Page 61 of Little Lies

Tully, finally having stopped coughing, sat up straight, and Nathan looked from her to Tricia and back several times. Tully’s jaw clenched, her face reddened slightly, and he waited for her to respond, but she didn’t. No one did. Aside from Tully, everyone seemed confused.

“Seriously, Nathan? Are you going to continue to act stupid?” Tricia looked around like she expected someone else to agree. When no one moved, she scoffed. “Are you guys blind? Tulsa and Erik broke up aweekbefore the party where we all saw her with Nathan. But the wayI’veheard it is that it wasn’t even the first time. Isn’t that right, Tulsa? Because aren’t you the one who told Erik yourself that you cheated on him too, and you and Nathan just happened to start dating? You’re disgusting, you know? Pretending you’re so innocent.”

Nathan’s hand snapped into a fist, and his jaw clicked. A tight vein jumped in his temple, and his whole body burned in anger. To be accused of that . . . He had to speak through clenched teeth. “Shut the hell up. You have no idea—”

“You’re right.”

A bucket of ice water froze him in place.

He looked at Tully, with her chin held high. Her face was carefully calm, her eyes steady and challenging at Tricia. Unrattled, unsurprised.

Only Nathan could see how she wrung her hands over and over on her lap under the table. His burning face stilted in exchange for furrowed confusion.

His mouth opened, closed, opened again, and closed.

“Nathan and I have been together for a while. About as long as my sister was screwing my boyfriend. Does that answer your question?”

Dread settled in Nathan’s stomach and he couldn’t take his eyes off of her.

What the hell was going on?

How could she say that? Fake dating was one thing.

Making him out to be a cheater? Another thing entirely.

Kimmy and Tommy looked at each other with the exact same expression, knit eyebrows and downward lips.

Tricia smirked, pleased. “Yes. It does,” she stood up with her lunch tray clutched in white-knuckled fists. “I guess I’ll see you all later.”

She strode away as the bell rang. Students around them got up to return to their classes, but they all stayed still.

It was a relief that no one else seemed interested in whatever just happened at their table. No one cared now, but they would soon.

“I need to talk to you,” Nathan said to Tully, standing. He dumped his tray hastily down the trash as he walked outside. He didn’t check to see if she was following, but he knew she was there. He was fuming, struggling with an internal debate. The anger clouded his judgment and he couldn’t think straight. He rounded the corner and they were back in the same alleyway they had been in when this entire charade started. After a second, and when he was sure she was there, he faced her.

Her lips were drawn in, her books clutched protectively over her chest. At least she had the decency to look guilty. “Whatthe hellwas that?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, you should be,” he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “You just made me out to be some sort of creep who goes after another guy’s girlfriend. Now everyone is going to think I’m a sleaze.”

Truth was, he could handle his classmates. He didn’t particularly care what a bunch of teenagers thought of him, but this was a small town. Teenagers talk, word spreads fast, and he was scared that news of this would travel through town and find its way to his mom. His throat tightened up just thinking about how his mom would feel if she caught wind of it. “Why would you say that?”

Tully looked down, focusing on something near his feet to avoid looking at his eyes. “When I caught them together, he kept acting like he didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t know what to do and I wasn’t thinking straight so I just told him I did it too. I wanted him to feel as terrible as I did then. I didn’t even think about it much until now. If I denied it, they might question this whole thing, so I just had to make them think it was real.”

Nathan stared at her. Was this for real? A little white lie turning into another lie and then another and another until they were here. Now branded two cheaters no better than Joliet and Erik.

No better than his dad.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

She shrugged and met his eyes again. He could tell that she felt horrible. Even though her mask gave nothing away, her fidgeting did. “I didn’t know it would turn into this.”

Nathan groaned and turned to the side as he ran his hands over his face. “How do we fix this?”

There was no answer for that. Not right now anyways. But he still wanted her to try to come up with something.

Her mouth opened, then shut. She didn’t respond at all.

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