Page 56 of Weak Side

“What?” I asked, sneaking a peek at Theo, who was staring at me, still seemingly waiting for me to do something about the girls staring at him throughout the restaurant. Annoyance was quickly replaced with an uncertainty. What harm could it do?

“What exactlyisgoing on?” Angie asked, crossing her arms over her Bex shirt. “You know…”—Angie looked around for a brief second—“Chad came in here yesterday.”

My fingers gripped the cup I was filling with ice. Angie knew that Chad and I were at odds right now, but that was all she knew. “Oh, yeah?” I asked, pretending that it didn’t bother me.

“He was with a girl, and he still had the nerve to ask me where you were. He wanted me to seat him in your section.”

“What did you tell him?” I gathered all the cups for the guys on a tray and saw that some of the football players had gravitated toward their table.

“I told him it was none of his damn business.”

A laugh flew out of my mouth. Rebecca came up behind Angie to punch something into the computer and said nonchalantly, “I almost fake tripped and dropped a plate on his lap, but I didn’t want you to get mad at me.” She said the last part to Angie, and the loyalty of everyone at The Bex resonated within.

“I love you both.” I stepped in between them, wrapped my arms around their waists, and hugged them at the same time. “You don’t have to drop anything on Chad’s lap. I have my own ways of making him feel like shit.”

“Oh, yeah.” Rebecca continued to put her order into the computer. “I saw you and Theo at the party.”

“What party?”

My face was hot to the touch, thinking about how Theo and I must have appeared from the outside looking in. My ears rang as Rebecca filled Angie in on thekissthat everyone saw, and even though I told myself not to do it, I looked over at Theo from across the busy establishment, and the brief longing of feeling desirable came rushing back in. When our eyes caught, he mouthed the word, “Jersey?” at me, and I couldn't find it in me to shake my head. Instead, I turned around and sucked in a deep breath before I grabbed a glass of water and walked over to the man sitting in the corner booth.

“Here you go,” I said, placing it down before pulling out my notepad. “What can I get you?”

The man leaned back in the booth and stared up at me, saying absolutely nothing. I couldn’t help but wonder who he was, because most of the people that came into The Bex were college students, and occasionally, those college students would bring their parents who were visiting on the weekends or during move-in day.

But the man was alone, and I could tell by the way he was peering up at me from his sitting position that he was studying me. I began to shift on my feet, glancing over to Theo, seeing that Rush and a few of his friends had pulled up chairs to his table. I quickly pulled my attention back and sent the man a hesitant smile before he shook his head and pulled open the menu.

“Uh, what’s good here?” He chuckled. “Besides the hockey team.”

An abrupt laugh left me. Was he saying that because he caught me looking over at Theo’s table full of hockey players? I mean, theywerein my section, although that wasn’t the reason I was glancing at them.

“Well…” I started. “Honestly? Everything is good here. I’m a burger gal myself.”

A warm smile flitted across his face, and he shut his menu a moment later. “You know what, surprise me. I like any and everything. Order me what you would order yourself.”

I shifted on my feet again, but then I nodded and grabbed his menu. “I can do that. It’ll be right out. Can I get you anything else to drink? Or is water okay?”

“Water is fine,” he said before seeming uncomfortable. He glanced away before mumbling, “Thank you, um…?”

“Claire.” I smiled as I walked away, feeling strange the entire time I put his order in the computer. It wasn’t until I wandered back over to Theo’s table that I felt the strange feeling lessen.

“Here you go,” I said, putting their drinks in front of them. “Fries are on their way.”

“Thanks, Bryant,” Dax said. Ford blew me a kiss, and Aasher laughed at him before taking a sip of his water.

As soon as I turned around, I realized I was suddenly trapped behind a group of girls. One was sitting on Rush’s lap, and the other three lingered, chewing on their fingernails and batting their eyelashes at anyone who would look.

“Um, excuse me,” I mumbled, suddenly annoyed. The girls parted, and I watched as the one on the left, with her hair in a high pony, sighed in relief, setting her eyes on the prize.

Theo.

I took a step forward, my tennis shoes lightly pressing against the sticky floor, but then paused. Irritation landed on my skin like I had been sprayed with little droplets of water, and before I knew it, I was spinning around and putting my hands on my hips to stare at Theo. His eyebrows jumped with surprise. I licked my lips and sighed before I walked over to him and peered down at his pleased expression.

“Take a seat, roomie,” he whispered slyly with his arms spread open, motioning to his lap instead of the empty seat beside him.

Silence fell over the table like a plague when I sat down on his lap, and as if the stars aligned, the door to The Bex opened, and in walked Chad with Iris, one of the girls he had studied with in the past. My heart slowly dropped to my feet when the realization hit me like a ton of bricks.

Did he cheat on me with her too?

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