Twisted (15 page)

“You look awfully happy considering you were just out for a run.” She took a gulp of orange juice. She narrowed her eyes at me and clicked the remote at the TV, turning down the volume. “Where did you go?”

“I brought Ben his homework,” I admitted.

Remy grinned back at me. “So things are better with him?”

I shrugged. “I guess. I mean, we get along great. If it could be just him and me all the time…I think things could be really good.”

“So it’s just everyone else?”

I nodded.

“Why? What’s the problem?” she wanted to know.

“They don’t think he’s all that innocent. Olivia and Hailey, anyway,” I said as I started to fidget. “And apparently half the school.”

“Screw them,” Remy said in annoyance. “Maya, you can’t listen to gossip and rumors.”

“I don’t,” I said as I cut her off. “Believe me, I don’t. If I had, I would never have gotten to know him at all.” I for sure would not have asked him to be my Lit partner and I never would’ve started visiting him at the park.

“Good because there was an intensive investigation. There was never evidence to prove he was there. No motive. Nothing to tie him to the crime at all. And believe me, they tried. If they didn’t find anything, it was because there was nothing to find. That boy didn’t do anything wrong,” Remy assured me. “I say if you like him, go for it.”

If only it were that simple. Yet, it was so nice to have someone on my side for a change. “I love you,” I said as I tossed my arms around her.

“Love you too,” she said as she squeezed me back.

Gino’s was packed on a Saturday night, just like I remembered it. In a small town like Beaumont, too small to sustain a big chain restaurant, our local pizza parlor had a lot of business. I’d gotten there early, so I’d gotten a quiet corner booth for Phoebe and me.

“I’m warning you,” she said as she plopped down onto the bench across from me. “I’m not going to be a lot of fun tonight. I’m in a rotten mood. I had to get up at the crack of dawn to teach a group of preschoolers how to use the snow plow stop. Don’t even ask how I let myself get talked into teaching a group of little munchkins. I guess I thought I needed the money. And I have to do it again for the next three weekends,” she said with a groan. “Then I had practice for an hour after that and my coach must be PMS-ing because according to her, I couldn’t do a single thing right. Then again, maybe she’s got a point because sometimes I feel like my head is just not in it anymore. I feel like I’m missing out on things and it’s not like I can go a lot further with my skating. Sometimes I wonder if it’s worth all the time I have to put into it.”

I was sure she was thinking how different things could be right now if she hadn’t had to put Henry off last year due to her practice schedule.

She shook her head and blew out a breath. “Anyhow, maybe I’m just crabby because,” she paused for dramatic effect. I waited with raised eyebrows. “Maybe I’m crabby because I couldn’t sleep last night.”

She looked at me, waiting for me to ask, “Why?”

“Henry left not just one but three messages on my voice mail.”

“Henry called you? Isn’t that a good thing?” I wondered, even though three messages did sound a little excessive.

She shook her head. “According to him he was with Olivia when she got a text from me saying I had some kind of an emergency. I guess she left in a hurry because she needed to rush to my rescue. So he was concerned about me when he couldn’t get a hold of either one of us later on.”

“It’s good he’s concerned, but I’m assuming there was no emergency.”

“Not unless you count right after school when I was babysitting my little brother and he ingested half a tub of Play-Dough while I was in the kitchen getting his snack.” She shrugged. “The container said its non-toxic, which is actually beside the point because I so didn’t send Olivia a text of any type yesterday. I had no idea what to say to Henry so I didn’t call him back. I finally got a hold of Olivia today. I demanded an explanation and guess what she said?”

“I’ve got no idea,” I admitted.

Our waitress showed up and Phoebe gave her a politely forced smile as we placed our order for a veggie pizza. The moment she walked away Phoebe leaned toward me again.

“She said she just needed some time to herself because Henry has been ‘smothering’ her.” She rolled her eyes. “I told her if it was so tough being with Henry, maybe she should break up with him. She said that’s not going to happen anytime soon.” Her bottom lip trembled. “In one breath she sounds like she’s tired of him but then the next she says he’s the ‘biggest sweetie ever’,” she mimicked in a breathy, Olivia sort of way. “And she has no intention of letting him go. It’s just so frustrating because Henry would never avoid
her
like that. I can’t imagine him smothering her, either. He’s not that kind of guy.”

“So does she really like him or is she just taking advantage of him?” I wondered out loud.

