Chapter Twelve Eden #2
He saunters over to me, hands hidden in the pockets of his hideous cargo shorts, which show off his not-at-all-hideous calf muscles .
. . and nauseating Velcro Dockers sandals that threaten to ruin everything.
At least he’s paired the outfit with a white linen button-down that looks extremely posh-summer-party in all the right ways, complementing his white-teeth smile.
His dark, floppy curls look a little tighter than usual, and I wonder if he used hair product. Leo Goldbaum, putting in the effort?
This should be a new form of mythical creature, like the centaur, except instead of half man, half horse, it’s catalog model
on top, stupid clueless high school dude on the bottom.
“Sorry I’m late,” he says. “Took longer to get out of the house than I’d planned.”
The Leo I know is Mr. Punctual, so I can sense there’s something else behind this casual comment, I just don’t know what it
is. Maybe he was torn about whether to come at all. By now, I’d assumed he was a no-show. What made him change his mind?
I raise an eyebrow. “Agonizing over which shoes to wear, I assume.”
He laughs. “Sure, something like that.”
“I was joking. I’d be happy to sacrifice those to the firepit.”
He shakes his head, still smiling. “I hadn’t planned to give up any of my clothes, but I guess we’ll see how the night goes.”
I clear my throat. Now what? “There’s a bunch of drinks in the cooler.” I wave my arm helplessly in that direction.
He nods, and as soon as he starts walking over to the cooler, I dart over to Georgia, who’s laughing at some story Benny’s
telling her. Am I hallucinating or are Georgia’s off-the-shoulder sleeves hanging even more off the shoulder?
“He’s here,” I hiss.
“What? Who is?” Georgia pulls her attention away from Benny.
“Leo!”
“Okay, relax.” Georgia looks at me innocently.
“What do I do? You’re the one who made me invite him!” I remind her.
“So what?” she asks with a shrug. She looks over at Benny and laughs. He plays with his necklace. I look between the two of
them. What the actual hell is going on here?
“How’s your plan to introduce Benny and Daisy going, by the way?” I don’t mean it to sound so catty. It’s Leo’s fault. His
presence clearly brings out the worst in me.
Georgia turns to face me fully. “We’re not making a lot of progress, honestly. Benny’s been great, but we have a problem with
Daisy. She’s way too . . . distracted,” she says, nodding over to Mateo. I look over and see Daisy’s holding on to Mateo’s arm, balancing on one leg while doing
the ankle grab dance move.
“She’s got some interesting mating rituals, that’s for sure.”
Georgia gives me a pained look. “Don’t say mating, Eden, gross.”
“Okay, Miss Manners, can we get back to me? I can’t talk to Leo. It’s too awkward. I really wish you hadn’t convinced me to
do this.”
“Like I really twisted your arm?” Her eyebrow goes up.
Benny steps closer and asks, “Who’s Leo?”
I point him out—he’s holding a sweaty can of seltzer and mingling with other Boundless Horizons people, looking completely comfortable, almost as if he’s the party host. It’s very annoying.
“Wow,” Georgia says. “He’s even cuter than I remembered.”
I roll my eyes. “He’s aged well. Unfortunately.”
“So, what’s wrong with him being here?” Benny asks.
Georgia stands up straighter. “Leo is Eden’s ex, and I told her to invite him tonight because he owes her a major apology
and Eden has some personal healing to do.” She glances at my face, and then adds, “What? It’s true!”
I turn to face Benny. “If you haven’t noticed already, Benny, you’re about to discover that my dear cousin here is a Stage
Four Meddler.”
Benny laughs, his necklaces glittering under the fairy lights. “Sounds to me like she just cares about the people she loves?”
“See?” Georgia says smugly, arms crossed, looking pleased as punch and throwing Benny the most generous smile I’ve seen on
her in days.
“Georgia! Help.”
“Okay, okay, don’t worry, I’m on it.”
She is not, in fact, on it. At least, not in the way I expect. Georgia does not get up and take Leo aside to, I don’t know, give him a stern lecture?
Not sure what I expected, but it certainly wasn’t this.
“Party games!” Georgia is shouting, clapping her hands together and calling everyone over to the firepit area.
To her credit, she’s very good at bossing people around; soon everyone is sitting in a relatively coherent circle formation.
Tre suggests Never Have I Ever, but Zac, one of the LGs, boos that idea and says we should play Truth or Dare instead. Everyone rallies around that suggestion
quickly.
“I’ll go first,” Zac volunteers, and, to no one’s surprise, he picks dare.
Georgia thinks for a second. “I dare you to climb up that tree with a beanbag and toss it into the cornhole set. If you make
a score, pick someone to kiss. If you miss, you have to . . . wrap yourself in toilet paper like a mummy.”
Jaclyn nods their head, impressed. “That’s one hell of a layered dare.”
