Chapter 6 – One Month Later
Chapter Six
MAGNOLIA
ONE MONTH LATER
“Why are we here again?” Abilene’s nose scrunched as she eyed the guys swaying five rows down. The game hadn’t even started, and half the student section was already sloshed. Red Solo cups littered the ground. Abilene and I were probably the only sober ones here.
I thrust my hands at the football field below. “Because we only have two football seasons left and we’ve never been to a game.”
“Neither of us even likes football.” She grunted, unimpressed, as she took in our fellow student body. “We might be the only school in America where people look nicer for game day than we do on Sundays.”
“What are you talking about? We’re wearing jeans and a Hoos T-shirt.”
“Because we didn’t conform.” She gestured around us.
“Clones. All of them.” She wasn’t wrong.
As far as the eye could see, the student section was a sea of sameness.
For the guys, it was khakis with a white or baby blue button-up shirt, and striped orange and blue tie.
The girls all sported sundresses. Some even had hats.
“Wait.” Abilene gripped my hand, eyes bulging playfully. “Is this the Kentucky Derby?”
I laughed. “In your dreams.”
Her lips pursed. “Actually, I’d mock that too.”
“Sorry…excuse us…sorry.” A deep, familiar voice chuckled. “Yeah we’re right there.”
“Bowen?” It slipped out breathy and strangled. Thankfully, not loud enough for him to hear.
“Say what?” Abilene asked, eyes darting around.
I pointed down four rows and whispered, “It’s 167, Bowen Dupree, Griffin’s brother.”
“Yes,” Abilene said dryly. “I know who he is. Every girl in the student section knows.”
Sure enough, as Bowen slid past a short blond trying to get to his seat, every girl in the vicinity watched him move like he was some kind of god. Even the air seemed to lean toward him.
Another guy followed behind Bowen, scooching by to get to their seats.
“Do you think that’s Hobbit Feet?” Abilene asked.
I put a finger to my lips and gave her a severe look. This was not the time.
Bowen wore the same pale blue button-up, khakis, and striped tie as everyone else. But it looked infinitely better on him. Like something off of a magazine cover.
“Um…ouch,” Abilene yelped, and I realized my fingernails were digging into her arm.
“Sorry.” I let go and rose on my tiptoes to get a better look. He’d come to a stop, almost directly in front of us. All I could see was the back of his head now. “What is he doing here?” I mumbled.
“What do you mean?” Abilene tapped on my forehead like my skull was suddenly hollow. “Earth to Maggie. He’s here to watch the game like everyone else.”
At my name, Bowen’s head snapped around. Our eyes locked. I was about to be the bigger person, let bygones be bygones, and give him a little wave. But then, he hissed a swear word, as if I’d just ruined his day, and turned back around like he hadn’t seen me.
An oof escaped my chest.
“Oh, I don’t like him. Not one bit,” Abilene scoffed, then cupped her hands like a megaphone. “I thought Duprees were supposed to be gentlemen! Or does that only apply when your mama’s watching?”
If Bowen heard, he didn’t let on. Just stood there, shoulders rigid, facing the field. His friend turned to look at us though.
“Abilene,” I hissed.
“Sorry.” Her head bobbed, not sorry at all. “He’s dissed my girl three times now and I’ve had enough!” she yelled at the back of his head.
A group of girls from the second row turned and raised their solo cups at Bowen. “That boy is six-feet-two inches of God’s finest work,” a curvy blond hooted shamelessly.
Bowen stood perfectly still, like he couldn’t hear. But that was impossible.
Abilene’s eyes rolled so hard it looked painful. Her megaphone hands were back. “You wouldn’t have even noticed if his last name wasn’t Dupree!”
Bowen’s friend cracked up, but the man himself was a statue.
The girl who’d catcalled Bowen hollered up at Abilene, “Oh, I’m positive I would!”
Abilene cupped her hands again, and I clapped my hand over her mouth.
She shook free and huffed. “Fine.”
“Why is he in the student section?” I mumbled.
“Because he’s a student here,” Abilene said, voice dripping with duh.
My head whipped around to look at her. “No, he’s not.”
She gaped at me like I’d just confessed the Earth was flat. “Yes, he is. I see him walking across campus every Tuesday-Thursday at 10:50 am. Everyone knows Bowen Dupree is an architecture major. Here. At UVA.”
I blinked, heat prickling my cheeks.
“Maggie,” Abilene asked way too loudly. “Why do you look like you’re about to cry?”
“Because he lied. And when I asked Griffin about it, he lied too.” At that, Bowen’s shoulders tensed more, and I suspected he’d heard this entire conversation.
