CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Leo chuckles. “I expected nothing less.”
I take a seat on a sofa and Leo remains standing.
“First, are you feeling okay? I saw you were sick. Did you drink too much?” he asks.
“No, I’m okay. It wasn’t the punch that made me sick. It was my behavior,” I admit.
“I know how that feels.”
“That looked painful to admit.”
“Not as painful as I thought it would be,” he confesses. “Look, Jillie. I don’t want us to be enemies.”
“I don’t know why weare.”
He takes a seat on the sofa next to me, turning sideways so he can look at me.
“Like I said, when I saw you in the hallway that day, at first I thought I was seeing things. I mean, Jill said she was leaving soon so I just assumed it was before school started. Then, it set in that you were Jill and that you were still here…at my school.”
I sigh. “LikeIsaid, I wouldn’t have been at your school if they hadn’t had the dumbest guy handling the wrench. If they hadn’t loosened the gasket too much, I’d be at SBH instead of SBA.”
He nods. “That’s true, but I’d have run into you eventually. Likely at this party tonight since Steffen’s hooked up with Audrey.”
“Probably, yes, but would you have reacted the same way? You were openly hostile. I didn’t understand it—I still don’t.”
“I thought you lied, Jillian.”
“Why would I lie to you?”
“People use me all the time, Jillie. To get popular, to try to get me to talk them up to Coach, and I don’t even know what else. It’s just… I don’t like being manipulated and seeing you like that, so suddenly, I thought you had,” he admits.
I huff and turn to face him. “To say I’m insulted isn’t enough. I don’t use people. I don’t want to be popular. I’m not like Ella, who likes to climb the social ladder. I don’t need you for sports because I suck. I don’t need anything from you. To top it off, I gave you my V-card!”
“Exactly! You could tell everyone you fucked me and that’d get you all kinds of attention—”
“—attention I do not want, Lenny. I don’t like the spotlight.”
“Sure seemed like you did tonight, getting up there and singing like you did.”
“That was the punch. I turn into a more social and outgoing person when I’m drinking. I say things I normally wouldn’t say. I—”
“—tell the truth,” he finishes for me.
I nod. “Do you know why I’m so angry with you?”
“Because I’m a dick?”
I snicker. “That too, but it’s mostly because you ruined what was the perfect night with the perfect guy. That night, you weren’t this guy—the one from school with the sneer and intimidating attitude. You were kind and funny. You were relatable. You were everything I wanted in the guy I surrendered my innocence to. The night was like a fairy tale, and you ruined that memory for me. I am so sad that you ruined it.”
He sighs. “I’m not perfect, Jillie.”
“No, but Jack was, and so was Jill. It was a night where we set the best of both of us free. No negativity. No judgments. Just great conversation and lots of laughs. The atmosphere was magical, sensual, and we just acted on instinct. I knew then and there I’d never have a moment like that again with a guy as wonderful as Jack. And then, because I’m me, when you got all worked up, I got defensive. So, not only did you ruin that night for me, I did too, and it sucks,” I admit.
Leo leans his head against the back of the sofa, just staring at me.
“I can’t trust you,” he blurts out.
