Uh.
I am speechless.
My mouth just about falls open.
She’s not supposed to know about my crush, and she’s certainlynot supposed to say shit like that to my face! Maddie may be correct, but the way she says it makes something inside me bristle.
“Maybe I had a crush on you. So what?” I admit after an agonizing pause. “People can change their minds.”
And wise up.
I’m suddenly regretting the night ahead.
“You have not changed your mind,” she counters with a loud laugh. “C’mon, Easton. Don’t tell me you don’t love this—prom night with me, the girl you’ve been obsessed with for years.” She tosses her expertly curled hair. “It’s, like, every guy’s wet dream.”
Oh my god.
She is so full of herself.
Off-the-charts self-centered.
Part of me thinks she might be teasing. Still, her flippancy isn’t sitting right with me. I glance at her briefly, catch the way she stares at herself in her phone camera, adjusting the angle to get her good side. Adds a filter.
Continues to ignore my gaping mouth.
This night is already so different from what I imagined. I thought going to prom with Maddie would be fun, or hot, or like the cumulation of my high school fantasies come true. This is not the ideal start to the evening I had planned. It feels hollow.
It’s annoying.
Maddie. Is. Annoying.
“You’re really full of yourself, you know that?” I grind out, my voice so sharp she stops mid-selfie, arching a brow at me.
“Excuseme?”
I raise my chin but keep my eyes on the road. The last thing I need is an ass-kicking from Dan. “You heard me.”
“Wow.Jeez.” Maddie huffs, adjusting the purse on her lap andsetting her phone down for the first time since I picked her up. “Someone’s a little cranky tonight. What’s your deal?”
“What’s my deal?” I snap. “My deal is that…You publicly railroaded me into taking you to a dance I was not going to invite you to. And now I’m stuck with you and your shallow, selfish…”
I’m so fired up I almost lose track of what I’m saying. “…self-centered attitude,” I hear myself finish, words tumbling out like vomit. “You made this all about you, Maddie. You didn’t ask me to prom—you made a scene so I couldn’t say no. Now here we are, in a car I borrowed to impress you, going to a dance I wasn’t planning to attend with you, all because you decided it would be fun to jerk me around.”
Her eyes widen, and for a moment, she’s silent. Well, miracles of miracles, Maddie doesn’t have a comeback.
This must be a first.
“Wowww,” she says again, drawing the word out. “Tell me how youreallyfeel.”
I glance at her, catching the way her lips press together in a mix of surprise and irritation. Maybe I should feel bad, but I don’t.
Not tonight.
“What the hell do you want me to say?” I continue, my voice quieter but no less tense. “This is the magical night I’ve always dreamed of? Because it’s not.”
Maddie crosses her arms, her perfectly polished nails silently tapping her elbow. “If you didn’t want to go with me, you could’ve said no.”
“Oh please.” I let out a bitter laugh. “We both know how that would’ve gone. You’d have made sure everyone at school knew I rejected you, and I’d never hear the end of it.”
