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“Some people—Mr. Bell—for one, might disagree. I think we need the full story here. I sense something is missing. Some other piece of the puzzle.” He folded his hands under his face, looking completely innocent—he was a counselor gently coaxing their patient, while I was ready to throttle him. Again.
“I don’t think—”
“Humor us,” he said.
I pursed my lips, hoping the heat radiating off of me might make him spontaneously combust.
“Oh, honey. Did you cry?” Mrs. Brooks reached over and squeezed my hand. “It’s okay if you did. I remember the time I got spiked in the face with a volleyball in junior high. Brought instant tears to my eyes. No one will remember tomorrow.”
Carson mashed his lips together, his entire body vibrating with the effort of holding in his laughter, but he failed. He burst out laughing, and even Ethan, next to me, couldn’t help himself.Traitor.
Tiny crystalline tears pooled in Carson’s eyes as he struggled to speak. I wouldn’t be surprised if they dropped from his eyes ice-cold like his heart. “Well, did you, Mia? Did you cry? Or did you—"
I slouched down in my chair and kicked him under the table, cutting him off mid-sentence.
“Ow,” he hissed, and I turned up my nose, glancing to Mrs. Brooks.
Poor Mrs. Brooks. She avoided my gaze. Clearly, she thought I was embarrassed because I cried, not because I tried to strangle her son with my bare hands. If only I would’ve had more time.
I grunted something unintelligible, then loaded lasagna into my mouth, one angry bite at a time. The only thing that made me feel the slightest bit better was when Mrs. Brooks swatted the boys with the salad tongs on the back of the head for still laughing, warning them they’d better eat their supper.
After dinner, Carson cleared the table while Mrs. Brooks wrapped up the leftovers, and I helped Ethan load the dishwasher.
He handed me a rinsed dish, which I placed in the washer. “Looking forward to working with Carson?”
I groaned. “That’s like asking me if I’m looking forward to having a tooth pulled. Only there’s no Novocain where Carson’s concerned.”
“Come on. It didn’t look like you two were all that uncomfortable when I found you outside. You were standing pretty close. It actually looked kind of—”
“Like I was trying to keep the contents of my stomach down?” I smiled at him sweetly. “Ready for a round two replay of this afternoon in gym class?”
He shook his head and laughed. “You two never change. What’ll I do next year without you guys? It’ll be so boring.”
“Transfer high schools for your senior year to Durham?”
“Still hoping to get into Duke?”
“Yep.”
Ethan held out a handful of silverware, which I took from him. He opened his mouth to say something before he stopped, and I tilted my head. Arching a brow, I asked, “What?”
“Nothing. Never mind. I’m sure you’ll get in though.”
“I hope so.” I began separating the silverware. “Do you want to sit in on our little brainstorm sesh? It’ll be fun,” I promised. “You can be the buffer, so we don’t kill each other.”
“As exciting as that sounds, I was headed over to the girls’ basketball game tonight. I heard Beth was going to be there, so I thought I’d scope it out.”
I deflated a little, then pumped myself up. I was his best friend, so I needed to act like it. “Ooh, so somebody’s trying to make this about more than just a dance.”
“Maybe,” Ethan said, and his cheeks pinkened.
I felt an instant pang of sympathy. While Carson was the life of the party and a pot-stirrer, Ethan was painfully shy and kind of nerdy. The only thing cool about him by Lakeview Prep standards was the fact that he played football. He hadn’t done much more than go on a few group dates in the past, so pursuing a girl was huge for him.
“Well, she’d be crazy not to go after you,” I said, reaching out and squeezing his arm.
“Thanks.”
From the entrance to the kitchen, someone cleared their throat. I glanced over to see Carson’s gaze, homing in on us as Ethan blushed even more.
