Betting on You(103)

“Hey, gorgeous,” I heard, and when I looked up, it was Zack. “You look amazing.”

Of course. I was sitting alone like a total derf, so why not have Zack say hello, Universe?

I hadn’t responded to him after our tiny text exchange at Target, but that seemed like an eternity ago because things with Charlie had eclipsed everything else in my life.

Zack was wearing all black—black suit, black shirt, black tie—and it occurred to me that his shirt was a little tight. Charlie’s Baby Gap comment slithered through my head, even as butterflies went wild in my stomach.

“Thanks,” I said, my cheeks getting warm. “So do you.”

He grinned and ran a hand over the front of his shirt. “Me and the guys wanted to go all Prom Mafia with the black; totally Ford’s idea.”

I nodded and smiled, unable to remember which of his friends was Ford. “Well, it was a good one.”

“Who’s your date?” he asked, looking around. “Mr. Breaking Bad?”

I felt a stab of satisfaction at that, but of course, it immediately reminded me of Charlie. I said, “Nah—it’s Nekesa.”

I glanced over and saw her dancing with Aaron. “Well, it was.”

He laughed at that, and I realized that everything had changed.

And hadn’t changed at all.

Because I still found him to be beautiful. And charming. And kind.

But I didn’t feel anything.

“Well,” he said, his eyes moving down to my dress for a second before returning to my face. “I better get back to the group, but I just wanted to say hey. I miss talking to you.”

“Same,” I said breathlessly, and as he walked away, there wasn’t even a tiny part of me that wanted to stop him.

“Are you guys getting back together or what?”

I looked to my left, and Dana and Eli were coming back to the table. Dana was smiling at me as she said it, and I quickly shook my head. “No, he was just saying hi.”

“I heard he and Kelsie broke up,” she said, plopping into the chair beside me. “So I wondered.”

“Wait, what?” I squinted and asked her, “They did? When did they break up?”

“I think sometime last week.” She leaned a little closer and said, “Why—are you interested?”

This was the news I’d been waiting for, yet my we-need-to-get-back-together desperation had left the building.

I literally didn’t care.

Before I could answer, Eli asked, “Are you still pissed at Sampson?”

“What?” I looked at his bow tie and wondered how much he knew. “What do you mean?”

“When he had people over, I asked if you were coming, and he said no because you were pissed at him.”

God, that’s right—he was having people over the day after blanket fort night. I guess I’d forgotten. I gave him a noncommittal “Yeah.”

“That’s okay, you’re not alone,” he said, smiling. “Austin was so fucking livid when Charlie called off the party the night before that I still don’t think they’re talking.”

The night before? “There were going to be two parties?”

For some reason that irritated me, thinking of Charlie being a party-bro on the same weekend he broke my heart.

He shook his head. “It was supposed to be Friday night. We brought the beer over, we told everyone, and it was just about to pop when Charlie got a text and was suddenly like I gotta go—no party.”

I blinked. “Wait, what? What happened?”

He shrugged. “No idea. He goes, Something important came up and I have to go, and he kicked us out.”

“But we went to Dave and Buster’s instead and it was super fun,” Dana said, “so it turned out okay.”

I heard a roaring in my ears. Had Charlie called off a party to go get me at Walgreens? I felt a little light-headed as I remembered how quickly he’d said he was on his way when I asked for a ride.

No questions, no I have to rearrange some things, just a solid On my way.

God. That couldn’t be what happened, could it?

But as quickly as that thought formed, the thought So he could “get” you negated the action.

Shit.

I made it about an hour after that, but as soon as they played “The Last Time,” I had to leave. The entire Red rerelease reminded me of Charlie, and just hearing it made me think of pine trees and tree-climbing boys.

I told Nekesa that I didn’t feel well and was getting an Uber, and even though she was sweet and offered to take me, I could tell she was having the best night of her life and didn’t want to ever leave.

Good for her.

I let out a sigh as I walked through the enormous lower level of the downtown convention center. I felt like I’d somehow failed at fun, and now I had to take the Uber of shame back to Scott’s house. I was almost out the door when I saw two security guys standing in the way of someone who appeared to be trying to get in.

“You have to be a West High student, sir. We can’t let you in,” the bigger of the two guys said.

“I don’t want to go to the dance. I just want to fucking talk to someone.”

Oh my God! My pulse took off at the sound of that voice. Was that Charlie?

I stopped walking and craned my neck to try to see around the guards. Was Charlie here, trying to crash our formal?