The Engagement Game (Engaged to a Billionaire) (17 page)

"Yes," she says again.
 
"I am."

"No.
 
This is another one of your games.
 
You're a liar."
 
He looks at me.
 
"She's a liar."

"I'm not lying," Holly responds, raising her voice too.

"Yes," he insists.
 
"You are."

"No.
 
I'm not."

"Yes.
 
YOU ARE."

Their voices progressively grow louder until I'm caught in the middle of a shouting match.
 
I'd never seen Holly so offended.
 
She tosses her hair back and refuses to let a tear reveal what's really going on inside.
 
I gulp as flashes of light blink so fast I cover my eyes.

"I am pregnant!"
 
Holly stamps her foot.

"You
can't
be!"

Holly throws her hands up in the air.
 
"That's what happens when two people have sex!"
 
I fold my arms.
 
Rex is hardly acknowledging that his future fiancé was in the same room.
 
I bite my lip, not sure how much more I could take.

"We . . . stop lying to me!"

"REX!" she screams, getting so worked up that her body starts to shake.
 
Her face goes pale and in an instant she's bending over and puking all over the cafe floor.
 
I stand up, doing my best to hold back her hair.
 
Rex's mouth is open so wide an entire wine bottle could fit inside.

"Is
that
proof enough for you?" I mumble.
 
Click.
 
Click.
 
Click.
 
I was surprised all the flashing cameras didn't make Holly puke a second time.

"Kat . . ."
 
He's speechless.
 
Click.
 
Click.
 
Click.

"Come on Kat," Holly says, wiping her face.
 
She would only be able to hide her embarrassment for so long.

"Kat," he says again.
 
"We need to talk."
 
Click.
 
Click.
 
Click.

"Kat!" Holly yells, on the verge of tears.

"Listen to
me
love," Rex commands.
 
He directs his instructions at me as if Holly weren't in the room.
 
Was he asking me to choose?
 
Choose between him and my lifelong best friend that was about to be pushed into endless morning sickness and a growing midriff?

"Don't tell her what to do!" Holly shouts.
 
"Let's get out of here, Kat."

"She's messing with you," Rex goes on, taking a step closer to me.
 
"The same way she messed with me."

"Oh, take your head out of your ass," Holly forces herself to laugh.
 
The smell of her morning breakfast starts to go rancid on the floor, but she wasn't going to miss this opportunity to make Rex look like a fool.
 
"She's
my
friend!
 
The joke's on you, dick head!"
 
I push Holly to the door, feeling my vision go a little blurry.
 
My face continues to swell up.
 
The truth was out.

"Kat!" I hear Rex shout, but my back is already turned to him.
 
I'm doing my best to pull Holly away from the flashing cameras and horrific shouts.

"I . . . um . . . well . . ."
 
She stumbles around the cameras.
 
Holly didn't know how to look posh while sporting vomit breath.

"Shutup," I whisper into her ear.
 
"Keep walking.
 
Just keep walking."

"Kat!
 
Kat!"
 
A reporter is shouting in my face, trying to rile me up as I force my way to Holly's car.
 
"You're almost fiancé is already having an affair!
 
How does that make you feel?"
 
I feel like I've just fallen into a pile of rat dung!
 
How would you feel?

"Kat!"
 
The reporter refuses to quit.
 
She actually goes as far as stepping front of me.
 
Physically blocking me from moving any farther.
 
"That makes you angry, doesn't it?
 
What's your comment?"
 
I turn my head and smack the side of her shoulder to push by.
 
She'd already said it for me.
 
Rex was just that.
 
My
almost
fiancé.
 
I'd ruined our chances the day I agreed to Holly's stupid idea, and here I was taking the heat for her.

"Leave me alone," I reply.
 
"I have no comment."
 
No comment appropriate for the papers anyway.

*          *          *

My old room hadn't changed at all.
 
My signed soccer jerseys were pinned on the wall in the shape of a K with the signatures of all my former teammates scribbled in sharpie.
 
The walls were still baby blue with clouds sponged on the ceiling.
 
Mama even kept my glow in the dark stars in the closet.
 
Standing by my window with my parents downstairs brought back a familiar solace.
 
I touch the curtains as Holly sleeps on the bed.
 
I can hear her steady exhaling.

Both our apartments were crawling with paparazzi.
 
They yelled at the windows, banged on the door, and my phone was ringing off the hook.
 
