Page 46 of Little Lies

“And don’t you try and run away. I better see you when I get out on the floor. Front row.”

She waved him away more firmly to avoid making any promises. Even if she wanted to run away, being at this game would be in her best interest. Joliet would see her.

Her end of this bargain wouldn’t mean as much if she missed out on these sorts of opportunities to really make an impact and since her display at the pep rally, she needed to make an appearance now more than ever. Plus, seeing Joliet’s reaction again would be worth it.

He finally left. Now alone, Tully picked up her pace a little bit. If she wanted that front row seat, she’d need to be quicker.

twenty

nathan

For the second time that day, Nathan followed his team out of the locker room and into the gym where the crowd had gathered. The cheerleaders were yelling out some coordinated cheer to welcome the team, and the band welcomed them with the Richmond fight song.

But Nathan wasn’t as interested in all that as he was searching the front row for his dark-haired fake-girlfriend.

He’d been shocked to see her there a couple hours earlier, perched front and center. He wasn’t quite sure what prompted her to do something so eye-catching and gossip-inducing, but whatever it was he thought it had enabled some sort of switch in her being okay with the attention all on her.

But she wasn’t there now. The bleachers looked empty without her short curly hair and iconic sharp-eyed glare.

Maybe she changed her mind. The jump from being uncomfortable with being at the center of attention to willingly doing it might have been too much and now she could be doubling down by skipping the game entirely.

Jeff, the team captain, started calling out a few warm-up drills and the team got into action on one side of the gym while the Belmont Bears did their own drills on the other side.

For ten minutes, Nathan followed in line by shooting the ball and passing to a teammate. When he wasn’t in motion, he looked through the crowd to see if Tully had appeared at some other part of the gym, but the more he looked the less time approached until the start of the game and the more he considered she may very well just never show up. A whistle blew and the crowd cheered as the start of the game approached. The cheerleaders led the audience in a few chants before breaking off. Nathan took a seat on the bench to catch his breath before the game was set to begin and leaned his elbows on his knees.

He grabbed his water bottle which was set under his spot on the bench and opened it up, just to be disappointed when all that came out were a few empty drops. That’s right. He’d meant to fill it up right before the game, but thanks to his impromptu trip to find Tully in the library he’d become distracted and forgotten all about it.

“Need some water?” A shadow covered him up and he looked up to see a pink water bottle held out to him. Joliet was grinning down at him, her voice sweet but her light eyes hooded. He looked from her to the bottle, and back. “I noticed that you’re out.”

It wasn’t that strange for Joliet to approach him like this. She often offered him treats or candies she ‘happened’ to have in classes, and this wasn’t even the first time she was offering him water during a game. But he hesitated to accept it this time. Considering that he was ‘dating’ her sister, who for some reason had a deep vendetta against this cheerleader, it felt like he would be betraying Tully if he said yes.

But he wasn’tactuallydating her.

He was thirsty after all, a sip wouldn’t hurt. Plus, she wasn’t even here.

“Sure, thanks,” he reached out and grabbed her bottle. The water inside was cold and refreshing. He took a couple gulps.

“I guess Tulsa isn’t coming,” Joliet said, and though her voice sounded sweet, he could tell there was some bitterness behind it.

He nearly choked on the water, and pulled the bottle away, coughing a bit. He handed it back to her. “She’s coming,” he said it once his throat cleared, but he wasn’t sure if he actually believed it himself. “Just running late.”

“I wouldn’t count on her coming much to these things. She’s not very reliable when it comes to supporting other people—especially the people she’s dating. That’s why she and her other boyfriend broke up,” Joliet shrugged, and her ponytail flicked over her shoulder. “Best you know that now.”

Nathan frowned and looked closely at Joliet’s face. He had no idea why Tully and her ex broke up, and he’d never stopped to think much about it; much less ask about it. The only time he even noticed them together was at the party, and from what he witnessed, it seemed like she was the one being harassed.

Plus, there was something about the way Joliet was looking at him. She acted like she cared, her lips pouted and giving off an air of sympathy. Her eyes, though, sparkled like she was trying not to laugh. Like she was amused. For some reason, that was enough for Nathan to realize that she was lying right to his face about her sister.

And that little realization gave him the slightest idea of why Tully hated Joliet enough to use Nathan to get back at her.

“Hey, Rondeau,” Patrick Hugh called where he sat nearby on the bench. Nathan and Joliet both turned to look at him. Patrick raised a finger and pointed across the gym at the bleachers. “Isn’t that your girl?”

Nathan looked across the gym. Patrick was right. Tully was walking in, looking a little rushed, but she was there—wearing his jacket and scanning the line of basketball players. Her eyes caught his, then jumped to Joliet. If seeing her sister standing next to Nathan fazed her, she didn’t let it show. She lightly smiled and waved at him, and he did the same.

Luckily for her, there was a spot left open in the front row—not that Nathan had anything to do with that.

Joliet stiffened next to him, and Nathan felt a sense of satisfaction at the effect Tully had on her sister after she had come over to Nathan just to lie about her to him. He’d dare say he was even a little proud of his quick-learning pupil for how she’d adapted to this fake relationship.

He stood up as the buzzer echoed in the gym, signaling the game about to start and smirked down at Joliet who was struggling to look as cheerful as before now that everything she just said backfired on her. “Thanks for the warning, Joliet, but I think we’re fine.”

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