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“And I agreed,” Alex said coldly. “No rehearsals until he’s replaced, though.”
Ryan made a move toward Alex, and Alex did the same. I slipped between them, raising my hands. “Whoa,” I hissed, the adrenaline coursing through my veins thickly. “Okay, let’s dial it down a notch. Anyone care to explain what happened here?”
“Yeah.” Ryan flashed his teeth to Alex, seething, “Wanna explain what happened, Alex?”
Alex stilled. His cheekbones turned pink. What the heck?
“No,” Alex said solemnly.
Oh, no, no, no, no.
What was he hiding?
What on earth was he hiding?
“Alex.” I turned toward him. My voice sounded stunned and hurt, even to my own ears, and I hated that Ainsley was watching this. Was he cheating on me? How much did I really know about his life at school? I knew where he was every single minute of the day outside of school, but for all I was aware, he could have been having sex with other girls left and right on school grounds.
Alex looked away from me.
“Look at me,” I hissed, stinging everywhere.
Oh, shit. I couldn’t believe it. The pain was too much. Too much to breathe. Too much to think. I wanted to… I didn’t even know what I wanted to do.
Run away? Lash out? Cry? All three.
Alex turned around and gave me a look that could freeze the sun.
“I said it’s nothing,” he snapped.
“Are you cheating on me?” I demanded, shouting now.
Everything stopped. Everyone ceased talking. Alex’s face morphed from annoyed and pissed to…what was it? What the hell was it? Shock?
“You are asking if I’m cheating on you?” he asked slowly, like I was an idiot.
I nodded, mortified and nauseous. From my periphery, I could see Ainsley was having the time of her life. She was leaning against Daniel’s shoulder with a smile, playing with her stupid, colorful, beautiful hair, watching the whole thing.
“No,” Alex said, steely. “Ryan said you were messing around with someone else.”
“What?!” I spluttered, so taken aback I literally stumbled backward from the impact of this bullshit. “Me? Messing around on you?”
Alex squared his shoulders, looking defensive all of a sudden.
“Flirting,” he amended. “Heavily flirting.”
I threw my head back and laughed. Firstly, with relief, because he wasn’t cheating on me after all. Then, with glee, because he looked jealous, but apparently, not jealous enough to confront me about it himself. Then finally, with shock, because this was complete and utter horse crap.
“Who am I flirting with?” I shot daggers at Ryan, who now had the courtesy to look embarrassed. He was beetroot red, staring at his sneakers, wanting to disappear. Good. This was a blatant lie and he knew it. He knew better than anyone else here I was not a flirt, and never had been.
“With…with Adam.”
“Adam?” I echoed. I didn’t know an Adam.
“Adam Greene.”
“Adam Greene,” I repeated blankly, tasting the name on my tongue.
Oh. Right. Adam Greene was on the basketball team. A junior. Nice guy. Painfully shy. Our mothers took fitness classes together at the local country club and were friends, so his dad sometimes picked me up when he taught him how to drive. Mr. Greene took both of us to empty parking lots to practice. This compelled me to talk to Adam at least once a day if I saw him at school. But Adam and I were not flirty with each other, and there was no way Ryan didn’t know that.
For one thing, I wasn’t a flirty person, full stop. It just wasn’t my thing.
For another, I was ninety-nine percent sure one of the reasons handsome, athletic, brilliant Adam was so shy was because he was struggling with his sexual identity and was unsure how to tell his parents.
So. Yeah. No way.
“You know I’m not flirting with Adam! He is a family friend,” I cried out. “We small talk. Mostly about how much it sucks to have parents who have barely any time to teach us how to drive. How the hell did you reach that conclusion?”
But it was a moot point, and a totally unnecessary question. Ryan couldn’t have believed the vicious rumor he had started. Ryan reached that conclusion because he wanted to reach it. He made up a narrative, and I wasn’t going to stand in his way. He was a liar, and if I was being honest, deserved to get kicked out of the band.
“Don’t pretend like a day passes without you giving him attention,” Ryan muttered. “You’re always around him, all over him. You rush to him first thing when you see him. It’s blatant, and pathetic.”
“He never sits with anyone!” I roared in frustration, throwing my arms in the air. “You’re such a liar. You know Adam and I are just friends.”
“It’s fine,” Alex said quietly. “I believe you. Which was why I didn’t ask you about it. But I don’t want to work with him anymore.” He tilted his head toward Ryan. “He’s a snake.”
