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“Larson, this is pathetic. She doesn’t want you. Stop forcing yourself on her.”
I stop and turn around slowly to meet his gaze. Everyone starts their murmurs again. “Swanson...you really don’t wanna do this. If I were you, I’d let this go, all right?” There’s a girl in front of me that I’m trying to clean up, and he’s getting in the way of that.
“What do you care, dude? Didn’t you break her heart more than once in a foreign country?”
The laugh that comes out is more bitter than I intended it to be, but this boy is a classic comedian. “Bro, didn’t youcheaton her?”
The room is a mixture of laughs and oohs, causing him to roll his eyes.
Leia’s tugging on my arm, but I’m in the heat of the moment. “Jake, stop this—”
“What’s between me and Leia has nothing to do with you. She’s forgiven me for being an idiot, why can’t you?”
“Dude, I haven’t forgiven you since the first time I saw you make out with Stephanie. Why thefuckwould I forgive you? Leia’s my best friend.”
“Jake?” Leia’s small voice speaks behind me, her hand no longer on my arm. I turn around to her and see a look of hurt on her face. “You...knew?”
Realization stretches across my face. Shit. “Leia...I—” I’m not sure what to say. I didn’t mean to keep it a secret from her.
She walks closer to me, tears brimming in her eyes, yet again. “You knew all this time,” she whispers. “And you didn’t think to tell me. Your friend.” Her face grows increasingly angry.
I look at Nick, and he’s walking away from the situation. Fucking coward.
“I wanted to tell you,” I whisper back to her. It wasn’t a big deal to me to tell her before. I didn’t even think twice about whether or not I should.Because you followed Brock’s advice to leave it alone. “But I didn’t want to hurt you, Leia.”
“Any more than you already have?” I flinch at that. “So this is what you and your hockey bros do in your spare time. You guys conspire against the girls you get involved with, and for what? Because you guys are emotional sadists?” Her voice changes, and it breaks me.
“No, Leia! It’s not like that.” But she isn’t hearing it. I look around the room, and people are still watching us like we’re in a movie. “I...look, Brock—”
“Jake, stop.” Her voice is hard now, making me flinch again. She has an intense glare on her face. “I’m your friend. What’s more, I was yourgirlfriend. You kept it a secret from me. And you didn’t tell me about Hunter cheating on Taya, either. And what’s the common thread here, Jake?” She’s looking at me expectantly. I’m not sure how she wants me to answer this.
“Baby, can we talk about this?”
“Both assholes cheated with blondes.” My eyes widen at that. Where is she going with this? “You made out with two blondes in front of me in Slovakia. Now I don’t even know ifyoucheated on me with one.” Her words are like bullets. I flinch at that, anger building inside me. There’s no fucking way I’d cheat on her.
“Leia, I would never cheat on you. You need to get that shit out of your head right now.”
“I can’t believe anything you have to say,” she whispers. Then she does something I would never expect her to do. She shouts into the crowd around the room. “Gentlemen prefer blondes, right? Am I just wasting my time here?”
Everyone just looks at her in pity. Shit. I reach for her arm, but she pulls away.
“Leia...I’m sorry,” I whisper to her. I don’t know what else to say. Tears are rolling down her cheeks again. I’ve made her cry more than I want to.
She wipes her face and looks around again before bolting out the front door. I should follow her. She’s not in her right mind right now, and what she’s said scared me. If she hurts herself...I don’t know what I’d do.
But she probably doesn’t want to see you right now.You kept secrets from her.
Fuck it. She’s going to talk to me whether she likes it or not.
I run past everyone out the door. She’s single-handedly falling apart, and I have no idea what to do. Except run after her. I’m on the porch and begin to panic when I don’t see her. I walk out onto the driveway.
“Leia?”
I shout out. I look around the front yard, and I don’t see her. I run into the street and look around again.
I look to my right and see her small body wobbling down the street in a bra and shorts. I need to bring her back inside.
She sits down on the curb under a streetlight and puts her head in her hands. Her body quivers, and I immediately know she’s crying. I come up beside her and sit down. She lifts her head out of her hands, still looking down.
