“That’s what I said,” I tell her, laughing.
We keep talking for a while until I see that practice is over, then I tell her I have to go. We tell each other bye, and then I hang up, pack all my stuff up, and walk down the bleachers. When Eli walks off the field, he barely acknowledges me. He just gives me a quick side hug and pulls away.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“I have to go change and grab my stuff. I’ll talk to you back at my car.”
That’s all he says before he walks away. I instantly feel my stomach drop. I don’t know what could have upset him. Was it me talking to Katie and Harper? I know he doesn’t like them, but he never gets mad that I still talk to them. Sometimes he makes me feel bad for wanting to hang out with them, but he doesn’t ever really stop me. My thoughts just keep cycling through what could be wrong as I wait at his car. I finally see him walking towards the parking lot, bag swung over his shoulder, and his expression is pretty neutral. He daps up some of the guys and tells them bye before walking over to me, unlocking the car, and getting in without saying anything. I stand there for a moment, still confused, before I get in too.
He doesn’t speak until after he pulls out of the parking lot fully. “What the hell was that?”
I blink, confused. “What was what?”
He makes this disgusted expression at me. “Hugging all on my best friend, in front of me and everyone else to see.”
I’m totally caught off guard. That’snotwhat I thought he’d be upset about. “Are you serious?”
He looks over at me. “Why do you want to make me look stupid?”
“I literally don’t understand what you’re talking about. He huggedallof us, and it wasbarelya hug.”
“You’re my girlfriend; it’s disrespectful to be touching other guys like that. Let alone my best friend.”
“We’re all friends?”
“So he’syourfriend now?”
“Is he not?”
“No, he’smyfriend. You know him throughme, that’s it. If you want to be ‘friends’ with him, go ahead. You might as well be fucking him too.”
“Whoa! Are you kidding me?”
“No, I’m not kidding, Lydia. You already hang out with girls that get around and are sluts, then to be hugging all on other guys…it makesyoulook like one.”
“But I’m not? You know that!”
His voice rises, anger lacing every word now. “I don’t know what you do when I’m not around! I don’t know who you talk to behind my back!”
Instantly, my brain fires off flashbacks of my dad…of the yelling, the constant accusations to my mom. Memories I’ve suppressed. I try to swallow the anxiety taking over.
Eli takes my silence as some kind of confirmation of what he’s saying being true. “So you talk to other guys behind my back?”
I snap my head towards him. “What? No!”
“Bullshit! I saw the way you hesitated. Go ahead and tell me now if you’re just like your friends and get around too. You what? Lost your virginity to me and now want to see what else is out there?”
“You’re being crazy right now, Eli! I’ve never been with anyonebutyou!”
“I don’t know if I trust you, Lydia.”
“I’mliterallyalways with you! When would I have time to be with anyone else?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what you do behind my back. I don’t know what you do when you tell me you’re ‘with Simone’.”
“I can’t deal with this right now, Eli. I wanna go home.”
His hands tighten on the wheel. “You’re supposed to come over to my place?”
