Chapter 11 #3
Nolan laughed. “No. That’s not a thing for me. Not meaning anything about women in general. Just romantic relationships. Not my vibe.”
“Really?” Marlowe asked. “Even seeing how things have worked out for Cody and Walker?”
“Yeah,” Nolan said. “Because it’s not about their life, it’s about me.”
“And you don’t want to fall in love.”
“I haven’t had to make any declarations about that one way or the other,” Nolan said. “The way I see it, that kind of love isn’t going to chase you down. So it isn’t like I have to build a fortress against it.”
“Sometimes it chases you down,” Cody said.
She could hear Cody and Marlowe shift in the back seat, and she glanced in the rearview mirror and saw that they were holding hands.
“Well, if it starts trying to chase me down, I suppose I’ll worry about it then. But until that point, I’ve never had that feeling.”
“Maybe I’ll fall in love with Jason,” Lila said.
She was being a jerk, and she knew it. But the whole conversation, all of this, was making her so uncomfortable.
“It’s possible,” Marlowe said. “And then I want credit for it happening, because I made you go on the rafting trip.”
“Alternatively, Marlowe,” Nolan said, “she might end up sending you her therapy bill.”
Lila laughed, and looked at Nolan, full on, taking advantage of the fact that he could not turn and look at her. “Some random dude is not going to put me in therapy. Not after everything I’ve been through.”
“That’s big talk for somebody who hasn’t had a romantic relationship before,” Nolan said.
She was about ready to slam his head into the steering wheel. That was something that she’d told him, not Cody or Marlowe. Only he knew she was…virginal, ew gross she hated that word so much.
“Well, I know myself,” she said, refusing to show that she was upset. Refusing. To give him that satisfaction at all.
“You say that now...”
“I’ll say it forever,” she said. “After everything we’ve been through, that isn’t going to be the thing that breaks me apart. And I don’t appreciate your lack of confidence in me. The fact that you think a dude bro could do that to me shows that you don’t actually know who I am.”
“If you think he’s a dude bro, why are you going on a date with him?”
“Why are you meeting up with this girl you have no intention of falling in love with?”
He did look at her then, and there was silence coming from the back of the truck that was so profound it was nearly loud.
“Fair enough, Lila, not my business,” Nolan said.
“No, that’s not what I said,” she said. “I said, what are you doing with the girl that’s at your house?”
“I’m gonna sleep with her,” Nolan said.
“Exactly. And I believe there’s a very well-known old saying about that. What’s good for the dumbass goose is good for the dumbass gander. All of you spent a whole lot of time hooking up, I’m allowed to do the same thing.”
She felt a little bit sorry for Cody. He hadn’t asked to be in the middle of this, and he sure as hell didn’t deserve to be getting this monologue that wasn’t even wholly true.
Except it kind of was. It partly was. She didn’t just want to hook up with Jason to hook up with him, she wanted to hook up with him as a method of getting past all this stuff with Nolan, and the reality was getting past all the stuff with Nolan was never going to be easy.
Because it didn’t take much. All it took was a lingering glance outside the bar.
This was a reminder of why she was doing this.
Nolan passed the resort, and then continued on the road down toward the barn that the surprise party was going to be in.
“Where are we going?” Marlowe asked, suddenly realizing they’d gone by the stated destination.
“Oh, shoot,” Nolan said. “I was so distracted by Lila’s bad decisions that I missed the turn.”
That wasn’t very convincing, but it did make Lila want to punch him.
Instead, she laughed. It was a fake laugh, but she just hoped that all of this was confusing enough that they could buy themselves just a little bit more time until—
Of course, right when they pulled up to the barn, there were a lot of recognizable cars out front. But they thought there was another event in there tonight, so that did mean maybe they wouldn’t put it all together.
“I’m just going to check in here really quick. We should all check in here really quick,” Nolan said, putting the truck in park and killing the engine.
To say that Cody and Marlowe were suspicious at that point was an understatement, but they still seemed like they didn’t quite know what all this could be leading to.
But right when they walked into the barn, it looked empty, and then everyone turned around and shouted, “Surprise!”
Cody and Marlowe started laughing. “Oh my gosh,” Marlowe said. “Is that why you were both being so weird?”
Well, yes and no. There was absolutely a factor of them being weird because of the surprise, but Lila was keenly aware of how weird they were being simply because of each other.
She just wasn’t sure why.
Or what to do about it. Other than keep her plan.
Cody and Marlowe started to make their way deeper into the room, and Walker and Addison raced over to them, eager to chat.
Nolan looked at Lila. “Come on. Let’s go have some fun.”