Betting on You(99)
“Bailey—”
“And I was betting on you, not that that made it any better—”
“Can you shut up?” she asked, her eyebrows going even lower. “This groveling is pathetic.”
My words froze in my mouth, because I couldn’t believe she’d told me to shut up.
But then her mouth turned into a little half smile that made me want to cry happy tears. Actually my eyes did fill with tears, because I missed her so much. She said, “What you did was super assy. Like, super assy.”
I nodded and sniffled. “I know.”
“But Charlie told me—after he and Theo fought, by the way—that you took the bet to show him how wrong he was. And he told me you felt shitty about it the whole time.”
“I totally did,” I agreed, adding, “Not that that excuses it.”
God, what had I been thinking? It was surreal to me, that I’d ever gone along with it.
Freaking Charlie.
“Are you okay?” I asked, realizing that she’d been coping with her own loneliness. “About Aaron, I mean.”
She puckered her lips and lifted her shoulder. “I guess, yeah, but I miss him.”
I swallowed and nodded.
“A lot,” she added, looking so sad that I wanted to hug her, even though I knew she wouldn’t let me.
“Have you guys talked at all?” I asked, wishing I could fix it for her.
She shook her head. “I’m too scared to call him.”
Yeah, I definitely understand that. “You should, though.”
She just sighed, like she had no idea what to do, then said, “So can I catch a ride home with you after work? My battery’s dead, and I don’t want to wait for my dad to pick me up.”
“Are you kidding?” I said, trying—and failing—not to smile. “Of course you can!”
“Settle your ass down.” She laughed.
“Sorry.” Relief swept over me like a wave.
The rest of my shift was better, now that I knew things might be okay with us. And when I gave her a ride home at the end of the night and she just launched into a story right away, as if nothing had happened with us, I was ecstatic. It wasn’t until we got closer to her house that she turned toward me in the passenger seat and said, “So have you talked to Charlie at all?”
Just hearing his name made my chest ache, and I shook my head and said, “He texts me, but I haven’t responded. I’m just going to ignore him until he disappears.”
“Are you sure that’s what you want?” she asked, and I was kind of surprised. After everything that’d happened, I would’ve thought she’d want him out of our lives forever.
“For sure,” I said, turning into her neighborhood. The sooner Charlie went away, the sooner I could stop wasting hours thinking about him.
Of course, that wasn’t really working for me so far.
“So do you want to hear about the fight?” she asked, turning in her seat and tucking her legs underneath her.
“Did they actually fight?” I glanced over at her, unable to imagine such an event since neither of them seemed like brawlers. “For real? Like a physical fight?”
I glanced over, and she was nodding emphatically. “The first time we all worked together after Applebee’s, those boys got heated. Charlie was quiet the entire shift—didn’t say a single word to either of us—and when Theo said something stupid like Smile, sunshine, Charlie went off.”
“Went off?” I looked over at her and asked, “What’d he say?”
As much as I detested him, I didn’t like the idea of him angry.
Ugh. What was wrong with me?
“Eyes on the road,” she said, and I obeyed. She continued with “I think he said, like, Can you not talk to me, you stupid fucking asshole, which made Theo get all puffed up and go What the fuck is your problem, man,” she said, doing voices as she spoke.
“No way,” I said, in utter disbelief. Charlie was a smart-ass, a chill-vibes kind of dick. He wasn’t a yelling-in-your-face type of dude.
Or was he? Did I even know what really went on inside of Charlie Sampson?
I sighed because in spite of everything, I still felt like I did know him.
“Yep,” she said, and I could see her nodding out of the corner of my eye. “Then Charlie was like Why did you have to open your huge fucking dipshit mouth to Bailey, you gossipy little bitch, which made Theo push him. Then Charlie pushed him harder and shoved him against the wall.”
That made me slam on the brake as we came to a red light, staring at Nekesa as shock and worry and stress hit me, all at once. My thoughts were riotous as I tried to make sense of everything.
“This can’t be true,” I said, putting my foot back on the gas and attempting to drive responsibly while dying of shock.
And also stressing about Charlie’s anxiety, wondering how many TUMS he was consuming on a daily basis, which pissed me off because he didn’t deserve my worry.
But dammit, I just missed him.
I missed my friend Charlie, even if he’d been a total lie. I missed the teasing and the way he knew what I was thinking all the time and how comfortable it felt to just be around him.
I’d never forgive him for taking away that comfort.
“I broke it up,” she said, “because I’m a peacemaker, but not before Theo said something like You did this to yourself, wagering on everyone like a fucking high-roller idiot.”