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Me: I’ve missed you too.
Everett: I started eating on the South quad that you eat at to avoid me. Took everything in me not to throw you over my shoulder and take you home when guys would eat with you and Peyton.
I don’t respond to his jealousy because it’s almost comical.
You got a girl pregnant. Me eating lunch with friends of Peyton’s flavor of the week is hardly a reason to be jealous.
I peek my head out of the stall, to see a significant line has formed. I wash my hands and slide past the line and through the bar when I see my man leaning against the wall near the door. He looks so deliciously sexy it makes my knees weak.
Focus.
“Everett.” I shake my head at him and then I push myself into his arms. I reach up behind his neck and bring his face closer to mine. I press a kiss to his lips, but I pull apart before he can deepen it. A smile is on his face when we pull apart and before he can comment on our first kiss in four weeks, I decide to drop the bomb. “Something’s…wrong.”
“What? What is it?” His face is laced with concern and when his hands gently stroke my face, the tears spring to my eyes.
“She…she did something. I don’t know what.” I let out a breath. “There—there’s a plan.”
“What do you mean?”
I take a deep breath as I calm my racing heart and prepare my thoughts. “I heard her friends in the bathroom. One of them said she wasn’t even aware you and Alli had sex.” I blink the tears away. “Don’t stay here this summer, Everett. Come home to…Arizona. Come with me.”
He rubs his jaw and his shoulders sink. “That’s what this is about? And who even told you about that?”
“Alli’s bitchy friends basically told me you guys are back together.”
“We certainly are not,” he growls.
Well, that’s a relief, sort of.
I narrow my gaze in question. “But you’re staying here with her this summer?”
“I’m not staying here with her. I was offered an internship and my parents thought it was a good idea. They want me to step up and be responsible.”
“There may not be anything for you to be responsible for! That baby may not be yours, Everett.”
He bites his lip and he looks out into the crowd. “I’m going to take a paternity test when the baby’s born and—”
“No, you can do it now since it’s been eight weeks. You need the truth. The way they sounded…it just didn’t sound right.”
“What girls, Leigh? Who said something to you?”
I look around the room, trying to identify them, but the room is getting more crowded by the second and I don’t see them. “I…” I shake my head. “I don’t know, but Everett I swear, I’m not lying.”
“I don’t think you’d ever lie to me,” he says sincerely. His blue eyes are raking over me and I know he’s reading me just like he’s always been able to do. “I just think maybe you misunderstood, or maybe they were fucking lying to you to get under your skin and drive an even bigger wedge between you and me.” He shakes his head. “Her friends are bitches.”
“Birds of a feather.” I raise an eyebrow at him and he has the decency to agree with me. “But no, I was in the bathroom stall and they were talking to each other. They didn’t even know I was there. One of them said that Alli getting pregnant was not part of the plan, and the other said she had no idea you guys even had sex. Everett, something is off about all of this, and I think…I think maybe she’s trying to trap you or maybe she’s not even pregnant. Maybe this is all a fucking game. Have you even seen a sonogram or gone to an appointment with her or…”
He doesn’t say anything; he just looks out into the crowd and my heart sinks.
“You have…”
“I went to her last doctor’s appointment with her.”
A tear slides down my cheek and he reaches up to touch it. I let him because I’m weak. I’m weak and I relish in his touch.
“Just when I think it can’t hurt anymore…” I whisper. I pull out my phone to send a text to Peyton that I’m sorry but I’m leaving before I start moving towards the door.
“Leighton…I’m so sorry.” He falls into step with me as we make our way outside. “But we are not together. I haven’t touched her or kissed her or slept at her house or gone out with her or anything. I’ve been thinking about you since I left your house.”
I start walking away from the bar when I hear my name being called. I turn around to see Peyton jogging towards us despite being in four-inch heels.
“You’re leaving…?” She looks at me and then at Everett. No one says anything, though I know the answer to her questions are written all over my face, and in the body language between me and Everett. His hand is resting on the small of my back and I can sense I’m leaning into him. “You’ll make sure she gets home safe?”
His eyes widen and he nods, and I’ll admit that I’m shocked that she’s so accepting of me leaving with him. She pulls me into a hug and murmurs into my ear. “I know you miss him. And I just talked to Dave and Pat who said he’s been a miserable dick. This situation sucks all around, but maybe…maybe I was wrong about him. Maybe it really was just a mistake.” She pulls back and shakes her head. “I’m not convinced one way or the other but…” She looks at Everett and then at me. “You two loving each other as hard as you do should count for something.” She purses her lips and looks out into the warm summer night. “Hell, it may just count for everything.”
