Chapter 5 #2
“That guy is the worst,” I confirm, and Jay sends me a look that says obviously.
“They were all being assholes to her. Dropping stuff on purpose to make her pick it up. Loudly complaining about dirty utensils that were perfectly clean. Purposely intimidating her and then laughing when she stuttered because she was nervous. Just general Oakwoods douchery.”
“It’s not an Oakwoods thing, it’s a Preston and his friends are assholes thing.
” I can imagine exactly how Preston and those guys would sneer and laugh at the poor girl just trying to do her job.
The whole lacrosse team is terrible. Preston’s teammate is the one who called Kalani fat in front of everyone at that ninth-grade orientation.
Jay clearly disagrees but continues his story instead of arguing with me.
“I found Imani crying in the walk-in freezer, where she told me everything. I marched over to their table and barely even got a word out before they demanded the bill. Apparently, they had Leafs tickets for round two of playoffs and needed to leave to make it in time for puck drop.”
I lean forward in my seat before realizing what I’m doing and stop. I’m totally not drawn in by his storytelling or his deep, hypnotic voice. No, of course I’m not. I’m merely being a polite conversation partner. “What did you do?”
“I told them, ‘Of course, I’ll be right back with that,’ then made myself scarce for half an hour. When I brought the bill, Preston whipped out his card, and I took another twenty minutes to bring over the machine.”
I can imagine Preston and his friends hemming and hawing over being late to the hockey game. “I hope they missed the game, but at least you didn’t dump soup on their heads or something.”
Jay shakes his head. “No. But when I came back to run his card, I didn’t actually swipe it and loudly told him his card declined. Did it a few times, too. His face turned all red, and it didn’t help when his friends started in on him.”
I can’t help the laugh that bursts out of me. “He must have been so embarrassed.”
Jay smirks as he says, “He was. And maybe it wasn’t my proudest moment, but then I also very loudly told him if he was having trouble affording things I could get him a job, but he’d have to have an IQ higher than a squirrel to work there, so I didn’t think he’d qualify.
He really didn’t like that. And before things could escalate any further, my manager heard the commotion and came over.
He properly ran the card, and the table of assholes were on their way, too late to cause more problems.”
I image Preston sputtering to his friends and all the tables around him that there’s nothing wrong with the card while Jay stands over him apathetically, stating with a detached stoicism that his card is declining.
Maybe it’s not the same thing as smushing ice cream all over someone, but it’s just as devastating to a guy like Preston.
And I have to begrudgingly admit that it is a much smarter, slyer way of being petty than what I did to Jay.
“Well, they deserved it,” I say, stopping myself short of saying I’m proud of him for standing up for Imani against the bullies.
He’s still a jerk and we’re still not friends, even if we are on a blind date.
“Did you get in trouble? You seem to have more plausible deniability than if you had cussed them all out.”
Jay shakes his head. “Nah. I was lucky that Jamal was the manager that overheard me. He got me the job since his mom goes to church with my granny, so he let it slide. If it was anyone else working, I would’ve gotten written up for sure, even though it wasn’t the worst thing I could’ve done.
” He pauses, eyes scanning the menu though I’m not sure he’s actually seeing it.
“Honestly, looking back, I wish I had done or said more. They were terrible to Imani—terrible in general. But I really couldn’t afford to get fired, especially not from a job that gets really good tips. ”
I understand how it feels, to want to speak up but feel like something is holding you back.
For me, it’s fear of confrontation, but for Jay, it was fear of losing his job, and yet he still stepped in for his friend.
That was actually kind of cool of him. Guilt gnaws at my stomach, and now I feel even worse for smearing ice cream over his shirt, even though he definitely goaded me into doing it.
Jay leans back and says, “You know, I’ve never had one positive interaction with someone from your school.
Whether it was at interschool sporting competitions, at work, at a party, and now even at the cliff, a spot we kept just for us.
” He sends me a pointed look, implying he’s talking about me.
“You’re all the same: conceited and arrogant.
You’re all a bunch of Preston Whitmores. ”
My jaw drops, indignation clear on my face. “We are not!”
Jay sets the menu down to cross his arms against his chest, doubling down. “I’ve yet to meet someone from Oakwoods whom I didn’t instantly hate.”