“I accept,” Zac says formally, then climbs the tree and proceeds to totally miss the target. While he’s mummifying himself
with toilet paper, the game goes on.
Zac dares another LG named Mike to skinny-dip in the lake (he does).
Mike dares Francesca to sing her favorite song (she does, but only part of it).
Francesca dares Sam to burn his T-shirt in the firepit (Georgia vetoes this).
Sam dares Daisy to hold a handstand for as long as she can (forty-two impressive seconds).
Daisy dares Mateo to chug a seltzer in less than a minute without burping. He ends up spraying seltzer all over himself. Daisy
giggles like he’s a stand-up comedian.
Mateo then turns . . . to me.
I usually love dares, but I’m less into the outdoor variety, so I say, “Truth.” And instantly regret it, sensing this could go badly.
Mateo tilts his head, thinking. “Well, since I don’t know you that well, all I can really ask is how that sabotage plan is
going.”
I can feel my face burning under everyone’s curious stares. “I—I— There is no sabotage plan,” I stutter, realizing Mateo has
no idea that Leo is even here. I try to indicate with my eyes that he should shut the heck up, but he either doesn’t get it, or ignores me.
“So you’re saying you didn’t switch out bug spray with pepper spray in order to ruin your ex’s day?” he asks with a smile.
I chance a look over at Leo now. He’s frozen in place, realization gradually registering in his eyes, his whole face morphing
from relaxed to shocked. I’m going to throw up.
“Pepper spray is an important method of self-defense,” I squeak. Before anyone can protest to my lame response, I swivel around
and desperately point at Benny.
“Benny,” I say loudly. “Your turn.” I feel like I’m burning up, like Leo can see right through me. I don’t dare to catch his
eye.
“Dare,” Benny says with a shrug.
I think for a second. This should be fun. “Pick someone here that you like and kiss them.” Time to put the obvious flirtation between him and Georgia
on full display. I’m practically daring him to call Georgia’s bluff about setting him up with Daisy.
But Benny blushes. “Actually, can I switch to truth?”
“Fine, just tell us who you think is the most attractive person at the party.”
He thinks for a second. He definitely glances over at Georgia, and as much as I’m still dying of mortification from my turn, I’m also dying to hear his answer. “Elena Holliday,” he responds calmly. When several of us scoff, he says, “What? She is a very elegant
woman.” He gestures at Daisy and Georgia. “And she clearly passed down good genes.”
People laugh and roll their eyes, someone piping up about Benny being into older women. It was clearly a dodge. But I guess
I can’t say I blame him.
Benny picks Georgia to go next, and she selects truth as well. He looks her right in the eyes, across the roaring fire. “What’s
something about your boyfriend that you can’t stand?”
I hiss out a breath. Ooh, that’s a good one.
Georgia pauses for a second, blushing, unable to come up with an answer. “That’s not a fair question.”
“Just answer it, Georgia.” I nudge her.
She glares at me. “Okay, fine. I can’t stand the way Rhys chews gum. It is the most annoying sound in the world. Next! I pick . . .”
She scans the circle as if contemplating. “You. Leo.”
My stomach flips. Here we go.
“I’ll take a dare,” he says. His face is unreadable, but I can see behind his eyes there’s a flash of something—pride? Anger?
“No, pick truth,” Georgia says.
Leo shakes his head. “I get to choose. I choose dare.”
Georgia sighs. “Fine. Kiss the person you have the best connection with here.”
There’s a beat of complete silence. Then Leo stands up. “You know what? I don’t think I have a connection with anyone here. I should probably head out.”
A bunch of people start booing, and Leo dusts off his cargo shorts and turns to walk away.
Georgia nudges me as I watch him leave.
“What?” I ask, panicked.
“Go after him! Talk to him!” she hisses.
“No!” I hiss back.
“Do it!” she says.
I can’t sit here and act calm, anyway, so I get up and run after Leo.
By the time I catch up, he’s getting into his car.
“Hey.” I scramble for the right words. “Look, I can explain,” I begin, having absolutely no idea how to explain anything.
But he shakes his head. “I don’t need you to.”
“You don’t?”
“No,” he says, “because I can see that absolutely nothing’s changed about you. Disappointing, but not exactly surprising.”
He turns on his engine.
I feel an old, indignant anger roaring to life in my chest. It feels like Becca Johnson’s fifteenth birthday party—and the
rumors that stemmed from it—just happened yesterday. I can still remember Leo’s scorn. The cruel way he broke up with me.
Storming off without even letting me explain anything. Kind of exactly like he’s doing now.
“Oh, I’m the one who hasn’t changed?” I snort. “Right. That’s really rich, coming from you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re still a righteous, judgmental asshole. I don’t owe you an explanation. You deserve far worse than a stupid prank.”
“Whatever, Eden. See you around.” He shakes his head again, closes the driver’s-side door, and pulls out of the driveway.
And I just stand there, stunned, watching him go.