Page 79 of Perfect Score

“I’m only three minutes late,” I object to her making it sound like I almost missed it. Little does she know, I almost did.

She gets up from the chair where the makeup artist is doing her makeup.

“Wait a minute… something looks different,” she says, walking over to me.

“What?” I say, not looking at her as I busy myself rifling through my camera bag to pull out my gear to snap her “getting ready” photos. “Nothing is different,” I lie.

After one night with Brent, everything feels different. The knot in my stomach of Liam being with someone else is gone, and the sadness that I missed out on having this wedding experience a year ago feels more like a relief.

Seeing Shelby with my ring broke some kind of spell. How could I love someone who would treat me like that?

And how could Brent do so much in so little time?

“Nothing gets past me. David said that Brent went looking for you after you left. What happened last night? Were you sick?”

I keep busying myself with my bag and camera equipment, not looking up at her, but she catches the wide smile I can’t hide.

“Oh my God! Zoey, what happened?” she says, putting her hands on my shoulders and trying to pull my attention up to her.

I don’t need to tell her anything, though. My sister knows by my smile and silence that something happened. She knows when I’m trying to hide something. She knows me too well.

“Did you and Brent…” She doesn’t finish her sentence as she plasters her right hand over her mouth when I let a snicker escape.

I’ve been caught.

There’s no way out of this.

My sister missed her calling as a true crime detective. She can sniff out any secret.

Sarah starts giggling in the corner. “Shit, finally. Brent’s been eye fucking you since high school.”

I snap a look up at her. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh, come on, Zoey,” Phoebe says. “You knew how he felt about you. And then you went out with Liam.”

“Yeah, I couldn’t believe it,” Sarah says. “Brent’s always been way hotter than Liam. Plus, Brent was always so sweet on you.”

How did everyone know this but me?

“Brent could have had any girl in school. He was NHL-bound. He didn’t want some girl from his hometown holding him back, and Liam showed interest. Brent never…”

Now knowing about the Spanish clown incident, I can’t trust that I know anything about how Brent felt about me.

I pull out the lens of my camera to get everything assembled and ready to start taking shots when a Ziplock baggie rolls to the bottom of the bag when I lift the lens out.

I pick it up, and the second I do, Phoebe’s smile lights up.

It’s a bag of trail mix; cranberries, white chocolate chips, and cashews.

“Did you know that David caught Brent mixing up bags of chocolate chips, cranberries, and cashews one day after practice? That’s not a trail mix they package in-store. You think Brent didn’t have any interest? He never made personal trail mix bags for any other girl in school. Also, did you know he’s allergic to cashews? He had a reaction one day at practice after forgetting to wash his hands after. He broke out in hives and wasitching for hours. David told me all about it after he and I started dating in college,” she says, shifting to one hip and crossing her arms over her chest with a smirk.

A ripped piece of hotel stationery is inside the bag with Brent’s handwriting on it. It’s funny how, after all these years of sharing notes in Spanish class, I still recognize his handwriting.

“Here’s some other nuts for you to hold on to until later tonight. ; )”

I chuckle at his sexual innuendo, and my heart does a double skip.

“He’s a man, Zoey. They’re not always great at communicating things verbally. Trail mix was him asking you to go steady,” Sarah says.

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