Chapter 105
I had to know one thing. “Who was it?” I asked Lucy, not even turning my head to look at her.
“It doesn’t matter,” Lucy replied. “She doesn’t like him. She said no. She’d rather run her arm through a meat grinder than go to the dance with that pig.”
My forehead crinkled together. Liam was a pretty popular guy. He was cute, a good basketball player, friendly. I couldn’t think of anyone who didn’t like him. Anyone at all. Except…. Suddenly, everything made perfect sense. “You?” I asked, turning to look at my best friend. Lucy didn’t even look up from the floor. “It was you, wasn’t it?” My voice didn’t sound accusatory or angry, just shocked.
“I’m sorry,” she said again, her voice weak. “I don’t know why he keeps trying. I thought I’d made it clear to him I didn’t like him. At all. But…”
“He’s asked you out before?”
She nodded. “That’s why I kept telling you to stay away from him, to stop helping him with his homework.” She swiveled so she was almost facing me. “He’s just one of those guys who can’t take a hint, Cass. Even if you didn’t like him, he’s not my type. And I don’t want to date him.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” My voice was borderline angry now. “How could you keep that from me?”
“I didn’t want to upset you,” she replied. “I didn’t want you to think I’d done anything to make him think that I was interested.”
I was up off of the bench now, standing across from her. “Lucy! If I had known how he felt about you, maybe I wouldn’t have spent the last few months thinking I had a chance!”
“Maybe you do have a chance! Surely, he’ll get the hint eventually!” She wasn’t angry at me, but she did sound exasperated.
I ran my hands through my hair and stared at the floor for a moment. I thought back over the last few months. Was there any indication at all that Liam liked Lucy? Had she ever said anything to give me the impression that he was asking her out? “The flowers,” I said quietly. “Valentine’s Day—that bouquet you got, the one you said was from a secret admirer. It was from Liam?”
Lucy’s head bobbed up and down.
“You should’ve told me right then, Luce. You should’ve said something. It might’ve hurt, but at least I wouldn’t have thought there was a chance.”
“You’re probably right,” she said, and I could see tears forming in her eyes. “I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want there to be one more thing for you to be upset about, not right then. Not ever.”
Tears began to cascade down my cheeks. “My whole life is about secrets right now, Lucy. It seems like no one wants me to know anything, and the things I do know, I’m not allowed to say.”
“I know.” She stood up and took a few steps toward me.
I’d told her about Jack, that he was really dead now, that my sister had been shot and almost died, too, that she’d left her team, and while Cadence had called a few times, I could tell how much all of this was weighing on her. Elliott had called to let me know they thought Laura shot my sister on purpose, that they were trying to track her before she could hurt anyone else, that Giovani, the vampire who’d shot my sister first, was still out there somewhere, and he was also a threat. I felt like my entire life was going on behind closed doors, without me, and all I could do was check in with other people to see what was happening.
I opened my arms, and Lucy wrapped hers around my waist. I buried my head in her shoulder for a moment and finally let all of the emotions I’d pent up over the last few months come out. She just hugged me and let me cry, and I’m pretty sure she was crying, too, which made me cry even more because I knew she was the best friend a person could ever have, even if Liam White had asked her to homecoming instead of me.
Finally, I was able to pull myself together and took a step back, sniffling and wiping at my nose with the back of my hand. “I have some tissues,” she said quietly, turning to her purse. She pulled out a few for me and kept a few for herself, and before I knew it we were both drying our tears and actually laughing a little bit at the absurdity of it all.
“I am so sorry,” Lucy said, once we could breathe well enough to talk.
“No, don’t be,” I insisted. “I’m sorry. I should’ve realized Liam was being such a jerk. You kept telling me….”
“I did,” she agreed. “But I understand that you have your own opinion of him.”
I shook my head, trying to figure out how I could be so blind. “I thought… he was different.”
“Yeah, I know,” she said, grabbing her bag off the floor and slinging it over her shoulder. “But they never are.”
“What about Jason?” I asked.
A small smile formed at the corner of her mouth. “He’s okay,” she shrugged. “We’ll see.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at that. I wish I had Lucy’s approach to guys. She was definitely of the opinion they needed to prove their value to her, and I envied that. I was more of the, “please notice me!” camp.
Grabbing the hanger off the back of the door, I tossed her dress across my arm. “Let’s go,” I said, pushing all thoughts of Liam out of my mind and now praying he wouldn’t be in the food court.
“I’m starving,” Lucy said, one arm around her midsection, as she headed toward the checkout counter. “Thank God Mom gave me her credit card.” She pulled it out of her back pocket. “Lunch is on me!”
Most of the time, I tried not to mooch off the Burks too much, but today, I would definitely let her cover lunch. And something told me I’d be eating a lot of it, trying to shove my sorrows back down my throat along with a large orange chicken and some fried rice. And after that, we just might have to have a cookie or two. I let out a sigh. Just when I thought life was as complicated as humanly possible, something else came along….