“Maybe you just have a personality that makes you easy to hate,” I snap, heat rising in my chest at the mere thought of being lumped in with Preston.
Two years ago, we had a once-in-a-lifetime lesson with a guest artist on glassblowing.
I was carrying two structural vases I was so proud of down the hallway, and he purposely went out of his way to bump into me and make me drop them.
He thought it was hilarious, and I cried for two weeks straight over my shards of irreparable glass.
“Guess that makes two of us,” he quips back, causing me to glower at him. Here I was actually starting to feel like we were connecting, or at least capable of having a human conversation, and he had to go and remind me that he’s a huge jerk.
He’s saved from my comeback when the waitress drops off water to our table and informs us that she’ll be right back.
I take a sip of it to avoid his eyes. Maybe I should just leave now and save myself from what’s sure to be a horrible date, especially when we started off with agreeing on our mutual hate for the other.
“So,” he says before I can decide to leave or stay. He casually mixes the ice in his drink with his straw. “Still in love with your best friend’s boyfriend?”
I choke on the water. It dribbles down my chin before I manage to swallow the rest. “What?” I ask, but it comes out too loud, too rough. Wiping my chin with the back of my hand, I clear my throat and try again, calmer and less conspicuous this time. “What?”
The smirk I hate so much is on his face, but now it’s a knowing smirk, one that tells me he’s been paying a bit too much attention to me, that he’s in on my secret.
“That’s kind of a shitty thing to do, you know. But I get it. The heart wants what the heart wants and all that bullshit.”
Deny. Deny deny deny. That’s the best way to handle this situation.
“What are you talking about?” I force myself to seem unbothered, like he’s not hitting the nail right on the head.
He exhales a sharp, amused laugh. “You’re telling me you don’t know you’re in love with him?
” He studies my face, which I hope isn’t giving off deer-in-the-headlights vibes, and he shakes his head.
“No, that’s not it. You definitely know.
Do your friends? I’m assuming they don’t since you’re still friends. ”
Words fail me. What can I say to him when he’s one hundred percent right about his assumption? I can’t confirm his suspicions, though. What if he tells Kalani? My life will be over.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lie, squeezing my hands together under the table to stop them from shaking.
“Don’t I?” His eyebrow rises. “Apparently, you’re better at hiding it around them because I caught on fast. But you’re going to have to get over it quick, because they don’t look like they’re breaking up anytime soon.”
How does he know? Am I super obvious? Kalani would’ve said something if she suspected me, right?
She wouldn’t want me around Emmett if she knew I was in love with him.
And if they knew, Emi definitely would’ve said something to me—she’s not scared to tell people what she thinks. He has to be bluffing.
“I’m not in love with Emmett,” I say, putting conviction behind each word, as if it can make the statement true.
“Right. And I’m not Black, six foot two, and incredibly handsome.”
My eyebrows draw together. “But . . . but you are—”
“Exactly,” he says, cutting me off. “I thought we were lying about the obvious.”
Frustration builds in my chest. “I wasn’t going to agree with the handsome part, by the way.” Even if he is. “Can we just drop this? You shouldn’t make serious accusations like this with no proof. What if people heard and rumors spread?”
He waves me off. “I’m not going to tell anyone. It’s more fun watching you squirm.”
A pounding starts at the back of my skull, and I take a deep breath for patience. “What is wrong with you? From the second I met you, you’ve been nothing but a huge jerk.”
“Same can be said about you, Princess.” I stumble for words. How can he say I’m a jerk? He started it! “You know what your problem is?”
“Oh, please, enlighten me.” Everyone seems to take joy in informing me what my problem is. First Kalani, then Emi, now him.
He’s not deterred by my harsh tone. If anything, it spurs him on. “You don’t know how to live a little.”
“Of course I do.”
He raises an eyebrow. “Yeah? When’s the last time you pushed yourself out of your comfort zone and did something you normally wouldn’t?”
I rack my brain for an example to prove him wrong.
“Well, there was that time when—” Wait, no, I chickened out.
“Okay, this other time—” No, that was Emi.
Have I really never pushed myself? I glare at him, and a lightbulb goes off in my mind.
