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"Oh, I actually meant the new war movie about–"
"War movies are so not my thing. Neither are those silly space operas." Tiffany giggled, and I turned to her with a lifted eyebrow. I actually found myself wanting to tell her that she should take it back because those were my favorite movies. But then her eyes flicked to Belle, and so did mine. Belle just had a blank expression on her face, so when I looked back at Tiffany, I was confused as to why she was smirking.
"That's okay, Belle. I'll take you to see that one. It looks really good, actually," Zach answered, swooping in, of course, to save the day.
The game neared its end, and there wasn't a clear winner. Once Andrew and Leslie had only two trains left, we played our final turns. Then, we got to counting destination card points.
"We have the longest route!" Belle exclaimed, pointing to her and Zach's very long train expedition. I tried not to roll my eyes.
"One twenty-seven," Mandy announced, laying her and Cooper's cards out and smiling proudly.
"One twenty-two," Leslie said, defeated. That earned a cheer from Mandy.
"Ah! One thirty-one!" Tiffany exclaimed, beaming up at me excitedly. I couldn't help my little smile.
"No way," Belle whispered, but we all heard it. She looked at Zach in disbelief, and he just grinned.
"It's okay, Belle. I hear you always lose," Tiffany comforted, but her voice was more teasing than kind.
Belle shook her head, grinning. "One forty-seven!" She squealed, standing from her chair and fist-pumping. Zach stood with her, and she threw her arms around his neck in celebration. "We won!"
"It was all you, Belle," he told her, squeezing his arm around her waist.
"That's never happened before," Cooper mused, and everyone was grinning ear to ear with how happy Belle was. Except for me. "Congrats, Belle."
"Thank you, thank you," she said with a bow. "Now, after that riveting experience, I need some food."
Grabbing Zach's hand, she pulled him away to the kitchen.
"What's wrong with you, Landon?" Andrew asked in a low tone, leaning towards me.
"What do you mean?"
"You've been acting like a rude cardboard cutout all night," Cooper commented, and my eyes flew to his side of the table. Mandy nodded in agreement.
"Nothing's wrong. Just don't feel great tonight, I guess." I shrugged, then felt the press of Tiffany's hand on my shoulder.
"He had a long week. Do you want to go back to my place to rest, baby?" She pressed her chest against my arm, and I had a hard time not leaning away.
"No, I'm fine." I gave her a fake smile and started cleaning up the game board.
21
Isabella
"IseverythingokaywithLandon?" Zach asked as soon as we were in the kitchen alone. The group was having a conversation in the other room, and I heard multiple voices but couldn't hear what they were saying. So I knew they wouldn't hear us.
"He's acting super weird, sorry," I answered, feeling bad that my best friend had been shooting daggers at Zach all evening. Zach being the carefree guy he was, didn't seem to be offended by it though, and I was thankful for that.
"No apologies needed." He put his arms around my shoulders, pulling me into a hug. I leaned in, breathing in his musky cologne. I needed to just stay right here for a second and avoid the other problem out there.
The entire night, Tiffany had been giving me these super odd looks, a cross between smug and annoyed. Additionally, every single time I said anything, she would cut me off and interject her own thoughts and opinions without ever letting me finish. I wanted to call her out on it, but there were two problems with that. One, I wasn't a confrontational person, so I certainly couldn't boldly speak my mind about someone else's behavior. Two, it felt like that was something Landon should have noticed and said something about. I didn't expect him to say something to Tiffany in front of everyone, but he could at least whisper to her or pull her aside in a nonchalant way and ask her to not constantly talk over me.
But he didn't even seem to notice, which wasn't surprising.
It hurt my heart because I felt like he was letting his care for me fall into this great nothingness in favor of pleasing Tiffany. I didn't need him to pick me over her, but he could have at least not sat by and watched her treat me poorly.
But I knew it wasn't fair of me to think any of that. So I let it go.