“Exactly,” Phoebe sighed. “So did the two of you get things cleared up?”

“Not really.” Olivia had called me to offer an apology after the fudge incident. It ended up sounding like nothing more than a justification for our argument. It had left me more frustrated than I had been before. “I know she means well but that almost makes it worse. I mean, if someone like Olivia can’t get over it, how will anybody else?”

“I hate to say this, but I don’t think things are going to get better for Ben,” Phoebe glumly replied.

“I know,” I admitted. “I think I’m just making it worse. If Olivia had any idea how I really felt about him, I would quite literally never hear the end of it.”

Olivia thought I liked Ben. If she knew I thought I was falling in love with him, it would probably blow her narrow little mind.

“Ah,” Phoebe said. “Speak of the diva.”

I glanced over my shoulder. Olivia had just walked in with Henry a step behind her.

“
Please don’t sit here. Please don’t sit here
,” Phoebe chanted under her breath as she began to shred a napkin.

I gave Olivia a half-wave but didn’t want to be overly friendly. She smiled and waved back but I was also glad she didn’t head our way. I wasn’t ready to talk to her yet and Phoebe definitely didn’t need a front row seat to Olivia and Henry’s date.

“They found a booth in the back,” I told Phoebe who had refused to look up.

“Good,” she sighed. “It’s hard enough to see them at school but at least I’m mentally prepared. I had no idea they would show up here.” She sighed. “Hailey is the one you would expect to whip through boys like they’re a bag of lemon drops. But I swear she and Blake will be one of those couples that gets married and divorced half a dozen times before they figure out what they want. Olivia, on the other hand…I thought she’d be tired of Henry by now.” She rested her elbows on the table and then placed her hands over her face for a second. “I’m sorry,” she moaned through her fingers. “I love Olivia. I just don’t love Olivia with Henry. I don’t know how much longer I can take this.”

“Did you ask her about the other day? When she lied to Henry about studying with you?”

Phoebe nodded. “She said that she had only
planned
on asking me and Henry just misunderstood. She got busy helping her mom with something so she never got around to asking me. She didn’t bother to let him know because she didn’t think it was a big deal.”

“I guess that makes sense,” I said. More sense than thinking Olivia had lied. Even though we weren’t getting along so fantastically at the moment, I didn’t think Olivia was the lying type.

Although, I will admit, I was starting to wonder about her. How had she, having known Phoebe for years, missed the way Phoebe felt about Henry? I’d had my suspicions almost from the start and I had only just met her. Was Olivia that self-absorbed? Or did she just not care about Phoebe’s feelings? I wasn’t sure. Neither of those options painted a very pretty picture of our friend.

Phoebe groaned. “What
is
this? Date night?”

My head swiveled once more. Hailey had just walked in with Blake. For once, her outfit was rather subdued. Black jeans and a long sleeve black t shirt with her black boots. 

“Must be Blake approved attire,” Phoebe muttered.

Too distracted by Olivia and Henry, whom they were obviously meeting, they didn’t see us. I was fine with that. I was feeling as grumpy as Phoebe.

“Sorry,” she said as she blew out a breath and leaned her head back in the booth. “I warned you. Terrible, rotten, cranky mood.”

“I’m sorry Olivia and Henry showed up,” I told her. “But you can be as crabby as you need to be. I completely understand.”

“Thanks,” Phoebe sighed. “It’s so unfair. She doesn’t even
want
to spend time with him and totally takes it for granted.”

“You wouldn’t,” I pointed out.

She shook her head. “No. I would never take him for granted. So,” she said, clearly changing the subject, “how are things with you and Ben?”

I crinkled my nose. “I don’t know. I think maybe he likes me. But it’s not like we’ve actually talked about it.”

“Maya,” Phoebe said as she leaned across the table, “I’ve seen how he looks at you. Sometimes, when we’re walking, he can’t take his eyes off of you. You can tell he tries not to but it’s like he can’t help himself. Trust me, he likes you.”

“Maybe,” I said as I absorbed that bit of information. “He did tell me he thought I was pretty. The night of Brandon’s party…he said I looked even prettier than usual.” I paused before adding, “He also said I have the most beautiful hair he’s ever seen.”

Phoebe’s eyes lit up. “See!”

I hadn’t told her that Ben and I had kissed earlier in the week. More than once. Somehow, I just wasn’t sure that he’d be comfortable with that.

