He’s not sure, I thought.He isn’t sure whether I’m referencing spying for Katie or Shelly’s social-media hard launch.
“You told me you’d ended things with Shelly,” I said. “You told me it was over.” I tried to keep my voice cool. “Younevermentioned that you guys still talked.”
“We didn’t!” Marco said. “I mean, sometimes she’d send me a meme on Instagram or I occasionally sent her one, but that was it.” His tilted his head. “Why does that matter to you?”
I felt a twinge in my ribs, knowing he was baiting me. He wanted to circle back to the phone call.
“Because she’s terrible!” I exclaimed, refusing. “Didn’t we agree on that? Maybe she’s not theworstperson in the world, but come on, Marco! You said you didn’t want anything serious with her, yet you invited her to Stone Harbor?”
“It would’ve been rude not to,” he said. “We have the same circle of friends.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, like Tim, Simon, and Zach think she’ssogreat…”
Do we love Shelly?Timothy Hobson-Kirby IV had responded after I’d sent the Princetonians (minus Marco) Natalie’s screenshot.
Do we even like Shelly?Zach texted.
No, Simon confirmed.
“You know it was a bigger group than that,” Marco said. “You saw the photos.”
“No, I saw thephoto,” I told him with a bitter taste in my mouth. “What were you whispering in her ear, pray tell?”
Marco was silent for a moment, then said, “You sound incredibly jealous.”
The corners of my eyes stung, threatening tears.
Marco sighed. “Mads, I thought about you all summer. Idreamt about you and only you.”
A wonderstruck wave went through my veins. “You did?”
“Yes—god, yes.” He nodded. “All summer long, but you made it clear you weren’t interested in being more than…” He trailed off to find the right word. “Well, whatever we were.”
Whatever we were.
Friendsreally didn’t cover it.
“I spent pretty much every day here,” he continued. “But you always found a way to bring up Connor—”
“He’s my best friend!” I argued. “It’s not my fault that most of my anecdotes involve him.”
“And you were going on all these dates.”
“You know, it’s interesting you bring those up,” I said. “Because while I thought it was a star-aligned coincidence that you appeared out of nowhere, Katie told me otherwise. She said she told you to spy on me.”
Marco raised an eyebrow. “Spyon you?” He shook his head. “Mads, no.”
“Oh, please!” My hands went to my hips. “The first time I met Davis? For coffee? You were at Crescent Moon.”
“Yeah, because I study there,” he said. “Religiously.”
But you walked me back to my car afterward, I wanted to say.
“You were also at Davis’s pre-prom dinner at Ember & Ash,” I added. “Not at the table next to us, but you werethere.”
“Again, entirely coincidental,” Marco said. “I go to school in Princeton, and Carina runs that restaurant—hell, my familyownsthat restaurant. Of course I eat there!”
“Stop lying!” I shouted. “I go ice-skating with Chad? You bring your cousins skating. Jacob invites me to the movies? You and Tim ditch Simon to see whatever.” My heart hammered. “Always the same place, same-ish time. And the only person who knew those details was Katie.” I swallowed hard. “How do you even know Katie, anyway?”
