“I mean, don’t get me wrong, Macey, I’ve wanted to get into your pants once or twice since I met you, but I’ve concluded that friends are probably the best we can hope for now.”
Keep talking, Jayce. The hole isn’t deep enough yet.
“You know, you’re right.” Macey smiled again, but it wasn’t her usual smile—her easygoing, lovely, friend-of-the-world smile. Not this time. This time, it was deadly. Sinister, even. “I’m so glad that we’re such good friends. Friends are great.”
“Good then,” I said, smiling politely at the server as she dispersed our plates on the table in front of us. “I’m glad that’s all settled.”
Macey nodded, poking at her burrito with the tips of her fork. She was bummed, I could tell, but I didn’t know what exactly she was upset about. She’d openly rejected me twice, and the moment I said to her that I was okay with being friends, suddenlyI wasthe bad guy?
“What’s wrong?” I asked, cutting off a piece of my burrito. I shoved it into my mouth and chewed, hoping Macey didn’t notice how my eyes welled up with tears as the shredded chicken burned my tongue. But I couldn’t spit it out, not in front of her. I could only swallow like a jackass.
“Nothing’s wrong.” She put her fork down and reached for another sip of the soda. “I just suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, right? You wouldn’t be caught dead with a girl like me.”
This time, halfway through a large swallow of Coke, I spit it out, mostly out of shock than anything else.
“Seriously?” I grabbed a napkin from the table and started mopping the sticky mess, staring down at Macey. “You rejected me multiple times, then had the balls to sit here and tell me you didn’t want anything serious, and now you’re blamingme?”
“No, I’m not blaming you. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.” Flustered suddenly, Macey dropped her fork from her hand and reached for her jacket. “I should go,” she said. “Thank you for dinner.”
“You didn’t even eat.” I started to rise from the booth with her, but she put her hand out to stop me, an easy, everyday gesture that still somehow shot an icy shard through my heart.
“I just remembered that I have an exam tomorrow that I need to have homework done for,” she said, but the false bullshit in her voice was clear as crystal. “But I’ll see you later, yeah?”
“Macey.” Before I could stop her, Macey shrugged on her jacket and walked right out the door, vanishing on the other side of the swinging glass entrance. I stared after her, stunned, not realizing that my jaw was hanging open until the server came up to the table with a pitied expression on her face.
“Date didn’t end well?” she asked kindly, and I slammed my jaw close.
“Um. It—it wasn’t a date. I think. Check, please?”
Chapter 6
Macey
“And then he said, andI quote, ‘I’ve wanted to get into your pants once or twice since I met you, but I’ve concluded that friends are probably the best we can hope for at this time.’”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Shaking her head, Kylie poured us a second glass of wine, handing me mine before plopping back down next to me on our living room couch.
