Page 93 of The Wrong Bachelor

Tanner choked on a piece of popcorn as he tried not to laugh while the rest of our friends lowered their heads and became thoroughly interested in the plates of food in front of them. Not one of them was looking at Laurie or me.

I placed a hand on Laurie’s shoulder. “I think you’ll find that our friends feel the same way as Jake and me.”

Laurie shook my hand off her shoulder and stalked away from the table without looking back.

“You’re welcome back here once you’ve done the right thing!” Tanner called after her. Everyone around the table gasped, or laughed, as Laurie gave him the finger over her shoulder as she walked.

“Or not,” he added with a shrug.

It wasn’t until Laurie left the cafeteria that sound seemed to return to the room. My talk with Laurie hadn’t gone down how I wanted it to. I hadn’t wanted it to be so public, and I had hoped she’d be reasonable enough to realize that she needed to apologize to Madi. Banishing her from our table had seemed like such a petty punishment, but I couldn’t think of another way to try and convince her to do the right thing on the fly. There was nothing I could do about it now though.

I sat next to Tanner and stole a handful of his popcorn. “You just had to have the last word, didn’t you?” I said.

Tanner grinned. “What? I couldn’t let you take all the glory.”

I shook my head. “I didn’t want to embarrass her. I just wanted her to do the right thing.”

“Oh well,” Tanner shrugged. “She’ll come around eventually. I give it a couple of days before she realizes that she needs to do a 180 on the attitude.”

“I give it a week,” I said. “Laurie is stubborn.”

“True,” Tanner agreed.

I glanced over toward Madi’s table, hoping to see her reaction. Her face was turned from me though as she talked with Hayley, and I wished I could hear what they were saying.

“So, creeper,” Tanner elbowed me in the side. “What are we going to do about your other little problem?”

“What, Madi?” I asked, receiving a nod in reply. “I already told you, I’ve got it under control.” I had already formulated a plan in my head, but my voice was filled with doubt. The truth was, I was nervous my idea wouldn’t be enough.

Tanner gave me an encouraging smile. “You’ll convince her.”

“Or die trying,” I grumbled in reply.

I was leaving the cafeteria when I felt a hand at my elbow. I turned swiftly, my heart jumping at the hope that it was Madi. It wasn’t Madi, but I wasn’t exactly disappointed to see Hayley standing there smiling at me. That had to be a good sign.

She pulled me aside so that other people could pass. “That was a good thing you did in there, Cole,” she said.

“Did Madi hear?” I asked.

Her smile grew larger. “Yeah, she heard.”

“And?”

“And she still isn’t sure if she should trust you.”

“Right.” My shoulders sagged as her words deflated me. I hadn’t cornered Laurie in the hopes that Madi would hear and forgive me. I’d done it because it was the right thing to do. Still, it was disappointing that it hadn’t made a difference.

“Hey,” Hayley said, smacking my arm. “Don’t look so crushed.”

“But you just said—”

“I said she wasn’t sure,” she added, cutting me off. “Which means she can be convinced…”

“You really think there’s still a chance?” I didn’t even dare to hope. I hadn’t received any positive signals in my short interactions with Madi since the camping incident.

“Yeah, I do. And I’m her best friend, so if I can’t call it, then nobody can.”

I didn’t want to believe her in case it wasn’t true, but my stupid heart wouldn’t listen to me. It felt like it had started beating for the first time in days.

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