Page 57 of Rebel Romeo

“That’s Doug,” Jill continued. “He’s planning to ask Kate out this weekend. And he’s not the only guy after her. There’s this other guy in your class, N?—”

“Nate,” I muttered. “Yeah, I know him.” He’d been sniffing around Katherine like a dog in heat for weeks now. But he’s had his chance. Surely, if Katherine wanted to date Nate, wouldn’t they have done it by now?

Still, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the scene in front of me.

Doug, smiling at Katherine.

Doug, leaning into her.

Doug, staring at her lips like he would even know how she liked her kisses.

“How do you know this guy’s asking her out this weekend?” I asked, my voice rougher than after a weekend drinking bender.

“Because he asked me what she liked—where he should take her.”

I didn’t know what I was thinking. All I knew was that my feet were carrying me like they had a mind of their own across the parking lot toward Katherine and Doug.

Fucking Doug.

Then, I was standing in front of them, her wide, blue eyes blinking up at me, surprised. “Holden? Uh… hi.”

“Hi.”

She tore her gaze away from me, landing briefly on Doug. “Oh, um, this is my friend, Doug. Doug, this is Holden.”

I examined them both closely. It didn’t seem like any sparks were flying. Katherine had her books clutched to her chest like a shield and she had jumped back from Doug the moment she’d seen me.

All in all, a good sign for me.

Doug took my hand, shaking it, but he seemed to be sizing me up in the same way I’d just been doing to him.

“Hey, Holden,” he said warily.

Fuck you, Doug.

“Hey.” I gave him a quick chin tilt before turning my attention back to Katherine. “I need to talk to you.”

She raised a challenging brow at me. “So talk.”

My gaze flicked to Doug briefly. She knew I wanted to talk alone. She was doing this to torture me. “I just… I wanted to say again that I-I’m sorry. Okay? I’m sorry.”

“You’ve already apologized. A couple of times.” Her tone was so matter-of-fact. Dismissive almost. And even though she and I had been on good terms lately, we were still off. Like there was a chasm between us that hadn’t been there before, not even when we were desperately avoiding each other.

“So do you forgive me?”

There was a long, tense beat of silence until Doug took a step back from us. “Maybe I should go?—”

“No,” Katherine snapped.

Wetting my lips, I glared at Doug. “No to him. Or no to me?”

“Both,” she said, folding her arms.

“You seriously don’t fucking forgive me yet? I’ve brought you tea, I sent you pizza, I?—”

“Those are just things, Holden! And they’re really sweet things, but they’re not enough?—”

“Sweet?” I snorted the word and it came out with way more contempt than I intended.

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