“They both told me he was going to live at home and attend community college.” I shook my hands, trying to release the hurt.
“Why would he lie about that? And why would Griff lie? Like, if he thought this relationship was going to have a future, why would he say something flat out not true? He’d have to know I’d find out eventually.
Lies, lies, lies, all day and all night.
They’re just a family of freaking liars, and you know I can’t stand a liar.
” I pulled my phone out of my pocket and, with trembling fingers, angry-swiped to Griffin’s and my text thread. “I am so done.”
Abilene yelped as a hand clamped around my wrist. A guy’s hand—strong, sure, and not letting go. I looked up to see Bowen standing in front of me. The students between his seat and mine had parted like the Red Sea to let him through so fast.
“Can I talk to you?” he asked, voice low but intense, gray eyes hooking mine. “Privately?”
My pulse stuttered but I wrenched my arm free. “Fine.”
He gestured for me to go first. When we made it to the aisle, I let him take the lead. He took off so fast I had to jog to keep up—down the stairs, through the gate, into the concessions area.
He stopped against the concrete wall, bracing one hand against it. “Griffin only lied because I asked him to.”
My head snapped back. “What? Why?”
“Because,” he bit out, shoulders hunching, eyes flicking around like he didn’t want to be seen talking to me.
Too bad for him—two girls were already filming.
I thought he couldn’t see because they were behind him.
But then his nostrils flared. “That’s why.
” He swung a glower at them over his shoulder and didn’t stop until they lowered their phones and hurried away.
He threw his head back, fists shaking at the sky.
I snorted. “Dramatic much?”
He pounded his forehead. “Not really. I can’t even go into freaking public without people recording my every micro-twinge and turning it into—”
“Oh, poor baby. It must be so hard—”
He snapped his fingers right in my face. “I don’t need the two of us appearing on TikTok, making things worse.”
I almost laughed. Not because it was funny—but because if I didn’t, the lump in my throat might win.
His message was loud and clear. We might’ve had that epic date on Serendipity Night, I might be his brother’s part-time girlfriend, and we might both be Hoos, but we were not going to be friends.
Ever. We weren’t even going to be acquaintances.
“Let me get this straight,” I said, voice shaky. “You can walk all around campus, come to football games and whatever else, the entire student body knowing full well you’re a Cavalier. But you asked Griffin to lie to me because you’d rather die than for me to find out we go to the same school?”
I thought he’d look at least a little guilty. But no. He jammed his hands in his pockets and shrugged like the tool that he was. “Pretty much. You stay in your lane, I’ll stay in mine.”
My mouth fell open. “Gladly. How were you and Griffin raised by the same parents? Your mom would be horrified if she could hear you right now.”
For a flicker of a second, guilt crossed his face.
I stepped past him, heading back to the game.
But he was right behind me, whispering in my ear, “Don’t act like you know my family just because you hung out at our house a couple of times. You don’t know anything.”
I stopped dead, causing him to stumble into me. I spun, jabbing my finger in his chest. “I know you need to stay far away from me. Griffin can too, for that matter. I don’t need to date a liar, even part-time.” I took off, darting in and out of people.
He let loose a string of swear words, chasing after me. Suddenly his arm caught me around the waist, pinning me to the wall. His hands landed on the cement beside my head, caging me in.
My heart flopped around in my chest.
“Stop.” His eyes were wild, his face too close.
“You can’t do that to Griff. He really likes you, okay?
” His chest heaved like he was on the verge of having a panic attack.
“He was just trying to do what I asked. He’s not a liar.
He’s a really good guy.” His gray eyes begged. “You gotta believe me.”
I stared at him, not knowing what to do or even think about this whole thing. But his desperation was too much. I collapsed against the wall. “Fine.”
His head dropped with relief, his hands fell away, and he stepped back. “I’m sorry, okay? Sometimes I can be…a jerk. Just don’t take it out on Griff.”
The announcer’s voice boomed. The National Anthem was about to start. “Whatever. Bye, Bowen.” I rolled my eyes. “I’ll be sure not to wave if I see you around.”
He said nothing—didn’t try to take it back. Just stayed there, watching me go.
So that’s what I did. Anytime I saw him on campus, I pretended he was invisible. It must’ve been what he wanted because he did the same. Like neither of us cared.
But only one of us was telling the truth.
I cared so much it ached.
Because I, Magnolia Hollis, was a future fixer of broken people, and somehow, I knew Bowen was in desperate need of repair.
So every time I pretended not to see him, it chipped away at me. But every time he returned the favor, my own heart fractured bit by bit by bit.