“Fuck,” Felix said and ran his hand down his face. “We were supposed to work on the recipe together, you dick.”
“I thought you’d be happy that I did it so fast. Surprise.”
“Happy? You freaking drugged us, Cupcake. What the hell is your problem?”
“Wait,” Kennedy said. “You’re selling drugs?” She looked upset. Furious even. But her face looked so calm, like she was about to fall asleep.
“Yeah, Felix gave me a stake in his business when he had to stop selling himself. I thought everyone already knew this? Kennedy, you tried out my first batch last night.”
Her face went ghostly pale. “I can’t believe you,” Kennedy said. Instead of falling asleep like I thought she was about to, she stood up. “I trusted you, Cupcake.”
That sentence was ridiculous. She did realize that, right? Trusting a cupcake? I held back my laughter because I could tell it wasn’t the right time. But I swore the smile on my face probably looked like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.
“Why do I always fall in love with drug dealers?” she said and put her face in her hands.
Always? I looked at Felix. He was the only other drug dealer I knew. Kennedy had told me she didn’t like Felix when I’d confronted her about it. But then I thought about how weird Kennedy had been when I’d first started hanging out with Felix. How she’d tried to get me to stay away from him. How she’d kept saying she thought Felix was probably related to me. God. Rob had even tried to warn me about this, but I hadn’t listened to him. Kennedy really was in love with Felix?
But Felix didn’t react to what she said at all. No one did. The only person that knew what she meant was me.
I put my hand on her back. I didn’t even care about the fist fight that had just happened right in front of me. I was solely focused on my friend’s pain. “Kennedy, I’m so sorry. You told me you didn’t…I didn’t…” I let my voice trail off. My best friend was in love with the guy I just told I was in love with. And I couldn’t say any more in front of all these people who were still clueless.
“What?” she said and pulled her face out of her hands. Her eyes grew round as what she’d just said dawned on her. “I didn’t mean that. I’m just upset that my boyfriend is selling drugs without telling me and tricking me into being his guinea pig!” Her throat made a weird squeaking noise when she swallowed.
For a second everyone just stared at her.
“I have to go.” She sprinted so fast I would have sworn she was on the track team.
“Shit.” Cupcake ran after her.
I tried to move around Miller to run after her too, but he stopped me.
“You were only given permission to come here,” Miller said. “You can’t follow them wherever they’re going.”
“So now we’re following the rules again?”
“I only didn’t follow them one time by letting those two in in the first place. And look at what happened.” He gestured toward the broken coffee table.
“No, this happened because you just let Matt waltz in here and he’s not on my approved acquaintance list. Or whatever the hell it’s called.”
“Actually he is,” Miller said. “All the Caldwells are.”
“Of course. The one person I don’t want on it already is.”
“Pizza delivery,” some stranger said as he entered the family room. “Whoa, what happened here?”
Miller cursed under his breath and grabbed the pizza delivery guy by the arm, hauling him back toward the hallway.
Felix, Matt, and I were left standing there in an increasingly awkward silence.
I wanted to make a joke about how good the pizza smelled, but it didn’t seem like it would be well received.
“So he’s the one you kissed?” Felix asked. “When you promised I could be your first?”
I wasn’t sure if his words were just harsh against the silence, or harsh because he was angry.
I swallowed hard. “Matt stole my first kiss. I didn’t give it to him.”
Felix shook his head. “Were you seeing him that whole time? Or just after you told me you wanted to be friends until you were ready for more?”
“Felix…”
“I’m just your backup plan.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I feel like a fucking idiot.”
“Felix, that’s not…”
“Then how else would you put it?”
“That I really like you. And I’m confused.”