Page 76 of Love Me Not

“Don’t give up, Linds,” Megan said, dabbing my cheeks with a napkin. “Fight for yourself the way you’d fight for all of us.”

I shook my head. “It’ll never work.”

“You don’t know that,” Donna argued.

Yes, I did, damn it. I’d rather part as friends than have Trey realize that I was never worth his time anyway. That I was never enough and never would be.

“It’s done,” I said, swiping the tears away. “I can’t believe I’m crying. It’s not like he’s the love of my life or something.”

“He could be,” Megan said, reaching for more napkins, “if you give him a chance.”

Snagging the rough brown paper from her hand, I blew my nose before saying, “This was a crush gone too far, that’s all. It’s good that we came to our senses now.”

“We?” Becca said. “Are you sure Trey feels the same way you do?”

The man hadn’t exactly put up a fight. “His last words were ‘I understand.’ That makes me pretty confident we’re on the same page.” No one looked convinced. “You can be skeptical all you want, but it’s over.”

“But it isn’t,” Josie said.

“Are any of you listening to me?”

“Hear me out.” She set down her fork. “You gave an if/then scenario. If that happens then this happens. But nothing has happened yet, and you don’t know how it will go. You might not lose your club, and he could get the stuff he’s asked for. You both win. Or you lose your club and he doesn’t get anything. In that case, you both lose equally. There are several ways this could turn out, but nothing is decided yet so nothing is over.”

This felt like one of those mind-numbing word problems in math class, and as an English major, math was not my forte. Then I remembered that her math was irrelevant.

“I put a condition on us dating. Why would he stick around after that?”

Becca snorted. “Have you met Trey Collins?”

“That man sticks,” Donna said. “Look at what he was willing to do just to get you on a first date.”

Granted, the man was an optimist and patient as a saint, but surely even he had limits.

“You don’t really believe he’ll go on as if nothing’s changed. What do I do then?” If this man made me go through ending us all over again, I’d never forgive him.

My four favorite faces stared back, looking way too happy.

“I guess you’ll have to date him,” Donna said.

“Oh, for sure,” Josie added.

Megan dug into her brownie. “I’m feeling much better about this now.”

Incredulous, I watched them eat their desserts as if all the problems in the world had been solved. Well, I did not feel better. I felt queasy and confused and, way deep in a far corner of my brain, a tiny but growing sense of optimism.

Heaven help me.

“They’re dropping like flies,” Georgie said, leaning back in her chair in an attempt to see into Trey’s classroom. “The only clubs left are yours, debate, and chess.”

“You’re going to tip over,” I warned, aware of the current state of the clubs in the school. “If you’re so desperate to see what he’s doing, walk over there already.”

Normally on a Friday at this time, when both me and Trey had third period free, he’d come over and hang out. But as I’d predicted, things had changed after Monday. Not that he was ignoring me or even really acting any differently. He still came to play rehearsal, still walked me to my car after, and smiled through it all.

But there was definitely a change.

He didn’t tease me as much. Never mentioned us going out. The little notes that would show up on my desk stopped, and no more texting at random times. At first I’d been sad, especially after the girls convinced me that maybe this could be salvaged. But I’d gotten what I wanted, right? Trey got the message, was good with us staying friends, and now my heart was out of danger.

Win-win.

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