“Maybe you’ll see her at the benefit,” Axel says in a way that tells me it doesn’t matter to him either way.
She grunts. “At this point, I don’t care if I ever see her again. To have a friend, you have to be a friend.”
Cassie has every right to be disgruntled. When she reached out to me, I didn’t respond because it seemed hypocritical to resume a friendship with her when I was ripping her brother to shreds online.
“I can’t believe you don’t remember London. She had a huge crush on you,” Cassie continues.
Here’s where I want to shrivel down to the size of a worm and crawl away.
“Really?” Axel sounds surprised.
“She invited you to a dance, and you stood her up. Bless her heart, she was devastated and then spent the rest of that year despising you.”
Only the rest of that year?If only.This is getting worse by the minute. My stomach roils. It’s all I can do to hold the phone steady.
“She wouldn’t be the first person to despise me,” Axel mutters, “or the last.”
“You really don’t remember her?”
His tone is coated in annoyance. “How many times are you gonna ask me that?”
“Hello,” Cassie bellows, “she’s Judy Meyers’ daughter.”
“Oh, yeah. I remember her. She had glasses and braces.”
“That’s her.” Cassie clicks her tongue. “You’re such a heartbreaker.”
He doesn’t respond.
“Anyway, will I get to meet this new girl?”
“Yep, London’s with me right now. We’ll be there in the morning, and you can meet her in the flesh.”
My skin crawls like it’s swarming with fire ants. How in the heck am I gonna get out of this pickle?
“I look forward to it.” Cassie pauses, and then her voice turns husky. “I love you, bro.”
“Love you too,” Axel says with deep emotion.
This shift in the tone of the conversation reminds me of how Bryce and I interact. We’ll razz each other relentlessly, but at the end of the day, we love each other fiercely.
“Be safe,” Cassie says.
“Will do.” Assuming the call is over, I’m about to end it until Axel interjects, “Hey, how’s Mom?”
“About like you’d expect … devastated, worried. She’ll be glad when you get here, so she can have us both with her.”
“Give her my love and tell her I’ll be there in the morning.”
“I’ll tell her. Bye.”
I end the call and place the phone in the console, trying to figure out what to say. “That’s good news about your dad.” My voice sounds off in my own ears. Hopefully, Axel won’t notice.
“It is.”
I have to tease him a little or else he’ll get suspicious. “So you’re a heartbreaker,” I hum.
He smirks. “According to my sister. I don’t know why she went off on that tangent about her old friend. Sorry about that.”
