The Trouble With Flirting (22 page)

I hesitate. But Harry said she could trust me to be honest, and that makes me want to tell her the truth. “He came by my aunt’s apartment.”

“And?”

“He didn’t stay long.”

“But long enough?”

“I’m sorry,” I say, and I mean it. “I thought he had broken up with you. Or was just about to.”

“I get it,” she says. She turns and looks in the mirror and unpins her hair with a single fluid motion. It falls down around her shoulders. “It’s not like I’m surprised. After I saw you guys alone together . . .”

“He kissed me last night, but it was the first time, I swear.”

“And did he tell you he was breaking up with me?”

“Not in so many words. Would it sound stupid to say he kind of implied it?”

“A little,” she says.

This whole conversation feels surreal. I expected accusations and anger, or tears and recriminations. But we’re both pretty calm. It’s like we’re trying to figure something out. Together.

“I’ve liked him for a long time,” I say abruptly. “I think you kind of knew that. But I swear I wasn’t trying to steal him away from you or anything like that. He always seemed to like you much better. It’s just . . . last night it seemed like maybe he had changed his mind, and I honestly thought he was going to tell you so. I didn’t think we were doing anything sneaky. But today he was right back to being with you—”

“Until it was time to dance. Then he went with you.”

“Well, it was sort of in a group . . .”

She just gives me a look.

“Look,” I say. “I don’t know what Alex was thinking then or last night. All I know is that up until last night, he always seemed pretty into you.”

Isabella sweeps up her hair in skilled fingers, twists and repins it swiftly. “Pretty into me. A little into you.” She shrugs. “‘The Boy Who Couldn’t Choose,’” she says. “It’s not a very original story.”

I press my back hard against the wall. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Apparently you have nothing to feel sorry about.” She turns around and faces me, leaning back against the sink. “That’s what Harry says, anyway. He blames Alex for everything.”

“He doesn’t like Alex very much, does he?”

“He hates him.” She minutely adjusts one of the silver bracelets on her arm. “Doubly now.”

“What do you mean, doubly now?”

“Harry’s very protective of me. And we know how he feels about
you
.”

“Yeah,” I say. “We know that I was the girl he went out with before he switched to Marie, who’ll be the girl he goes out with before he switches to whoever’s next.”

Her nostrils flare. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Look, I know he’s a good friend of yours—”

“Yeah, he is,” she says. “So it’s been hard for me to forgive you for being such a jerk to him, but he wants me to.”

“That’s not fair,” I say. “I just said I didn’t think things were all that serious between us, and two seconds later he went running off with Marie. Which kind of proves I was right.”

“Let me see.” She taps her chin, dark eyes searching mine. “Was this before or after we came across you and Alex making out in the dark?”

“We weren’t making out. We barely even—”

“Before or after?”

“After,” I say reluctantly.

“Uh-huh.” She raises and lowers her shoulders.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You hurt him. He wanted to hurt you back, so he grabbed
whatever weapon he could get his hands on. And Marie always makes herself available.” Her lip curls. “Bless her greedy little heart.”

I sink down onto my heels so I’m squatting, my back to the wall. I don’t want to sit on the floor—it’s a bathroom and not even a particularly clean one—but I don’t feel like I can stand upright at the moment. I’m so confused. Thoughts are banging around inside my head.

“So,” she says, absently fingering a beaten silver earring. “What do we do?”

“About what?”

“Alex, of course. Actually, forget that. I know what
I’m
going to do about him. Enough’s enough.” She shakes her head. “At some point I’ll fall apart about all this, but right now I’ve got some clarity, thanks to Harry. But what are
you
going to do?”

“Clarity?” I repeat, confused. I feel like she’s way ahead of me, and I’m only falling more and more behind.

She bites her lip and says slowly, “I liked Alex because he was so much sweeter to me than any guy has ever been before. He was just so nice, all the time, and not just to me, to everyone—”

“I like that about him too,” I say.

Our eyes meet, and Isabella lets out a sudden and surprising bark of rueful laughter. “There’s nice,” she says, “and then there’s
good
. They can be two different things. Being overly nice to more than one girl at a time—”

“—isn’t all that good.”

“Harry says I deserve better.”

“You do.”

