrote back, followed by a wave emoji that somehow made his whole chest misfire.