The first place I thought to go was Oakland.
 
My parent's house.
 
I only hoped the chaos wouldn't eventually follow us here.

"Are you hungry koukla?"
 
My mom was a short, petite woman with caramel hair like Leah and I.
 
She also used butter as main ingredient in everything she cooked.
 
Delicious but dangerous.
 
I was surprised she wasn't a larger woman, but her and Dad still ran the family bakery.
 
Mama was on her feet all day.

"Nah," I whisper, glancing at Holly.
 
I tiptoe across the room and join her in the hallway.
 
"I'm sorry for bursting in so sudden."

"Of course honey," she replies.
 
She gives me a hug.

"I guess you're wondering what the hell is going on?"

"Oh Kat," she quietly laughs.
 
"Your dad and I read the paper ya know."
 
I look down, regretting not telling her about Rex sooner.
 
I guess I wanted to wait until things were official so I didn't disappoint.
 
But what had happened probably did far beyond disappoint.

"Right," I mutter.
 
"So the whole family knows now."
 
Pretty soon Mom's phone would be ringing off the hook.
 
I look at her sympathetic brown eyes.
 
"I'm sorry."

"You always were very secretive about your love life."
 
She sighs.
 
"Unlike your sister."
 
Rex would have been the second guy I brought over for Sunday dinner.
 
Chad was the first . . . and a mistake.
 
"Sleep well."
 
She gives me another hug and gently trots down the hall, leaving nothing but silence and the sound of Dad snoozing downstairs in front of the TV.

My phone buzzes.
 
A tightness in my throat moves down to my stomach.
 
I see a missed call from Rex.
 
His name pops up attached to a text message.
 
Answer me Kat.

I need some time,
I respond.
 
He answers right away.

Fine then I'll be straight with you.

Like you were about Holly,
I answer.
 
I was sure that response would hit a nerve.

I know about you and Holly.

So you had your buddies dig into my personal life,
I retaliate.

The engagement is off.
 
Reading that text was like being hit in the chest by a bag of bricks.
 
I rub my twitching eye, dropping the phone on the dresser.
 
No guy, rich or poor, would ever want to touch me after this.

"You hate me."
 
I hear the whisper and turn around to see Holly rolling over.
 
Her puffy eyes are smudged with eyeliner.

"Wipe your face," I instruct her.
 
"Unless you're going for a goth look."

"Just say it."
 
She sits up and fixes her hair.
 
"You hate me."
 
Though part of me did, the other part couldn't.
 
Especially not when she was about to be a single mother.
 
Well . . . single from the looks of it.
 
I take a breath, keeping my mouth shut.
 
"You think I'm a total bitch.
 
Go ahead, call me a bitch."

"You should have just told me," I answer.
 
I point my finger at her.
 
I was pointing fingers again like my mother. And this time it wasn't some loser creep out to ruin my life.
 
It was my best friend.
 
At least I thought she was my friend.
 
I wasn't so sure anymore.
 
Holly looks taken back.
 
"When I told you Rex and I had a date, you should have just told me."

"I didn't want to hurt your feelings," she mutters, knowing that was a pathetic excuse of an answer.
 
I throw my arms in the air.

"And this is much better?"

"I know," she admits.
 
It was lurking in the back of my head but I was afraid to ask about the sex.
 
It was the obvious barrier in the room but bringing it up would make me want to kick her out and let her fend off the reporters on her own.

"So . . . what are you going to do now?"
 
I fold my arms.
 
Holly stares at me, reading my expression.

"I didn't plan it, Kat."
 
She forces a loud swallow and wipes her eyes again.
 
"It just happened."
 
I bite the corner of my cheek so hard I expect the metallic taste of blood to fill my mouth.
 
I couldn't handle this.
 
I thought I'd be able to eventually.
 
But . . . it was too painful.
 
I feel like a broken toy be tossed aside - being laughed at behind the door to the nursery.

"I'm leaving."
 
I grab my purse and head for the door.

"Kat-"

"I don't care if you stay or go home," I interrupt.

"Please just let me-"

"I think we're past that."
 
I push through the door and run down the staircase.

"Kat!" Holly yells at the top of the stairs.
 
I tried.
 
I tried being the better person - the better friend.
 
But who was I kidding?
 
Holly hadn't even said the words "I'm sorry".
 
I was a sucker.
 
I grab the keys to Dad's spare car.