Will shrugged doubtfully. “O-kay.”
“Good for you, Stoner.” Ben knelt on the side of the road and clapped his hands together like a coach. “You can do it.”
I could do it. I would even finish upright, on my own two legs. I staggered to my feet, and my knees immediately buckled. Okay, scratch that. I would finish on my hands and knees. But I would finish.
Every muscle shaking, every breath a struggle, I pushed myself forward, crawling with one arm in front of the other.
“You’re almost there!” Ben called. The chanting from the crowd swelled.
I gritted my teeth. One, two, three lurches—and then my hand was on the finish line. I dragged my body over it and collapsed in sweet relief, twisting my face to kiss the chalk as I’d promised.
I’ddoneit. I’d come through for myself. And paid back a little of my debt to Sarah for being unconsciously in love with her boyfriend and cheating in my mind.
The crowd was going crazy. Ben, Will, Trisha and her cameraman rushed over.
“There you have it,” Trisha gushed. “Sad Crawler has done it, a triumph of the human spirit. Twitter is ablaze with celebration, with one user reporting she hasn’t cried this hard since her wedding day.”
“Ben,” I called, closing my eyes. “Can you please pick me up and take me home now?”
As we turned onto my street and Ben grabbed his phone to answer a call, Will leaned over from the passenger seat and eyed me, sprawled across the back.
“You know,” he said, in a lowered voice. “You broke my brother’s heart. Like, tore it out and ripped it into tiny pieces. I’ve never seen him like that before.”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “I know. Sorry about that.”
Will tucked his hair, which was as dark as Ben’s, behind his ears. “I was planning on punishing you with a few choice words.” His eyes tracked over my prone body. “But I think karma might be one step ahead of me.”
“Oh, Will,” I said weakly. “You have no idea.”
Ben dropped his call as we pulled into my driveway. “Hey,” he said. “Were you expecting Lex?”
I sat up, despite my body’s protests. Sure enough, Alexis’s silver Jetta was sitting in my driveway. “That’s weird. We’re not really talking at the moment, so I have no idea why she’s here.”
“Is this Alexis, your sister?” Will’s eyes gleamed. “I rememberher.”
“You’re out of luck,” I said. “She’s dating the world’s biggest tool. Ben, sorry to say, but I’m going to need some help getting upright.”
A few awkward minutes later, after Ben had given up trying to get me to walk and had simply picked me up, fireman-style, and carried me to my front door, Will fumbled with my keys and we were inside.
“Alexis?” I called. “You in here?”
Ben laid me gently on the couch and stood. “Sarah texted. She said thank you, and she’s no longer jealous of you at all. And she swears she had nothing to do with Slittery leaking the affair to the press.”
“Well, small victories still count,” I muttered. But something inside me warmed at the idea that Sarah might hate me 10 percent less.
Ben surveyed the living room with his hands on his hips. “Last time I was here, there was a naked man in that corner, using the drapes as a cape.”
“I finally figured out who he is,” I said. “It’s that guy who walks around Second Street with a parrot on his shoulder.”
“We partied with theSecond Street Pirate?”
“You guys are weird,” Will said. “Make Austinlessweird, in my opinion.”
“Lee.”Alexis streaked out of the hallway, mascara running in black tracks down her face.
All my muscles screamed as I sat up too quickly. “What’s wrong?”
Alexis buried her face in her hands. “It’s Chris. He’s cheatingagain.”