I shrugged. “Not that it matters. It’s not like anything will ever come of it. I really need to stop feeling sorry for myself. I feel petty for even bringing it up,” I admitted.

“
You
feel petty?” Phoebe scoffed. “Well, I’m feeling sorry for myself because Olivia and Henry aren’t breaking up as fast as I thought they would. Or I guess as fast as I
wish
they would. Again, compared to Ben’s problems—”

“What?” I asked when she stopped midsentence.

“
Seriously
!?” Phoebe grumbled. “Is there
nowhere
else for people to be on a Saturday night?!”

I looked over my shoulder for the third time in a matter of minutes.

Alec.

Not only was he here, he was headed our way.

“Can I sit?” he asked.

“Can we stop you?” Phoebe wondered aloud.

He ignored her, keeping his eyes on me.

I shrugged and he nudged me over in the booth. I slid until I hit the wall.

“Did your friends finally decide you were such an ass that you have to eat alone?” Phoebe wanted to know. 

“What?” he asked, giving her an odd look before comprehension kicked in. “No. I’m picking up an order. I’m early.” He turned to me. “I’m glad you’re here. I’ve wanted a chance to talk to you.”

“You see her every day in school,” Phoebe pointed out.

“In private,” he clarified.

“Well semi-private will have to do because I’m not going anywhere.” Phoebe crossed her arms and slumped down in the booth, proving she wasn’t going to budge.

“Whatever,” Alec said with a shrug. “I just didn’t want an audience at school.”

“So get to it,” Phoebe commanded. “We’re in the middle of some pretty serious girl talk and you are totally interrupting. You have three minutes.”

Alec looked at her for a moment, his brows furrowed as if he expected her to say she was joking.

“Tick-tock,” Phoebe replied somberly. 

“Right. Okay then.” He turned to me once more. “Here’s the thing. I think you’ve got the wrong impression of me. It’s just, I’m concerned about you. I know we got off to a bad start and I was just wondering if we could wipe the slate clean.”

“A bad start? You
threatened
me,” I reminded him. “The impression I have of you is that you don’t fight fair. I think you’re a sneaky, lying jerk. I think you’re a bully and too much of a coward to face Ben one on one.”

Phoebe leaned across the table.  “Sounds to me like she has the
right
impression of you.”

“So,” he said as he leaned toward her, too, giving her a conspiratorial grin, “is calling you Ice Princess just a polite way of letting you know what a
bitch
you are?” He accentuated his statement by shoving her so hard she flew back in the booth.

“Touch her again and you’ll regret it,” Henry said as he slammed his hand into Alec’s shoulder pinning
him
back against the booth.

I hadn’t seen Henry approach our table. Judging by the way she jumped, Phoebe hadn’t either.

“What’s it to you?” Alec demanded.

“You pretty much just hit a girl. That means a hell of a lot to me. Unlike you, I’m
not
a coward. We can take it outside right now. Just me and you.”

Alec jumped up from the booth. I had an uncanny hunch it wasn’t to face Henry, but maybe to cause a scene and then make a quick getaway. If I were an onlooker, I’d put the odds in Alec’s favor. Henry was tall and lanky, almost wiry. Alec was short and stocky, the cockiness dripping off of him. However, not being an outsider, I’d bet on Henry. He had the strength of his convictions behind him.

Olivia seemed to mystically appear between them. She put a hand on each of their arms. “Hey, what’s going on?”

Alec gave her a look of disgust and yanked his arm from her grip. “Don’t you get tired of being in everyone’s business all the time?” he asked her.

“Excuse me?” Olivia demanded. Her eyebrows flew up in surprise.

“You’re such a nosy goody-goody,” he shot at her.

“Don’t talk to her like that,” Henry warned.

“I was just asking what was going on,” Olivia told Alec, giving him a contemptuous glare. “These are my friends you’re talking to!”

He glared back. “I was just trying to make peace with Maya. And the
Ice Princess
here couldn’t stop insulting me for ten seconds. Then your boyfriend came along and decided to threaten me.”

“Right,” Henry said. His voice was edged with anger as he glared over the top of Olivia’s head at Alec. “That’s exactly what happened.”

Olivia turned her confused gaze to Alec.

“Hey, whatever, I tried,” he said as he sauntered off to pick up his order.

“Thanks,” Phoebe told Henry.