“Right now! I’m here! I didn’t want to go on a blind date, but here I am!
” I cross my arms smugly across my chest. Ha! He’s wrong!
He shakes his head. “No. You just told me you were forced to be here. You didn’t come willingly.”
“Yeah, well, what do you know?”
“I know that you walk around like you’re too good for everyone else.”
I wasn’t expecting that. “What? You don’t even know me.”
“From the moment I first laid eyes on you, I knew it. Getting out of your fancy car in an expensive dress at a cliff jumping party, looking around at everyone like we were all beneath you, terrified to slum it with a bunch of public school kids instead of your uppity private school friends. Then there’s the whole yelling at me for making sure you didn’t nosedive off a cliff thing, acting like my touch was offensive. I know you, Princess.”
I’m too stunned to defend myself and my actions, to tell him that I didn’t even know we were going to a cliff jumping party, to tell him I was looking around with fear and confusion, not contempt. That I pushed him away not because I didn’t like his touch but because I liked it too much.
“If I’m such a terrible person, why did you agree to this date? Why are you here?”
“Curiosity.” He shrugs. “Plus Kalani said if we made it through appetizers she’d give my sister Harry Styles tickets. That concert sold out, and my sister loves him, so let’s order some apps, huh?”
My heart drops into my stomach. Kalani bribed a guy who thinks I’m shallow and judgmental to go out with me? Is this what I’ve been reduced to? So undatable that the only person who’ll go out with me is someone my best friend paid?
“You are unbelievable,” I tell him, gathering my handbag. “I’m not so pathetic that I need my friends to pay someone to date me.”
He leans back in the booth and crosses his arms against his broad chest. “Really? My being here says otherwise.”
My nostrils flare as my face heats up. As if bribing someone to date me wasn’t bad enough, now the guy that’s currently a giant pain in my ass has more ammo against me. The thought of him thinking I’m a loser makes my throat tighten.
“If anyone’s pathetic, it’s you for believing I’d sit through a whole date with you, never mind the apps.”
“Right back at you, Princess. I’m only here for the concert tickets.”
There’s a sharp pain in my chest, and my vision blurs as I try not to let him see how much his words affect me.
Sliding out of the booth, I adjust my skirt. “Well, I hate to break it to you, but we didn’t even last long enough to order drinks. Looks like you showed up for nothing.”
He doesn’t look bothered in the slightest, his expression calm and collected. “It’s probably for the best. I couldn’t make it through the whole dinner pretending to be nice to you.”
“That was you being nice?” Insulting me and talking about my panties? “And I’m the pathetic one for being set up? No wonder you’re still single.”
He slides out of the booth, his height forcing me to tilt my head up, a challenge in his eyes. “Believe me, Princess. If I didn’t want to be single, I wouldn’t be.”
“Doubt it,” I shoot back, though with his good looks, I don’t really doubt it. He probably doesn’t have trouble finding dates, it’s keeping them around with his terrible personality where the problem must lie.
“Is everything okay?” comes a new voice. It’s our waitress. “Can I get you guys something other than water to drink?”
“No,” I say, looking squarely at Jay. “I’m leaving.”
Without giving him time to reply, I spin on my heel and march through the restaurant.
The chill of the night doesn’t even penetrate the hot layer of rage emitting from my body.
I keep my head held high and my shoulders back the entire time.
It’s not until I’m in the safety of my car that I let them sag, let the truth of the night hit me, let his words play over in my head until I’m fighting back tears.
What’s so wrong with me that my friends need to pay a guy to date me?
Is my presence so terrible that they’ll set me up with anyone, including someone they know hates me, just so I won’t fifth wheel them anymore?
Am I so pathetic that the only person who’ll go out with me is someone who’s getting paid for their time?
If I tell my friends how terrible this date was, are they going to make me go out with someone else, and is he going to be even worse than Jay?
Worst of all, Jay knows my true feelings about Emmett. Is Kalani going to ask him about our date, and is he going to tell her what he knows? How far am I going to have to go to keep Kalani in the dark about my feelings for Emmett?
I put myself out there by going on this date, and it was exactly the worst-case scenario. It couldn’t have gone worse if I tried.