“No.”
She scoffs at that, sliding her hands into her back pockets of the shorts she’s now wearing, then sighs. “Truthfully, I came looking foryou.” She reaches to grab my arm, but she huffs in annoyance when I pull away. Chase nods, leaving when he sees us, and I run my hands through my hair, frustrated.
“Vanessa, we’ve talked about this. Pleaseleave me alone,” I whisper sternly, hoping Bianca or Jamie doesn’t see this for something it isn’t. She looks up at me, her eyes glossier than before.
“Look, I know it’s been a while, but I thought ...”
I shake my head. “Vanessa, you’re drunk, and like I told you already, we’redone. We weren’t anything to begin with. It wasonefreaking timetwoyears ago!” I shout, but then lower my voice. “I’ve moved on. You need to as well. Tommy is nice, go for him.”
She rolls her eyes and comes closer. “Oh, come on, Liam. We had fun, didn’t we?” she says, a chuckle escaping her lips, and anger fills me.
“Stop.” She flinches at my voice, but still tries to get close. I step back as much as I can before my back hits the counter. “You and I—mistake. I regret the night we slept together. I wish itneverhappened. So have some dignity for yourself because I want absolutely nothing to do with you.” Her eyes widen and she looks as if she’ll start to cry, but then she attempts to lean into me. The hairs on the back of my neck stand and I turn to see Bianca.
She looks startled and I push Vanessa off me. I try to move closer to Bianca, but she walks out, mumbling something along the lines of, “I’m sorry for interrupting.” I let her go, and remain hopeful this is the last time I have this conversation with Vanessa.
“If you cost me the most important relationship I have, I’ll make sure you’re never allowed in any fraternity house, kicked out of the sorority you’re in now, and I’ll file a complaint against you for harassment,do you understand me?” She looks up at the menacing tone I’ve had to resort to, and for once, she hangs her head and nods. She then walks out without looking back, and I let out a sharp exhale as I go looking for Bianca.
Chase is trying to make conversation with Jamie. Moving toward them, she turns to me with a glare. “Where is she?” I ask, and sheshrugs. “Jamie, come on,” I beg, but she takes a long sip of her drink. I look at Chase for some help.
She scoffs. “I think she saw something that hurt her.” I flinch at that. “Give her a minute.”
I nod, sighing because she’s right. Though, it doesn’t mean I stop looking for her. My heart plummets at the thought of her thinking that I’ve been sleeping or flirting with someone while we almost kissed the other day.
Have I forgotten about that? Never.
I know we’re not dating, solely making baby steps to being friends, I guess. Technically, it’s fine if I did move on with someone in that way, but I still feel like I’ve betrayed her ... us. As I rush out of one of the bedrooms, I bump into her as she’s exiting the bathroom. Her dazzling eyes stare up at me, a blush painting her face.
“Bianca.”
She pushes away from me. “Yeah, what’s up?”
“It wasn’t what it looked like,” I say, getting right to the point.
She shrugs. “It’s okay if it was, I assumed a while ago, besides we’re not ...” Her words trail off and my shoulders drop.
“Bianca, don’t shut down because of this. What happened between her and me—one time, years ago—it’s insignificant to me. Okay?” I try to catch her eyes as she ducks her face. “I hate that it happened. I thought by doing it, I’d forget about how you weren’t in my life anymore.” She looks up at that as if she can’t believe that’s why I did it. I sigh. “I’m not perfect, Bianca. Far from it.” I chuckle bitterly, reaching to grab her hands, elated when she lets me. “But I’d never lie to you, and I’m not starting now. And if you don’t believe me, Chase can tell you all about Vanessa’s ... persistence.”
Her eyes widen at my use of the word, and I hold her gaze, willing her to believe me. She nods after a bit, and I wonder at what that could mean. “Okay,” she replies.
“Okay?” I ask.
She sighs. “You’re many things, Liam Parker, but a liar has never been one of them. I believe you.” She gives me a small smile and Ilet out a laugh in disbelief. I rub her hands and she moves to take them out of my hold. “I just ... kinda need to process everything. But we’re cool. It’s fine, and even though you don’t wanna be with Vanessa, you can do whatever you want with someone else if you wanted. You don’t have to stop on account of me.”
My eyes close in pain. Why would she want to push me into someone else’s arms? Before I can even grace her with a response, wanting her to know that the only person I want a relationship with—even if it’s just best friendship—is her, Jamie joins us and throws an arm over Bianca’s shoulders.
“I have the best idea.” Bianca laughs, rolling her eyes while Jamie leans in to whisper in her ear. Chase follows, finding a spot beside Jamie.
Bianca looks at her, wild-eyed. “No, wecouldn’t.”
“Yes, weshould. We always talked about it, I’m leaving in a couple of days, why not? Besides,youneed a pick-me-up,” Jamie says while giving me a dismissive look. I look at Bianca, hoping she at least tells me what they’re going to do. They both leave and I’m not ashamed to admit I follow them out. Chase trails behind me as we head back to the beach. The thumping of music gets stronger and the knot in the pit of my stomach doesn’t lessen any.
“Mama Kate!” Jamie shouts while Ms. Kate looks over. Josh does too before he rolls his eyes, and I raise an eyebrow. They walk over to her while I spot my parents having the time of their lives in the water. “Can we use your car to go to a tattoo parlor?” My ears perk at that and I walk over to them. All our expressions turn to ones of surprise, except Josh’s. His is of pure disgust. Ms. Kate seems to mull it over while I still stand there in shock.
Putting his sunglasses back on, Josh says, “Nope.”
Ms. Kate responds with her own, “Sure.”
Bianca freezes when Josh and Ms. Kate say two different answers, and I get closer to her, hoping to see why she looks so tense. Though, she pretendsnot to notice me.