“I don’t know,” she says. “I haven’t had a lot of luck when it comes to guys.”

“Me neither.”

“Yeah, you did; you just didn’t appreciate it,” she says.

Someone knocks on the door. “You okay in there?” an adult woman’s voice asks. “There’s a line out here.”

“Oh, God.” I scramble to my feet. “We’d better go.”

Isabella shrugs indifferently. “We have every right to be in here.”

“Yeah,” I say, “but it’s the
bathroom
. People have needs, you know.”

“Fine.” She crosses to the door and flings it open. “All yours,” she says to the woman at the front of the line.

I’m stunned by our entire conversation, so I just follow her wordlessly, happy to let her lead the way.

Everyone’s back there now except for Julia and Manny, who are over by the bar, talking close together. The band is still playing, but the dance floor is empty.

Alex jumps up when we come close. He looks uneasily back and forth between me and Isabella, and then his gaze settles anxiously on her.

“Hello, everyone,” Isabella says, looking around the table. “I have an announcement to make. Since we’re all good friends here and since news travels fast anyway, I think you
should all know right away that I’m breaking up with Alex.”

“What?” he says. “What?”

She turns to him. “I know you like secrets. But I’m different—I like to keep things very clear and honest.”

“Hear, hear,” Harry says, his voice lazy—but his eyes are keen and protective as they keep a close watch on his best friend.

“Anyway, it’s been real and now it’s over.” She sits down on one of the chairs. “I’m ready for another drink.”

Alex says to her, “Can we please talk about this? I don’t even know what’s going on.” He glances uncertainly in my direction. “What were you guys talking about in there?”

The glance isn’t lost on Isabella, who says, “Nothing you don’t already know. Don’t worry, Alex. Look at it this way: I’m setting you free. Spread your wings, little birdie. Fly away.” She wiggles her fingers at him.

“What exactly went on in that ladies’ room?” Lawrence asks Vanessa.

“Oh, to have been a fly on the wall,” she intones dramatically.

He says, “Ew, you want to be a fly in a bathroom?”

Alex touches Isabella on the arm. “Please. Come outside with me. Let’s just—”

Harry cuts him off. “She said she doesn’t want to talk to you. Leave her alone.”

Alex wheels around angrily. “This isn’t any of your business, Cartwright.”

“I promised Isabella’s father I’d look out for her while we were here,” Harry says calmly. “So, yeah, it is.”

“You did not!” Isabella says to him indignantly.

“I so did. When you were upstairs with your mother. He was all, ‘She’s my little girl, you know,’ and I was all, ‘Don’t worry, sir, I’ll take care of her,’ and he was all, ‘Good man, here’s my cell phone number.’” Harry raises his right hand. “Swear to God.”

“Oh. Well, you should have told him I don’t need looking after or any of his sexist crap—I can take care of myself.”

“I know,” Harry says. “But you can’t blame us both for caring. And for someone who can take care of herself, you make an awful lot of needy calls at two in the morning.”

“Is that a problem for you?” she asks.

He pats her head. “Never.”

Alex sinks into the chair next to Isabella. “I don’t understand any of this.” His blue eyes look sad.

And vaguely frog-like. They bulge maybe a little more than eyes should bulge.

Wait, what made me think that? I’ve always loved Alex’s beautiful blue eyes.

It’s Harry’s fault. He put that thought into my head.

Harry. I glance over at him. Why is Marie always basically right on top of him? It’s disgusting. I have a sudden urge to leap across the table, grab Marie by her honey-colored hair, and drag her face off Harry’s chest. And then maybe smash it into the edge of the table. Gently. Gently smash her face into
the wood. Over and over again. At least it would wipe that smug little smile off her face.

No one says anything for a while.

Lawrence breaks the silence. “It’s getting close to curfew, guys.”

“Yes, as much fun as this is,” Vanessa says, “we should probably get the check and head out.”

I jump up. “I’ll get the waitress.” I’m grateful to have a reason to get away from the booth. I find the waitress, and she promises to bring the check right away; then I stop by the bar to tell Manny and Julia the rest of us are going to leave as soon as we’ve paid.

“Is everything okay?” Manny asks me, nodding toward our booth, where people look somber. He’s a pleasant-looking guy: not exactly hot, but appealing, with sandy hair, light gray eyes, and an impressively adoring gaze whenever he looks at Julia—which is probably all he needed to make their relationship work. “Did we miss something?”

