Betting on You(96)
Y’know, since I had a hand in making her sad.
Karaoke began, and I was finally able to relax. Mainly because Charlie had stopped talking, and everyone else had started. Dana and Eli sang “Se?orita” by Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes, and they were actually good.
And even more adorable than before.
They were couple perfection. And it made me sick.
Nekesa went up and did “Party in the USA,” which was awful, but everyone sang along so it was fun. I was in the middle of discussing Miley Cyrus with Eli when I heard the notes of the next song start.
No.
I closed my eyes and refused to look toward the karaoke stage.
“Bailey,” Charlie said into the microphone, “Bailey Mitchell. Come sing with me.”
“Do What You Gotta Do” began playing, and Charlie started singing to the Disney song. Badly.
Hearing him singing that song made me grit my teeth and curl my fingers into fists. It reminded me of what we’d been, of how great we’d been together, and how easily he’d just scrapped it.
And now, because of the convenience of location, he thought we could just pick it back up like nothing had happened?
I got up and headed for the door—I needed to get the hell out of there. I needed air, I needed space, I needed no Charlie. I could feel his eyes on me as I walked, and just as I pushed the doors to exit the building, I heard him stop singing and say into the microphone, “Bailey!”
Nope.
Not stopping, not going back.
I walked around to the side of the building, out of sight, and rubbed the back of my neck with both hands.
“Bailey?” Charlie came running around the corner, and I felt something spark in my chest as he looked confused, like he was somehow shocked that I hadn’t wanted to play with him.
“For God’s sake, Charlie, can you just leave me alone?” I dropped my arms to my sides and sighed. “You’re good at that, so it should be easy.”
He made a noise in his throat and his face looked pained. Guilty, like he knew he’d been an asshole. “I didn’t leave you alone; I just—”
“You literally left me alone at your mother’s apartment, and you’ve ghosted me ever since,” I said in a high-pitched voice that I didn’t like. “Don’t get me wrong—I don’t give a shit—but you can’t act like you’re confused as to why I’m not your friend anymore.”
“I knew this would happen,” he muttered quietly, almost under his breath.
“Knew what would happen?” I barked.
“This,” he said, looking agitated and sounding frustrated. “I knew this would happen. I told you this would happen.”
“Are you talking about your idiotic theory?” I asked, my voice growing louder. “This didn’t happen because we were friends. This happened because as soon as we shared a real moment, you freaked out and disappeared.”
“I didn’t freak out,” he said, his voice a little louder as well, “but I could tell that you were going to make something huge out of a kiss, and I didn’t want it to fuck up our friendship.”
I felt like he’d slapped me with his I could tell that you were going to make something huge comment, as if he were the adult in the scenario who knew silly little Bailey was going to fall in love. As if I were a lovesick idiot.
“Uh, for starters, it wasn’t just a kiss, Charlie, and you know it,” I said, blinking fast as I tried keeping my thoughts straight. “But if anything fucked up our friendship, it was you ignoring me. Friends don’t do that.”
“Friends, friends,” he said, his words almost a groan. “It’s such bullshit.”
“No, your ideas are bullshit.”
“Really?” he asked, stepping a little closer. “Because it occurs to me that we’ve yet to discuss the fact that I actually won our bet. Because it wasn’t bullshit at all. I told you a long time ago that Theo and Nekesa were going to hook up, and I was right. You bet on friendship, and you lost because it’s impossible.”
“Oh my god, Theo told you he kissed her?”
So that guy was a dick, too.
“What the hell?”
Nekesa appeared from behind Charlie, where she’d apparently been hidden by his bigger, taller body.
Shit, shit, shit.
“What does that mean?” Nekesa asked, taking a step toward me. “You didn’t make a literal bet that we’d hook up, did you?”
“No!” I nearly shouted, panicking as she glared at me. I cleared my throat as my heart started pounding in my chest, and I said, “It’s not like that.” Right? How could I explain. “I mean, there was this… discussion that Charlie and I had.” Discussion? Jesus, Bailey!
Her mouth dropped open, and her eyes moved between Charlie and me. “What kind of garbage person makes a bet about their best friend?”
“It wasn’t like that,” I said, desperate to convince her. “Charlie just thought—”
“Charlie sure likes betting,” Theo said.
I hadn’t even noticed him standing beside Nekesa, but I could hardly keep up with the conversation, much less the attendance. He looked pissed as he glared at Charlie, which irritated me because this was none of his business. I mean yes, he’d been part of the bet, but I didn’t care how he felt about that.