Page 153 of The Girlfriend Zone

I hesitate, trying again. “I’ll fix this, I swear.”

She stops crying, staring at me like she’s seeing straight through me. “You’ve got a team to fix. And you should talk to your agent. I can handle myself.”

Dread roars through me. Does she want tocool it? I’m not sure I can even say those words. “What do you mean?” I ask, and there’s horror in my voice.

Her gaze flickers. “Miles, your career was perfect before this. You’ve worked too hard to let me mess it up. Everything I planned is spiraling out of control, and Iwon’t drag you down with me.” She looks at the time on her phone. “And if you’re not on the bus going to the airport, they will trade you for sure.”

My gut twists. I want to argue, but I can’t push her. Not now. And the fact is, she’s right. I’ve got to get my ass on that bus. Plus, she has her meeting with Melissa tomorrow. She has her dad to face. Me? I’ve got this epic failure of leadership to answer for.

But as I watch her retreat behind her walls, something cracks inside me too.

49

THE BAMBOO BIKE MAKERS STRIKE AGAIN

Leighton

“I feel we should tell her,” Indigo says.

I privately groan as I walk through the doorway of the bedroom and into the living room, the early morning sun spilling through the window.

“I feel it’s a mistake,” Ezra says.

They must be really used to not having me around if they’re speaking like this with me here. But they both turn at the same time as I trudge to the kitchen in my old apartment turned temporary refuge from my own bad decisions. From the mess I made of my life. I didn’t have the heart to go to Miles’s home last night. It felt wrong. Presumptuous, even. So I came here. Much to their surprise. And clearly, they’re not really accustomed to me being here anymore. It makes sense. It’s been close to a month since I’ve stayed, and I’ve only returned a few times to grab clothes.

Indigo meets my gaze and gasps, her braid whippingaround as she turns and faces me. “Oh. I didn’t realize you were up.”

Ezra winces, dips his head, his man bun bobbing with him. “Oops.” When he looks up again, he turns to her and says, “I told you so.”

These two haven’t changed one bit. “So tell me what?”

Indigo twists her fingers together, looks at Ezra withI’m sorrywritten in her eyes, and says to me, “I feel you should know we’ve been performing fellatio and cunnilingus in your bedroom.”

My eyes don’t even pop in surprise. This is super on brand for them.

“I feel you should know I didn’t want to tell you,” Ezra adds.

I should be annoyed by them. I have been in the past. But I’m not—I’m jealous for the first time. Because the thing is—they’re making it work better than I ever could. These two talk about everything. And what do I do? I keep secrets and push people away. Instead of being with the guy I fell for, I’m further apart from him than the miles between us.

I just shrug. I am a shell of whatever this morning. “It’s fine,” I say, not caring they’ve been getting it on in my room. I walk through the kitchen to the cramped bathroom, shutting the door with a loud rap.

I shower quickly, get dressed, and get out of there as fast as I can. I have my meeting with Melissa in a couple hours, but I’ll use this free time to walk, think, and strategize over how to fix all of the relationships I’ve wrecked. Starting with my father.

But how? I have no clue what to do next. His words won’t stop repeating in my mind—I am more hurt that you didn’t trust me enough to tell me you had fallen for someone.

They cut deeper each time I play them in my head. I need my friends. Need to discuss what to do next, to figure out how to fix this.

But just as I’m tapping out a mayday text to the crew, a new text from Riley lands on my screen.

Riley: School has a late start today. Guess who’s wandering around Japantown at nine in the morning with nothing to do? Come whisk me away for a boba.

My thumb hovers over the mayday text. I’ll want that later, but right now, sister time is exactly what I need.

After I order a green tea boba and a mango bubble tea for Riley, she tells me she’s all set for the SAT and refuses to study again for the next twenty-four hours. So once our drinks are ready, we grab them and wander around Japantown.

“Tell me something, anything not related to college or the SAT,” she says.

I scoff as we pass a cute little shop peddling all manner of Hello Kitty merch.

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