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With a lot of restraint, I manage not to snarl at him. "I can’t go into it. We’ve made up. Leave it at that, okay?"
"Seriously? You’re not giving me shit? Why the hell did you end up on my couch last night?" Wes sneers back.
Now I’m getting irritated. "When was the last time I had to explain myself to you?"
Wes glowers, nostrils flared, but then starts the game back up.
I’m grateful that he’s my best friend on so many levels. I’m not stupid; I can see he’s livid—who wouldn’t be? But where others would keep pushing, he knows that I’ll tell him when the time is right—it just hasn’t been. Wes was pissed for weeks after I shut Lilly out, but eventually, he let it go. It had to have been something serious for me toleaveLilly, which was reason enough for him. He still talked to her on occasion, but he was my best friend first, and that probably hurt Lilly just as much. She didn’t just lose me. I took Wes with me.
He’s yet another person who got involuntarily pulled into this scheme and had to pay the price with his friendship to Lilly. I probably owe him an apology—one day. Forallof it.
Lilly is sittingon her bed, reading, when I walk in around eleven. She genuinely smiles, and I can’t help the feeling of warmth spreading through me.
"How is Wes?"
I settle myself next to her against the headboard of her bed with one leg on the mattress and the other hanging down. I make the split-second decision to not mention our argument to her; she has enough going on. "Good. He asked about you."
Lilly closes the cover of her e-reader and tilts her head.
"He saw you last night."
"I shouldn’t have come. I was so angry at Heather and Tristen and couldn’t make myself go home." She balls her fists into the comforter.
I don’t want her to regret coming. It was the best part of the entire evening for me. "It’s fine. Wes is fine. I told him we made up."
Alarm flickers in her eyes. "You what? What does he know?"
"Nothing. I never told him anything. He knew it had to be something major for me to act the way I did. He was up my ass for weeks, but eventually, he let it go. He’s a good friend, Cal. I think we can trust him—when you’re ready."
Lilly’s face goes blank for a second, and then she nods. "Yeah, maybe."
We sit in silence,and I play with the fringe of one of her throw pillows in my lap when I reveal, "I have an idea about how we can pull off our trip to California."
That piques Lilly’s interest, and she looks at me expectantly.
"But before I get to that, have you reconsidered talking to Mom and Dad? If they knew, maybe they would fill in the blanks."
"No!"
It comes out so forcefully that I lift my hands defensively, not pushing further. "Okay," It was worth a try. "I was going on a ski trip with a bunch of people from school and—"
"The one Den and Charlie are going on? After Christmas?" Lilly interrupts.
"Yeah, I’m going with Wes. Anyway, what if you comewithus"—I make air quotes around ‘with’—"and you and I head to California instead?"
She frowns. "Heather and Tristen will never let me go. You remember what happened when I was supposed to go on the field trip to D.C. freshman year."
It was a three-day trip, and Mom and Dad found every possible excuse under the sun to not let her go. Of course, Lilly didn’t get why. A lot of tears and yelling were involved, and in the end, Lilly didn’t talk to anyone for almost four days.
"I remember, but that was a few years ago. Den and Charlie will be there, and so will Wes and I. We can figure something out." Itryto sound confident.
"How do you explain to Wes that you’re not going? And how would they cover for us unless we tell them? And how would we explain to Heather and Tristen thatyouwould look out for me? We don’t talk to each other." She’s right. I didn’t think about all of that. We sit quietly for several minutes.
Lilly is the first to speak again. "I can get Den to cover for me." She sounds convinced. "I’ll ask Heather and Tristen to go with her, and when they start saying no, I’ll bring up that you and Wes are there as well. I mean, you would keep me safe, no matter how we"—she gestures between us—"are with each other."
That approach could work.
"What are you gonna tell Den?" She is as nosy as they get, but I don’t say that out loud.
