Betting on You(84)

I raised my chin, feeling defensive in the face of Theo’s nosy opinion. “Well, he was wrong.”

She looked at me with her eyebrows screwed together. “Bay, you just said—”

“He. Was. Wrong,” I interrupted, holding up a hand.

He so wasn’t wrong, by the way. The fake dating had changed everything. Now Charlie wasn’t simply my funny coworker; he was the person I thought about all the time, the person I wished would think about me all the time.

When I found out Zack was still dating his girlfriend, instead of being devastated, I felt only a little sad, because I was so Charlie-focused.

Yes, he was the person I had to pretend not to have feelings for, because if he found out, it would destroy our just-coworkers status.

“Fine,” she said, giving her head a slow shake and reaching for her pizza. “Whatever you say.”

“Hey, guys.” Dana sat down beside Nekesa, a huge smile on her face. “How’s it going?”

For the past week, Dana had been insufferable. She and Eli were gaga for each other, and it was all she could talk about. You could say the sky was blue, and she’d bring up his eye color. You could say garbage smelled, and she would wax poetic about the way Eli’s hair smelled.

It was adorable and nauseating, all at once.

“Good,” I said, opening my string cheese. “How’s life on lovesick island?”

She launched into a gushing story about how she and Eli studied for five hours at Starbucks the night before, and I had to admit that I kind of loved them together. Dana had always been one of my nicest friends—angelically nice to everyone—so it was probably her turn to wear the happy glow.

“Eli said Charlie’s mom is going out of town and he might have people over tonight,” she said, looking excited. “Are you going?”

Charlie had told me his plan, but he hadn’t technically invited me.

Not that I’d go if he had. I’d been working really hard to ignore my superfluous feelings for him, and it just felt like it would be testing that progress if I were to engage with him in yet another new social setting.

Also—if Becca showed and he looked at her like that, well, I might just die.

“I doubt it—I don’t really know his friends.”

“Neither do I,” she said, shaking her carton of milk. “But you know me and Eli.”

“True. Yeah, maybe,” I replied, even though there was no chance of me going.

Zero.

As if he could hear our conversation from his school across town, Charlie texted me an hour later.

Charlie: What’re you doing?

Me: Study hall. Reading.

Charlie: Book, please.

I smiled and texted: The Kingdom of Diamonds and Ash.

Charlie: I TOLD YOU NOT TO BOTHER!!! It’s just royals with magical powers, having sex.

Me: 10/10 would read based off that description.

Charlie: Little pervert.

Me: That’s “Lil” pervert, thank you very much.

I still couldn’t believe he’d read it. Charlie’s mom was a big reader, and when she’d gushed about how great it was, he’d given it a try.

And hated it. Ranted to me for twenty minutes last week about how god-awful it was.

I replied: Reading is subjective. Just because you didn’t like it doesn’t mean it isn’t good.

Charlie: Sometimes you say the most ridiculous things.

Me: As do you.

Charlie: Btw—if I have people over tonight, you’re coming, right?

I looked at the words and felt a tiny thrill that he wanted me to come. Even though he only meant it as a friend, it felt good to know he wanted me there. I texted:

I doubt it. I have to work on my lit paper all weekend.

Charlie: Sometimes you say the most ridiculous things. I’ll text you my address.

I wasn’t going to go, but his insistence put me in a good mood for the rest of the day.

When I got home from school, my mom was already there, and there was no sign of Scott. She was sitting on the sofa, watching Poldark (she’d only just started the series), and when I came in, she grinned.

“Are you off tonight?” she asked, Puffball sound asleep on her chest.

“Yeah—I never work Fridays,” I said, slipping off my shoes and leaning down to scratch Mr. Squishy between his ears.

“Yay,” she said excitedly. “Scott has something going on tonight, so I thought it might be fun to go out for pizza. Just you and me, like old times.”

Nothing had ever sounded better. I dropped my bag and said, “I’m in—let’s go.”

She looked at the clock. “It’s four thirty.”

“Fine.” I plopped down beside her on the couch and said, “We’ll watch two more episodes, and then we’re gone.”

“Deal.”

It was nice, just the two of us. I didn’t actually know how long it’d been since we’d had an evening alone, but it felt like comfort and home and everything that was soothing. It was a moment of life unchanged, as if everything new and threatening had been removed from its spot on the horizon, and I wanted to wrap myself in its presence and take a long nap.

We got so sucked into the show that we were surprised by the darkness when we finally turned it off.

“No wonder I’m starving,” my mom said as she grabbed her keys and I put on my shoes. “I haven’t eaten since lunch.”