I grin at her.
“Hey, Noah,” classmates say as they pass us. I greet them in return, and Eve raises a hand, mumbling hellos. To my relief, they talk to her too, cheerful smiles, brimming with excitement at the night to come.
Later, she surveys the tables, each seating ten people. “Who will sit with us?”
“Don’t worry,” I say. “We’re early enough to have our choice of table. People will join us. They were friendly just then, weren’t they?”
“Because I was with you.”
As soon as people sit, we take a seat at the nearest empty table. A minute later, a group of guys from my football team join us with their girlfriends. After chatting with them, I check my watch. “Kaito and Declan will be here soon.”
“And Henry?” Eve asks.
“Yeah. He’s coming.” My eyes fall to my lap. “Kaito and Declan would have told him I was coming, but … I don’t know how he’ll act. We’re … not on speaking terms,” I explain.
“That’s my fault.”
I shrug. “There’s nothing we can do about it now. If I told him myself, about how I felt, it would be the same outcome.”
“But it still sucks.”
“It sucks,” I agree, then hesitate. “Did you mean what you said about him not deserving me?”
Regret flashes in Eve’s eyes.
“I’m not mad,” I rush to clarify. “I want to know what you think.”
Her chin tips up. “I wish I didn’t say it the way I did. But Noah … I think sometimes you don’t think of yourself highly enough.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not saying you’re not confident, because you are … but Noah, if you saw yourself the way your friends see you, the way I see you, then you would know … you deserve the best. That’s all. I think you deserve the best and no less.”
I turn the words over in my mind as there’s a crowd of chatter behind us. Eve and I turn to see the late stragglers arrive, with Kaito and Declan at the front. As soon as they catch sight of us, their eyes brighten and they walk over.
When they greet Eve, they raise their brows at each other, but the pair of them are loud and friendly enough to make it seem like they expected her to be at the social with me.
Then there’s Henry, breathtaking in his suit. He’s always breathtaking, but the dark navy of his suit matches his eyes. His hair is tousled. I know he would have played with it in the mirror for five minutes, but it looks effortless.
I raise a few fingers in greeting, the gesture small enough so it won’t be totally humiliating if I’m ignored. But Henry nods in response, his expression pained.
It’s the longest interaction we’ve had in weeks. He’s about to sit when Tiana flounces over and takes Kaito’s hand. In the next blink, Alison and Sana are here too.
Eve stiffens. I shoot a look at Kaito, but he’s avoiding my gaze. He hasn’t broken up with Tiana, and I don’t know if he ever will. He thinks she’s a little psycho, but a lot hot. Maybe his mind would change if he knew the truth about the Eve-Oliver-Henry-and-I situation.
Declan sits beside me, then Kaito, then Tiana, and then Henry. He’ll be happy to sit so far from me. Alison, on the other side of him, catches him in conversation.
Eve’s eyes shift between Henry and me, then at the girls.
“Did we make a big mistake, coming here?” she whispers.
“Not at all.” I can’t hide the doubt in my voice.
31
Eve: Girls Bathroom
Voices build into a crescendo, people laughing, flirting and shrieking. Complaining about hunger and asking when the entrée will be brought out. On my table, Tiana and her friends giggle as they recount a story from last weekend. They’ve avoided my eyes all night, and the only reason I can guess why is that they’re ashamed, which makes me feel somewhat satisfied. The boys are rowdy, and now and then Noah smiles at me, checking if I’m okay. I am, even if I haven’t said a word for the past ten minutes.
