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“No. Is that better?” I taunt.
She laughs, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t lift my spirits just a little.
I get dressed, and we head out with her driving us to the mall. Once we arrive, we hop out, and I try my hardest to act like I haven’t been sulking in bed for the last month.
We make our way through a few stores, and I even find a few shirts to buy, which lifts my spirits even more.
But when we get to the food court to grab an Orange Julius, all the progress I’ve made is stopped short when I see Megan and Beau leaning against the wall. I watch as Megan reaches up to give him a kiss before she lays her head back on his chest to talk to the group of friends that they’re with.
“Shit,” Heather says when she sees them together, then turns to me.
“Too late. Already saw them,” I say as I look to see if our drinks are up yet.
“And …”
“And what?”
“How did that make you feel. Seeing them?” She tiptoes around the elephant in the room.
“Not like hearts and roses, if that’s what you’re asking.”
She sighs as she tries to stand between me and them so I can’t see what’s going on.
It’s marginally working, but no matter how much I fight it, I know they’re standing there, and like a magnet, I can’t help but keep getting pulled back to them.
Finally, our drinks are served, and I grab them in a hurry, just wanting to get out of there. When I turn to leave, my eyes lock with Beau’s, and to my surprise, he doesn’t move them away from me.
Instead, he stares at me in a way that has me wondering what he’s thinking because it most definitely is not hatred, like I would have expected.
No. It’s so much more, and I have to force myself to look away.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX
Summer Before Junior Year
Thank God for Heather. I’m forever thankful that she didn’t leave me like I feel everyone else has.
She guarantees me that Megan isn’t going out tonight, so I’ve decided to hang out with her and this new guy she met after she and Justin broke up a few weeks ago. Though I wasn’t there for the fallout, she came to my house, crying, after he ended things when they got in a very public fight.
Seeing that she’s already moved on to some guy she met at the mall gives me hope that I, too, will be able to move on with my life—eventually.
I don’t suggest dating your next-door neighbor, like, ever. I think that’s why I’m still having such a hard time with it all. I have this constant reminder every time I step out my front door.
We haven’t been able to avoid each other like I know he hoped, but he is quick to ignore me and acts like he doesn’t see me. I hate that I broke his heart the way I did, but after all the thinking I have done this summer, I have to own up to the fact that I truly do have feelings for Beau that I was ignoring.
Now, here I am, without either guy and down a friend in the process as well.
I look in the mirror at myself.
Why does dating suck so bad and cause more drama than I ever knew possible?
With a sigh, I grab my purse and head out of my room.
“I’m going out with Heather,” I say to my dad, who’s sitting in the living room, going over practice plans for tomorrow.
He turns around and looks like he’s surprised to see me standing there. “Well, I sure am glad to hear that.”
I sag my shoulders. Obviously, he knows everything. It wasn’t until this summer that I realized just what it meant for my dad to be a coach and just how much he sees with all of us kids. It was the first time I wished I wasn’t the coach’s daughter, but I guess this is just one more thing I have to deal with.
