I stretched and then got up off the couch to turn the TV off. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep until she got home, but I was sick of just sitting there waiting.
I went to the fridge to get a bottle of water when I heard her key in the door. That familiar feeling of relief and rage surged again. I just turned around and waited.
“Oh! Ryder. I didn’t think you’d still be up.” She came in, but didn’t meet my eye as she put her keys in the bowl.
One whiff of her told me she’d been with Scorpion. Not too many sixteen-year-old girls were chain smokers.
“You know I can’t sleep when you’re out. You’re late.”
“Oh, yeah. Hannah and I went to Baskin Robbins to get some ice cream after the movie.”
She was lying straight to my face!
“I see.” I turned my back and went to put the bottle in the recycling. “How was the movie?”
“Oh, it was good.”
“Did the dog die in the end?” I knew the answer to this question because I’d accidentally read a spoiler about it online.
“Thank goodness, no. You know I hate movies where the dog dies.”
I had her. “That’s bullshit, Lily. And you know what’s worse? You’re lying straight to my fucking face. You know I hate it when people lie to me.” My heart was pounding in anger.
“I’m not lying to you, Ryder. Why would you accuse me of that?”
Now she was lying to me about lying. But I could tell by the look on her face that she knew I’d caught her.
“You are really off track, Lily. You’re hanging around that asshole and you’re going to get hurt.”
“If you’re referring to Scorpion—who I was not with tonight, by the way—he is not an asshole. He loves me. And if you would just take the time to get to know him before you judged him—”
“Oh I know him, all right. I was him. You think I don’t see the hickeys on your neck? It’s you who doesn’t know him, Lily.” I rubbed my face in exasperation. “Maybe we should just leave La Playa. Go somewhere where you can find people your own age to hang around with.”
“I do have a friend my age. We’re going to a concert together. The one at the convention center? She got tickets and invited me.”
She was crazy if she thought I was going to believe her at this point. “What friend?” Those tickets were expensive. No one around here would be able to afford them, unless they were not a teenage girl or were into some illegal shit.
“Her name is Bailey. She doesn’t live around here. We met at Southgate one day and started texting. She’s really cool, Ryder. Not like the jealous bitches that go to my school.”
That actually sounded believable. “The only way you’re going to that concert, Lily, is if I drop you off and pick you up. With your new friend.”
“Fine. I want you to meet her anyway. She was saying something about getting dinner first. Maybe you could come?”
For a moment Lily looked like a hopeful young girl. It was the way she looked before the accident.
“Okay,” I said. “But let’s go somewhere other than Tiny’s.” I did not want to risk running into Paige.
Twenty
Paige
It had been a rough week, and I was ready for it to be over. After things went downhill with that job interview, I’d gotten really discouraged. I’d gotten crappy tips at Tiny’s, dealt with loud neighbors smoking weed day and night, and couldn’t stop thinking about Ryder. I didn’t really have a reason to be avoiding him, but I felt like such a loser at the moment that I wasn’t up for starting anything with someone. I needed to figure out my life first.
Which is why the timing of this concert for Bailey was so unfortunate. I had to drive all the way up to Verde Hills in the pouring rain, deal with my parents and the third degree, then drive all the way back to La Playa and have dinner with Bailey’s new friend and her brother of all people. How I’d gotten roped into dinner with some girl and her pimply-faced brother, I did not know.
I figured I’d just drop them off at the concert, and she said the brother was going to give them a ride back here.
I checked myself in the mirror before heading out the door. I’d taken a nap after work and didn’t bother to brush my hair, so I stuck it up in a messy bun. I wasn’t going to bother with makeup either, since I really didn’t care what Bailey’s friends thought of my appearance. My parents would probably judge me, but they would do that no matter what. I threw on a Victoria’s Secret Pink tracksuit and headed out the door.
