“Oops, my bad,” I said. “I’m hopeless with dates.” I spritzed myself with floral perfume and then popped a breath mint in my mouth. “It was nice meeting you!” I grinned. “Enjoy your lunch. La cuisine est très bonne!”
James would be proudwas my first thought upon strolling out the door.
In line at Geno’s, Isa had told me everything—all the signs she hadn’t realized were signs until today. I gently asked if she was going to tell her mom. “I don’t know,” she’d said. “You know I want to scream at her sometimes, but I don’t want to hurt her, G. I can’t hurt her.”
“But it’s your dad who’s hurting her,” I whispered back.“He’s the one hurting your family.” I took her hand and hugged it to my chest. “Who’s hurtingyou.”
This is so messed up,I thought now as I walked back to my friends after my phone call with Mrs.Adler,but at least she and Ev…
Scratch that, because Isa and Ev werenotas I’d left them. They weren’t talking, and they weren’t laughing. Isa had her arms crossed over her chest and was glaring at Ev, who’d hung his head and was staring at his hands. My heart flip-flopped down into my stomach.
I had no place to hide. I could duck behind a parked car? No, that would muffle their voices and look suspicious to bystanders. Move closer and pretend to still be on the phone? Pass. It would be tough to listen while making sure to add in a “hmm” and “uh-huh” and “oh yeah” every now and again.
Fake phone conversations were another one of James’s crafty fortes. He could make one-sided dialogue appear out of thin air.How does he think of this stuff?I always wondered.
A nearby lamppost was my least worst option. I tiptoed over and casually leaned against it, my phone still in hand. I stared at its dark screen to pretend I was catching up on the notifications I’d missed…orignored,really. Unless it was someone from the Adler-Barbour-Cruz families, the three of us had decided to unplug for the day. We’d silenced our social media notifications. All I wanted to focus on was Isa and Ev.
My pulse raced at the sound of Isa’s voice. “You shoved me away,” she all but shrieked. “You shoved me awayhardwhen you broke up with me, so I pushed you away, too. I pushedyou away because—” She cut herself off, swallowing whatever she’d been about to say. Whathadshe been about to say? “I don’t regret it, Everett,” she resumed. “If you had justapologizedfor treating me like that—if you had beenyouthat night, just been myfriend—things would be different. But they aren’t, and here you are, telling me all over again that you likesomeone else!” She rose from the curb. “Unbelievable.”
It hit me then. The “someone else” Ev had mentioned at freshman formal? The “someone else” I thought he’d simply used as an excuse for dumping Isa? Since he’d never seriously dated any other girls?
That someone else had beenme.
Now I felt like an idiot; I felt like a fucking moron. I had feelings for Ev and he had them for me, but I’d never known how far back his had stretched. I thought I’d been alone, dreaming about us together. I’d had crushes and dated other people, but it hadalwaysbeen Ev.
My eyes stung with tears.
Ev stood up, too. “Isa, I’m—”
“Save it,” Isa said. “Please, save it.” My body jolted when she started searching for me. “G? G, where are you?”
“Over here!” I waved, quickly blinking away my tears. “I just hung up with Mrs.Adler.” I smiled. “Everything’s cool,” I said before Ev could ask. He looked miserable, hands deep in his pockets. “You were right; I had to talk her out of swinging by my house.”
“Great,” Isa said, voice clipped like her mom’s. She tried to smile. “Where to next?”
It was the most awkward Uber ride ever. Our driver picked up on the vibe as soon as we buckled our seat belts, aware that we weren’t in the mood for any chitchat. I sat between Isa and Ev, each of them staring out their respective window.
“Isa,” Ev said at one point, not giving a damn that I was there. He needed to get whatever it was off his chest. “Please let me explain. There’s something you don’t know.”
My ears pricked up. Something we didn’t know?
But Isa pretended not to hear him, seemingly fascinated by the Ford Fusion’s backseat view. “All I wanted was an apology,” she whispered when the street thickened not with cars, but with people. Music sounded in the distance. We were close. “If only you’d apologized.”
Chapter 24
James
It wasn’t until I could see the Philadelphia skyline that the wheels came off the bus. Not literally or anything, just figuratively. I was belting an underrated eighties song on Spotify—judge me, if you must—then all of a sudden had to slam on my brakes.
Fear not, I hadn’t been speeding again. My newest adversary had revealed itself to betraffic.Bumper-to-bumper, it appeared, and stretching all the way into the city.I cannot catch a break,I thought, exhaling.Why can’t I ever catch a break?
For the next twenty minutes, the Subaru and the surrounding cars crawled forward two or three yards at a time. I readjusted my hands on the steering wheel for no reason whatsoever; I wasn’t going anywhere.It’s a Friday afternoonin May,I mused.People could be leaving work, but that’d mean theotherside of the highway would be congested…
And rush hour traffic didn’t usually kick off until four thirty p.m., which was still a few hours from now.
Had Grace factoredthatinto her itinerary?
I rolled my eyes.
