Page 96 of No One Else

Eden smiles at me, but the other two are more hesitant, looking me up and down, like they’re searching for something. I sit down gingerly, unpacking my lunch and take a big bite of my sandwich. Maybe the peanut butter will stick my teeth together and I won’t be able to talk.

“Well, I’m just going to address the elephant in the room,” Samantha announces after half a minute of silence. “We heard you dumped Evan and are back with Carter. Is that true?”

The peanut butter really does get caught in my throat and I have to thump my chest a few times to clear it. “Yes,” I tell them, not elaborating any more on the subject.

“But you said you’d never go back to him in a million years.”

“I changed my mind.” I focus on my half-eaten sandwich, unable to look her in the eye.

“Even after what he did to you?” Charlotte asks softly. She’s had a boyfriend cheat on her before. She knows what it’s like. How humiliating it is.

“He’s changed.”

She shakes her head. “People don’t change that much.”

“You don’t know him like I do.” I cringe even as the words leave my mouth. I’ve always hated girls who use that excuse.

I can feel their respect for me slipping through my fingers with every defense, every denial. After a few minutes of silence, Charlotte and Samantha excuse themselves to go to class, though there’s plenty of time till it starts.

I slump back in my seat, putting a hand over my eyes, the familiar stinging pressure already forming. How many tears have I shed in the past few weeks? Morgan must be absolutely sick of me.

This charade is affecting my whole life now. No boyfriend, no friends. What do I have left? How long can I keep this up?

“Are you okay?” a quiet voice asks to my right. I startle, forgetting that Eden is still here. As terrible as it sounds, there’s just something about her that fades into the background.

“No,” I admit, leaving it at that.

“Why are you pretending to be with Carter?”

I look up, her face calm as she finishes her sushi. I watch her perfectly pick up a roll and take a bite, then set it back down. Damn her and her perfect chopstick skills and all-knowing mind.

“What do you mean?” I nervously laugh, glancing around as if Carter can overhear us.

“Natalie, everything I know about you tells me you wouldn’t go back to Carter.” She holds up her hand to stop me from denying it. “Despite your claims otherwise.”

“I’m allowed to change my mind.”

“But you haven’t. You’re still in love with Evan.” Her face is calm and confident in her statement, the way she gets when talking about facts and figures. All my denials are gone in the wake of such surety and I nod, the tears finally breaking through.

Oh God, not here in the middle of the student center. I’m not one of those girls that can cry prettily. I always turn into a red-faced, puffy-eyed, snotty mess. And my presentation with Evan is today, of course. Great day to be looking my worst.

“How did you know?” I sniffle, wiping at my nose with the back of my hand.

“Simple matter of logic.” She shrugs her shoulders. “Like Charlotte said, people don’t change. And that includes you. You’ve been head over heels for Evan. The last time you ate with us, you were gushing about him. You wouldn’t just up and change your mind that quickly. So what’s going on that’s making you pretend to like Carter again?”

“He’s blackmailing me,” I whisper.

Her eyes widen behind her thick-rimmed glasses. “Seriously?”

I nod. “Evan punched Carter in the face and now he says he’ll press charges and sue him if I don’t pretend I’m his girlfriend for social media.”

She blinks at me, momentarily speechless, before pressing on. “Even if he does those things, that doesn’t mean he’ll win the cases.”

I shake my head before she’s even finished talking. “His dad is a high-powered lawyer and has a lot of political connections. He’s actually running for office and that’s why Carter needs me to be part of the wholesome family image they’re portraying. But he could make those charges stick. Evan could go to jail and pay fines, be kicked out of school and fired from his job. Then there’s the lawsuit on top of that. I can’t do that to him.”

“So he doesn’t know?”

“No, nobody does.” I take her hand in my own, squeezing it tight. “And you can’t tell anyone. That’s Carter’s stipulation. It has to seem real.”

---