Page 135 of Sparks Fly

The lie tasted wrong before I even finished saying it.

Sawyer went still beside me. Her hand slipped into her jacket pocket, and when I looked at her, the warmth she had carried into the store was gone.

She smiled anyway, and that somehow made it worse. It was the smile she gave customers. Polite and easy. Nothing like the one she had been giving me ten minutes ago.

“It’s really nice to meet you,” Sawyer said as she shook Lilly’s hand. “I’ve heard a lot about the wedding. It sounds like you have everything planned down to the minute.”

Lilly blinked before smiling. “That is very accurate.”

They talked for another minute about the store, the wedding, and the kind of music Brad was looking for.

I barely heard any of it.

All I could hear was my own voice.

A friend. Works with my brother.

When Lilly and Brad finally left, the bell chimed behind them.

Sawyer reached into the bin beside her and pulled out a record, turning it over like nothing had happened.

“Sawyer.”

“It’s fine.”

She didn’t look at me. It wasn’t fine.

She put the record back and picked up another. Normally she’d be pulling albums out to show me, telling me which ones she owned and which ones were criminally overrated.

I stood there, frozen.

Fucking friend.

We paid and stepped outside. The air felt colder than it had before.

We walked toward my apartment with a small but unmistakable space between us.

“I’m sorry,” I finally said.

Sawyer kept her eyes ahead. “You don’t have to apologize.”

“I do. I froze. I didn’t think.”

“I said it’s okay, Addie.” Her voice was too calm.

“That doesn’t mean it didn’t matter.” I stopped walking.

Sawyer took another step before stopping too. She turned to face me, her expression careful and closed off.

“It mattered,” she said. “I just don’t want to make tonight worse.”

“I don’t want you pretending it didn’t hurt.”

She rubbed the back of her neck. “What do you want me to say?”

“The truth.”

Cars passed behind us. Someone laughed across the street. The whole city kept moving while I stood there waiting for her to say the thing I already knew.