Page 87 of Sunsets & Slow Dances

I thought about sugarcoating my response, but this world was not one that I thought should be sugar-coated, especially for Chloe, she’d been through too much to do that; so I told her the truth. “If I thought it would do any good, I would, but honestly, at least when I lived here, this town had a very boys-will-be-boys mentality, which is why I took the phone, so at least the little shit would be inconvenienced.”

“If he tries anything else, he’ll be more than inconvenienced.” A smile curled on her lips that I hadn’t seen before.

“What do you mean?”

“He pissed himself,” she said matter-of-factly.

“What?” I had no idea what she was talking about.

She pulled out her phone and started playing a video. It was everything that had just gone down. The entire incident from the moment I had him pinned up against the cave wall. Sure enough, when I was talking to him about prison, he’d pissed himself, and she caught it all on video.

“Why did you record this? Are you going to post it?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I wouldneverdo that, even if he sort of deserves it. I was just scared because after that guy said that you choked him out on Nadia’s porch, I kept hearing guys inschool brag about how they could kick your ass and stuff, and I was scared that if anything happened, they might try and lie and say you did something you didn’t do to sue you or something. That’s why I didn’t go to the truck, because I didn’t want you to get in trouble for something stupid I did. So, I thought if I recorded it, then we would have proof of exactly what happened. Is that dumb?”

“No, that’s smart. That’s a lot smarter than I was at your age. That’s a lot smarter than I am now.”

My phone rang and the console lit up; it was Felicity. Chloe and I shared a look before I answered. A look that cemented that we were on the same team.

“Hello,”

“Where are you? Matty’s sick, and he’s asking for you.”

“What’s wrong with him?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, is he nauseous? Does he have a fever or a headache?”

“I told you, he’s sick. I’m not going up there; there’s germs. I can’t get sick.”

“I’m coming home now.”

I disconnected the call, and as we pulled away, I knew Chloe was biting her tongue. “You can ask it.”

“What?” she asked in faux innocence.

I glanced over at her and back at the road.

“Okay, fine, what did you see in her?” Chloe shook her head. “I mean, she is really pretty, but…”

But she’s not Nadia. I don’t know if that’s what Chloe was thinking, but that was the answer. Anyone else that I was going to be with was going to be the wrong person because I already had the right person. I think subconsciously, I chose the most wrong person I could find, and if that was the goal, I think I succeeded.

31

NADIA

“It’s not a date,”I reiterated to Peanut, who was behind me, curled up in a throw blanket at the end of the bed.

As I stared at my reflection in the mirror, it became evident I’d unintentionally dressed in an elevated Cher fromCluelessvibe, which was the first movie Callum and I ever saw together. It was Nora’s favorite movie, and we watched it after the first dinner I had at his house. We even dressed as Cher and Paul Rudd’s character Josh from the movie for Halloween the first year we were together. Tonight, I had on thigh-high boots, a black A-line mini-skirt, and a baby blue cable knit sweater with a white t-shirt beneath it. There were about two inches of skin showing between the hem of my skirt and the top of my boots.

Callum had a huge crush on Alicia Silverstone, specifically in her role as Cher and her cameo in the Aerosmith “Crazy” music video. He was a big Aerosmith fan, which was one of the reasons our song was “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.”

When I was getting dressed, I hadn’t consciously decided to pay homage to his childhood crush, but now, looking at myself in the mirror, it was obvious that is precisely what I’d done.

Tonight was Miles and Zoe’s bachelor/bachelorette party. Callum texted me in the middle of the week and offered to pick me up, but I declined; so therefore, it was not a date, which is what I’d relayed to Peanut.

The only reason I hadn’t taken Callum up on his offer was because I knew if we’d shown up together, it would only add to the raging inferno of fiery gossip spreading through town, fueled solely by speculation that we were getting back together.

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