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Landon had forgotten our movie night. Either that or he'd intentionally skipped it. All to go out with Tiffany. Who looked smug in a way that told me she knew exactly what was happening.
My gaze flickered from Tiffany to Landon, whose mouth hung open still. As if realizing his mistake. Whether the mistake was forgetting our movie night or getting caught skipping it, I didn't know.
Silently, I stepped over the spilled popcorn and started moving towards my bedroom, knowing that I wouldn't last much longer out there. This hurt. In a way, I couldn't fully comprehend, but I knew that if I didn't walk away, I would cry in front of both of them.
"Belle, I—" Landon started, and I held up a hand to him, not needing to hear his words. He stopped talking, allowing me to walk to my room without another word uttered.
And because I loved torturing myself, I let a tear fall as I listened intently to the two of them. Waited for the door to close to Landon's bedroom and to hear their laughter.
But instead, all I heard was the front door closing.
16
Landon
Iopenedthepassengerdoor to my car, unable to look Tiffany in the eyes as she lowered herself back into the seat. Taking a deep breath, I stalked around to the driver's side and took my own seat, pulling out of the driveway as I yanked the seatbelt across my body.
I was fuming, angry only at myself and my own stupidity. But I had to keep my cool as best as I could because Tiffany was still with me.
I was such an idiot. When Tiffany called me at four, asking me to go to a new cocktail bar that had opened downtown, I immediately accepted. I hadn't turned her down for any of the ideas she'd had, going out with her nearly every day or night. It was natural for me to accept. And since I was nearly always with her, I hadn't gotten into the habit of making plans.
Yet none of that was an excuse for what I'd just done to Belle. For standing her up for the movie night that I'd organized, that I'd asked her to join me for. I was in disbelief that I would let something so important slip past my mind so easily. Just at the words of Tiffany, I had forgotten the plans I'd made with my best friend. Left her to wait on me all night.
The image of the snack platter that she'd carefully made sitting on the coffee table, untouched, was burned into my mind. It was all I could see as I drove.
"What's wrong?" Tiffany asked, her voice carrying a tone I didn't understand. And as awful as it was, I didn't care what the tone meant at the moment because I wasn't thinking about tending to Tiffany.
"I messed up," I admitted harshly, gripping the steering wheel until my knuckles were white. The more I thought about it, the more fury built inside of me.
"What do you mean? It's not a big deal that we woke her up." Tiffany obviously didn't get it, and that was fine. She couldn't understand.
"No. I promised Belle that I would have a movie night with her tonight. And forgot all about it. Stood her up." I spoke, chopping, unable to organize my thoughts. Instead, I focused on not wrecking my car as I made the short drive to Tiffany's apartment building.
"You didn't do anything wrong. You were just out with your girlfriend. I'm sure she understands." Her voice struck me the wrong way, but I brushed it off.
"No, I messed up. I didn't even have the decency to text her where I was, and she must have been waiting on me for hours."
"Don't stress out about it, Landon," she said, placing her hand on my thigh and rubbing what I assumed she thought were comforting circles. They just annoyed me. "Like I said, she can't blame you for spending time with your girlfriend."
I didn't want to deal with the argument that would result if I reminded her that she was not my girlfriend officially, so I let it slide. But I couldn't let her other words slide.
"Just because I was with you doesn't make what I did right. I didn't tell her I wouldn't be there. Our movie nights are usually pretty elaborate, and we always cook together. So I'm sure she prepared all of the food and was just waiting for me. She even made a snack tray." I was rambling, only digging myself into my grave further. It was making me even angrier the more I thought about what I did to her. How I treated my best friend.
"That's a little excessive, don't you think? She shouldn't be putting that much effort into a movie night with her friend. Unless she has feelings for you, Landon. And quite frankly, you shouldn't be spending that kind of time with her now. You have a girlfriend, so you shouldn't be having cuddly movie nights with another girl."
There were so many things wrong with what she just said, but I addressed only one.
"Cuddly? We were going to watch a new galactic movie together and eat junk food. We weren't going to cuddle. It's not like that at all," I defended, suppressing the urge to roll my eyes. And the urge to pick her hand up off my lap and throw it off of me.
"Regardless, you shouldn't be having what seems pretty much like a date night with someone that isn't your girlfriend," Tiffany crossed her arms over her chest, and I again fought to control my eye movement. I didn't like the possessive vibe coming from her, especially since it was unwarranted.
"There aren't any feelings between us, Tiffany. We have been best friends for eight years and enjoy spending time together. That's all." I tried not to growl the words out at her because I didn't want to hurt her feelings tonight, too. All I needed to do was get her home and then race back to Belle and apologize.
"I just wish you wouldn't spend time with her like that. Especially because I think she has feelings for you, Landon."
"If she had feelings for me, I would know. And she would have told me by now. Don't worry about it." I was a bit gruff in the way I said it, but I wanted to make it apparent that the conversation about that was over. If she said one more thing about me not spending time with Belle, I knew we wouldn't last. Thankfully, she stayed quiet.
When I pulled up to her apartment, she remained seated for a second, and nothing but the rumble of the engine made a sound. Finally, she turned in her seat to look at me, so I angled my head to make eye contact.
