“Beer,” I say, completely unconvincingly.
“That’s too bad, the brother thing would be a lot easier.” She shrugs.
We come to a stop at the back of the line. Apparently, I am not the only one who is having a hankering for a crisp beer. “What does that mean? It looks like he’s pretty well entertained tonight.”
“Willow Rae, is that jealousy I am sensing?” She unlinks her arm only to grab onto my arm. There is way too much excitement shining in those eyes.
“What? No. He can do whatever he wants. I was merely stating a fact,” I say as I step back
“If you want anyone besides me to believe that you are not drowning in jealousy right now, you are going to want to work on the delivery of that. Zero out of five on the convincing scale.” She holds her hand up in a zero and looks at me through the center of it.
“If he believes you and Rhett are just friends, I’m sure he’ll believe that I’m not jealous.” If she wants to speak my truth, I'll speak hers too.
She darts her gaze from my eyes to the dirt beneath our boots. “I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
“Great, so then we’re on the same page. You’re not doing God knows what with Rhett, your brother's best friend, and I’m not pathetically jealous over seeing Goldilocks touch your brother as she owns him, deal?” I cock my head to the side.
“Deal. Also, don’t worry about her,” she waves her hand, “she’s been fawning after him for years. He’s never entertained her.”
“Looks like she’s being entertained tonight.” I fight the urge to turnaround to see what they’re doing. See if she’s still hanging on to him, stars in her eyes.
“Willow, looks can be deceiving,” Aspen reassures me.“It doesn’t matter either way, I’m not going to do anything about it.” I can’t. My time here will be up soon anyway. “Doesn’t mean he won’t.” It’s her turn to sing-song to me, and I realize just how annoying it is. We take a few steps forward in line.
“What does that mean?”
My question is interrupted by us being next in line. I don’t order five beers, but I do order two.
I want to re-ask my question, but I fear that it is too far on the pathetic side even for me. I shouldn’t be hopeful that he wants me. It can’t happen for a multitude of reasons, one of them being that I know how it ends. We’ve done it before, and it ended with my heart broken. But that doesn’t keep me from wanting it, even just a little bit.
When we rejoin the group, a few more people have joined. Some I recognize from school, some I don’t.
“Willow! It’s great to see you. I heard you were in town!” Holly says. She was always so nice in school. It’s good to see that time hasn’t changed some things.
“Same. Yeah, I’m here until the end of summer. How have you been?” She gives me a little rundown of her life, and I feel a bit relieved that she doesn’t ask any questions about mine. In fact, this almost feels nice. Catching up with old friends, having people who know you, and you know them.
When she turns away from me, I muster up the courage to hand off my extra beer, “Here. Got you this.” I hand the extra beer in my hand to Weston, and his eyebrows shoot up in surprise.
“Thanks, that was nice of you.” He smiles at me, and I don’t miss the glare I get from Goldilocks.
It might be time to introduce myself to her. “Hi, I’m Willow. I don’t think we’ve met.” I shoot out my free hand for her to shake.
“Brittany. We haven’t.” She gives my hand the most pitiful shake, and I have to fight rolling my eyes. My grandpa always said you can tell a man by his handshake, and while we aren’t men, the concept still stands.
Aspen hides her laugh behind a sip of her beer. I meet her eyes and find myself doing the same. At least I know she’s in my corner.
“Weston, what do you say we get out of here?” Brittany runs her finger up Weston's bicep, and I think the world stops spinning. The sensation running through me is so visceral that it knocks the wind out of me. The moment of joy I was having leaves just as quickly as it came. Suddenly, the thoughts of him with her in bed makes tears spring to my eyes. The thoughts of him with anyone feels like a shard of glass slowly shredding my heart.
“Excuse me,” I quietly murmur and back away, quickly turning on my heels. I want to get as much space between me and them as possible. The thought of having to be in the same house as him and another woman? Now that just might be enough to make me quit, corporate ladder be damned.
“Willow, wait.” Weston's voice comes from behind me. I keep my head down and pick up my pace. I have no clue where I’m going or even what direction leads to the exit, but I can’t let him see me, not like this.
I feel a hand come around my bicep. I quickly bat the tears that have been threatening to fall away.
“Willow, stop. Please. Talk to me.” His voice is a desperate plea.
I stop, but I don’t turn because I know he will see it, my eyes red and tears staining my cheeks. Not to mention the fact that I haven’t come up with a believable excuse for why I’m upset yet.
Taking a deep breath, I swallow the emotion down before turning to face him. “What?” I ask, my voice cracking at the end.