“Yeah, about that . . .” I tell Julia she might want to talk to her brother, that he’s just been publicly dumped.

“Oh, poor Alex,” she says. “Why would she do it in front of everyone? That’s so mean.”

Neither Manny nor I try to answer that question.

We reach the table at the same time as the waitress. Vanessa grabs the check and starts telling people what they owe. “Good thing I rule at math,” she says. “Want to know what I got on my math SAT?”

“No,” we all say at the same time.

“Seven eighty,” she says anyway.

I pull some bills out of my wallet and look up to find Alex is watching me. He smiles tentatively. I smile back, then return to counting money.

We all wander outside. Harry wraps one arm around Isabella and lazily lodges the other across Marie’s shoulders. “See you,” he tosses back at the rest of us, and saunters off with them.

We watch them go. After a moment Vanessa says, “Weird night, huh?” and Lawrence leans over to me and whispers, “Aren’t you glad we made you come with us?”

I roll my eyes. “Remind me to say I’m busy the next time you ask.”

“Aw, come on. Would you really have wanted to miss all that?”

“No, you’re right. That was the most excitement I’ve had since coming here.”

We hug good night, and they follow the others back toward campus.

Julia puts her arm through her brother’s. “Come on,” she says. “Manny and I will take care of you. You coming, Franny?”

I shake my head. “I’m going back to my aunt’s—other direction.”

They say good-bye and I’m left alone, watching them all go back to the dorm together.

In separate groups, admittedly. The old gang isn’t what it used to be.

I turn and head back to Amelia’s. The most separate of all.

I’ve gone about a block when I hear footsteps. It’s dark out and it’s late and the street is quiet, so I whip my head around pretty quickly. Then I stop and wait for him to catch up.

“Hey,” Alex says, as he joins me.

“Hey.”

“I didn’t think you should walk back by yourself.”

“It’s not far.”

“Still.”

“Thanks.”
It’s Alex
, I think.
Alex. And he’s not with Isabella anymore. You’ve been waiting all summer for this.

He stands there, tall . . . handsome . . . available. “I feel like I owe you an apology, Franny. I put you in a weird place with Isabella. I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

“It’s fine,” I say. “No worries. We had a good talk.”

“Really?” He seems a little unnerved by that, but he recovers. “Good. I’m glad.” There’s a pause. Then he says, “It’s over between her and me.”

“Yeah. I kind of got that impression.”

“Not just because of what she said—it would have been over anyway. I was trying to figure out a way to make that clear to her. That’s why I was so out of it tonight.”

I don’t say anything. I want to believe him. I’m just not sure I do.

He says, “All summer long, I’ve been thinking about you. A lot.” He reaches out for my hand. I let him take it. “I know it took me too long to say something. I didn’t want to hurt Isabella. Or you. Or Harry. It’s all been so complicated.. . .”

That, I believe. Alex is a nice guy. He wouldn’t have wanted to hurt anyone.

It’s also possible he wanted to hedge his bets.

I’m not the one playing two girls against each other.

Harry said that last night. I wish he hadn’t, because now I can’t forget it.

Because it’s true.

“Something changed between us last night,” Alex says. “You and I both know that. I was just waiting for the right time to say something.” I look at our hands, Alex’s and mine. His is pulling me closer, winding me in toward him. “You got into my head,” he whispers. “I don’t know how, but you did. And I couldn’t get you out. Even when I tried to, for both our sakes.”

I raise my head to say something, but I don’t get a chance to. His lips are instantly on mine.

I close my eyes and stretch up into the kiss, summoning the thrill I felt the night before. Trying to summon it, anyway.

Now that we’re not rushing, I have time to pay attention, and I have to admit: he’s not as good a kisser as Harry.

But that’s probably to his credit. A good kisser is sometimes just someone who’s practiced a lot more. God knows how many lips Harry has practiced on.

On the other hand . . . it’s nice to be kissed well.

Not that Alex is awful. His lips are firm and warm and he’s not trying to eat my tonsils or anything gross like that. It’s just that Harry had this way of sending shivers through my body with the slightest flick of his tongue.. . .