Under the Same Stars(28)

“Timothy Hobson-Kirby the fourth,” proclaimed the third.

Marco chuckled. “Tim, you’re such a pretentious prick.”

“Make sure that goes on my headstone, Marco,” Timothy Hobson-Kirby IV joked.

I smiled. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Mads.”

“We know,” Simon and Zach said simultaneously, so I assumed Carina had mentioned my name.

“Okay, so his ex?” Timothy Hobson-Kirby IV looked unimpressed. “Really?”

“Yes,” I said. “He mentioned her when we first met, but it sounded like he was pretty much over it, so I completely spaced.”

“It doesn’t matter if you spaced,” Marco said as a Coke was set down in front of me. I took a grateful sip, wondering how and when he’d ordered it. “What matters is that Davis didn’t tell you she was part of tonight’s group. You deserved to know that.”

“Especially if there’s still shit between them,” Timothy Hobson-Kirby IV added. “How’d you find out?”

I told them.

“Ah, I’ve encountered several Natalies in my day,” Zach wistfully said, Simon elbowing him in the ribs. “I’m sorry, Mads.”

“She’s probably not a raging bitch,” I backtracked (because I had called Natalie one). “Davis is a nice guy. He wouldn’t have dated someone like that.”

“He might’ve,” Zach said while a server delivered five ramekins of crème br?lée, caramelized to perfection. “Nice guys can still have questionable taste.”

Yeah, I thought. Like my brother…

Marco cracked his dessert’s burnt-sugar shell with a spoon. “I don’t like that he didn’t give you a heads-up, Mads. It kind of proves Natalie’s point that you’re a prop, not a date. He might like you, but…” He shook his head.

A lump formed in my throat. “They took pre-prom pictures without me,” I said, it suddenly dawning on me. “I met them in Hun’s student parking lot, but we took approximately zero pictures together. I bet they did it earlier, at Natalie’s house or something. That way there would be no record of me.”

The Princetonians considered. “Well, your generation does document everything on social media,” Simon mused.

My eyebrows knitted together. My generation? These guys were only two years older than me.

“Simon has read This Side of Paradise too many times,” Marco whispered to me. “He acts like it’s 1914 and we’re in the same English class as F. Scott Fitzgerald.”

Simon continued. “And Natalie’s house does fit the narrative…”

Zach swallowed some crème br?lée. “Si, shut up.”

I sighed. “I guess I should get back out there.”

“Do you want to get back out there?” Marco asked as I heaved myself out of my chair. I’d let myself sulk until I left the kitchen. “I saw you ordered the swordfish, Mads, and while it’s spectacular, I’m not sure it’s really worth it.”

No, I thought a couple minutes later, when I awkwardly rejoined the table. Everyone went silent. If this is going to be the rest of my night, it’s not worth it.

Ben/Brett/Brent agreed, as he’d seemingly bailed while I’d been gone. His chair was empty. But I put on a face for the rest of dinner and pretended like everything was fine. Nobody spoke directly to me, but I listened along to the conversation and laughed at jokes cracked. “Can we talk?” Davis asked more than once, his leg bouncing under the table. The frantic movement heightened my heart rate.

“You bet,” I whispered. “Just not now.”

“When?” he whispered back.

“Later,” I swallowed, having an uncomfortable inkling that Natalie was doing her damnedest to eavesdrop on us. “Before the dance.”

***

You could see lights flashing from the senior dining hall’s floor-to-ceiling windows as soon as Davis pulled Natalie’s car back into the now-packed parking lot. There were no open spots to be had, so he created his own, pulling onto the grassy field near a few other creatively thinking drivers. “We’ll see you in there!” Evan and Rebecca called, fingers lacing together as they speed walked toward the dance. The other couple followed suit, and Natalie after them. Reluctantly, I could tell, but still. She was generous enough to leave Davis and me alone to chat.

“I’m so sorry, Mads,” he blurted. “I should’ve told you that Natalie would be part of the group tonight. Evan said I shouldn’t have kept you in the dark, but I didn’t listen. I thought everything would be chill; I never thought she would call you out like that.”

“Well, she did,” I said, folding my arms over my chest. A breeze had swept up, and I didn’t have a jacket. I felt stupid for thinking Davis might offer me his later. “I don’t know how long you were together or who broke up with who, but she still loves you, Davis.” I took a breath. “She’s still in love with you, and you brought another girl to an event she always imagined you’d be attending together. How could she not act like a witch?”

Davis tucked his hands into his pockets, then muttered, “I think she was a little worse than a witch.”

I tilted my head as if to say, Of course she was worse than a witch!