Page 71 of The Boyfriend Swap

I chuckled despite myself. “Sounds like something Perry would say.”

“Okay. I need to know. What happened with Perry and Sidney?”

“They messed around in a pantry closet. No sex, but Schuester rose to the occasion.” I’d told James about the nickname Perry gave to his penis because…well, because it was too funny to keep to myself.

James whistled through his teeth. “Geez. I couldn’t have written this better if I were the producer of the aforementionedOne Tree Hill.”

“I was planning to break up with Perry anyway. What you said at Billy Murphy’s was right. We weren’t going anywhere. It was time. But then he told me what happened.”

“I’m actually impressed with Perry’s honesty. Unless he was planning to dump you for Sidney.”

“Don’t be impressed. He fessed up only after he thought I knew. But, no, he isn’t dating her. It was a one-time thing. He said it never should have happened. The pathetic part was I didn’t care. My heart barely registered the news.”

“I’m glad you’re not heartbroken, sweetheart. His hotness factor notwithstanding, he’s not good enough for my Robyn.”

“Will said the same thing. Of course, he didn’t call me ‘his Robyn.’”

“Which brings us back to Will. When did he ask you out?”

I told James how Will called me the same night Sidney confessed her indiscretion and suggested we go out and show them how it was done, and that it felt more like a need to get back at our cheating exes than a genuine desire to date me. “I don’t trust he really wants me.”

“There’s something between you for sure. I saw it at the bar.”

“I felt it too, but even after I told him I was breaking things off with Perry, he didn’t say anything about liking me.”

“I’m guessing the only reason he didn’t make a move in your childhood bed was because he already had a girlfriend. He’s too decent to cheat or make a move on someone else’s girl. Unlike Perry.”

“What if he just can’t handle being single? Even when he wasn’t dating Adrienne in high school, there was always a girl waiting in the wings.” Faces of all the girls who got to kiss Will for more than five seconds during a game of Spin the Bottle flashed before my eyes. “There was Jill, Debbie, and Kaurie.” I slid up my bed, leaned against my headboard, and closed my eyes. “I don’t want to be his second-choice rebound girl because he needs a warm body.”

“It’s a possibility.”

“You really think so?” It was easier for my heart to believe Will didn’t really like me than accept I might have made the biggest mistake of my life.

James sighed. “I can’t believe after all these years Will Brady asked you out and instead of being the happiest girl in the world, you have all these doubts. It’s not fair. You deserve to live happily ever after with your own Troy Bolton.”

James’s reference toHigh School Musicalreminded me of something, and I sat up straight in my bed. “Did I tell you how horrid his voice is?”

“Will’s?”

“Yes. Oh, James. If Will’s singing was a food, it would taste like a rotten egg.”

James laughed. “Oh, man. Bad singing doesn’t bode well for a Lane Christmas. What did your parents do?”

“They ate it up.” My mind flashed back to my mom hugging Will and whispering “I love this guy” to me. “They loved him.”

“What about their daughter? Does she love him too?”

I swallowed hard as the ache in my stomach got sharper. The answer to James’s question was yes. The man I loved asked me out, and I’d turned him away. Still, Will didn’t seem too upset when we hung up. Maybe I was right all along. Had I made the biggest mistake of my life by rejecting him, or saved myself from getting my heart broken? I wasn’t sure it mattered, since my heart already felt shattered.

Chapter 18

Sidney

I swallowed the last of my beer and swiveled my barstool to order another one just as Izaiah, my favorite bartender, placed one before me. “You’re the best,” I said. Since I’d arrived in Barbados three days earlier, I’d kept mostly to myself aside from the resort’s daily happy hour by the pool, when I made chitchat with the friendly bartenders and whoever else happened to be around.

“I got you, girl,” Izaiah said, pointing a finger at me.

“Thank you.” I shook out my air-dried hair and turned to face my new friends—Robert and Douglas. “As I was saying, I’d never cheated on a boyfriend before, and it brought up so many questions. Why did I really do it? Would I still be with Will if I hadn’t, or would he have dumped me anyway? And I question whether I was truly falling for him or just passing time like I’ve done with every other guy since Jake.”

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