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IMANI
I leaned against João’s car alongside Landon with my head on his shoulder. It was Thursday afternoon. Mr. Barnes had graded my exam already as a ninety-eight percent, and Mom had finally let me have the night to myself. Even if she hadn’t, I would have snuck out anyway, so it didn’t really matter.
But if she caught me, I wouldn’t hear the end of it.
“What are you doing tonight?” I asked Landon.
Part of me wanted to reach out and intertwine my fingers with his. I never had a boyfriend before, and I didn’t know if that was what he wanted to be to me. But I liked Landon a whole lot more than just wanting him to be my fuck buddy.
Even after the other night, when Landon and I had told each other everything, he didn’t seem to want to get closer—physically at least and definitely not in public. Maybe that would make the whole relationship thing real for him, and he wasn’t ready quite yet. I didn’t know.
Kai and João walked out of the side door of Redwood, looking awfully suspicious as they approached us.
“What’s up?” Kai asked. “We hanging out tonight?”
“Uh …” Landon stuffed his hands into his pockets and pulled out his phone. “No.”
Glancing over his shoulder, I tensed. Three text messages from a girl named Misty.
Misty: Are you coming over today?
Misty: Landon, are you going to answer me?
Misty: You’re thirty minutes late.
Jealousy rushing through me, I stepped away from Landon and pressed my lips together. The first thought that popped into my head was that Landon was seeing another girl. It was so fucked up, but he had put the thought into my head.
This had happened to Allie, my best friend, before—when her last boyfriend had told her not to worry about anything and then he ran off with the captain of the cheer team. Sometimes, the people who worried about someone cheating on them the most were the ones doing it behind their back.
Instead of accusing him immediately, I crossed my arms to keep my hands from shaking. “Who’s Misty?”
Landon widened his eyes and thrust his phone back into his pocket. “Nobody.”
I parted my lips, glancing between Kai and João, who stood around us, looking as confused as I was.
“Do you guys know who Misty is?” I asked them, furrowing my brows and feeling nothing but hurt rush through me.
Both Kai and João shook their heads, so I turned back to Landon.
“Who is she?”
Landon turned his body from me, arms crossing over his chest and his shoulders sinking in on himself. “She’s nobody, Imani,” he whispered, shaking his head like he had done the other night when he didn’t want to talk to me. “Nobody you need to worry about.”
“But you …” I took a deep breath to keep my voice from trembling, but it didn’t work.
“Is this why you’ve been bailing on us all week?” João asked, narrowing his eyes.
Kai mumbled something, then pulled out a pack of cigarettes, sticking one in the corner of his mouth. I stared at Landon’s tense back and wanted him to say something, anything that would get me to believe him. I didn’t understand what was so bad about it. If he wasn’t seeing someone else, then why couldn’t he tell us?
“Who is she?” I asked again, desperate. “Landon—”
“She’s nobody!” Landon snapped, walking away in the same direction he did after school every night this week. “Can you guys stop it? I don’t want to talk about it, Imani. Not here and especially not now.”
Before he could get far, I stepped forward. “Are you cheating on me?” I asked, the words coming out louder and more heartbreaking than I had wanted them to.
We weren’t even a couple or a thing—honestly, I couldn’t tell you what we were.
But this felt like betrayal.
