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“Awkward,” Sammy muttered to herself from beside me.
“Here,” I offered her the phone. “You can text Elias first.”
She shook her head, a soft look of understanding filling her pain-glazed eyes. “Nah, I’m good. You go ahead.”
I could feel Vaughn’s gaze on me as I typed in Hayat’s number, but I refused to look at him while I waited for my best friend to answer. It went to voice mail.
“Damn it, Hayat.” Looking out the window, I listened until the automatic recording switched over. “Hey, babe. It’s Abi. I’m calling from a friend’s phone. Mine is…” I hesitated but just went with the easier option. “…broken. I dropped it on my run this morning. But I didn’t want you to worry or send Lyric over to make sure I was still breathing. I’ll call you as soon as I pick up the new phone. But I’m so busy studying for finals, it might be a day or so. Love you!”
Disconnecting, I tossed the phone toward Vaughn. “Thanks.”
“You don’t lie well,” Sammy observed. “First time telling a fib?”
Reluctantly, Vaughn turned around in his seat and started the car, but he watched me in the rearview mirror. I ducked my head, looking out the window as the vehicle began to move, guilt choking me.
“With Hayat, yes. We don’t keep secrets. I don’t know why I lied to her just now. I already regret it.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
abi
Sammy’s voice, followed by a clipped response from her brother, startled me out of my thoughts. I didn’t understand anything either of them said, but I heard a note in my friend’s voice that caught my attention.
“Hmm?” I said, glancing around. We were getting into the city, but I hadn’t even noticed. “Is something wrong?”
Vaughn’s brown eyes switched between the rearview and side mirrors as he changed lanes. He’d gone blank again, but I was learning he did that when he was upset about something. He shut everything down to protect himself.
My heart felt like it was being locked in a vise. He’d been the same way Thursday night. Was he anxious about seeing his parents, or was he upset about something else?
Sammy gave me a grim smile. “Everything is fine. We’ll be at my parents’ place soon.”
Vaughn bit out something in Russian, and Sammy was quick to respond. Whatever she said to him had his jaw clenching so hard I could practically hear his teeth grinding together. Sammy continued in a reasoning tone, but he was pissed about something. They started arguing again, and I was done. Not only did they keep snarling at each other, but I didn’t understand a single word they yelled at each other.
“Will you two speak English?” I snapped, losing my patience with them both. “Just because you’re conversing in a different language doesn’t mean I can’t tell something’s wrong. News flash, tone of voice is a big giveaway. And FYI, it’s rude as fuck.”
“Sorry,” Sammy muttered, lowering her head.
Vaughn blew out a long sigh. “My apologies, wildfire.”
“Why are you arguing?” I didn’t think it was necessary to add this time.
“We’re making a stop sooner than expected. My brother and I were disagreeing on which exit he should take to get there quicker.”
If she could have seen me more clearly, she would have known that I didn’t believe a word she’d just said, but I didn’t have the energy to call her out on it. “Well, do it in English. I should have taken Russian instead of Spanish in high school.”
“They offered it at your high school?” Sammy asked curiously as Vaughn switched lanes yet again.
“Spanish, Italian, Russian, and Japanese. As well as ASL. I already knew Spanish, so I went with that for an easy A.” I was definitely regretting taking the easier route.
“How about I teach you the basics,” she offered with a smile. “No is nyet. Yes, dah. Bye is paka. Hi is privet.”
I repeated each word, committing them to memory. Maybe if I knew a few basics, then I could figure out the context of what they were talking about when they started yelling at each other again.
Sammy smiled her approval as I absorbed all the information. “Now look at Vaughn and say, ya ves’ tvoy.”
Swallowing hard, I looked at the front passenger seat instead of Vaughn, suddenly feeling shy. “Ya ves’ tvoy.”
“A little louder,” she urged.
