Page 41 of You Belong With Me

“Sorry,” I mumbled to Thomas once I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be flashing anybody as I walked through the parking lot. Thomas didn’t answer, because his eyes were too focused on my legs, right where the dress ended, and I realized I’d probably brought more attention to the length of the dress by doing that instead of just leaving it. Just like outside the house, I felt uncomfortable with the heat of his gaze on me, and I started walking toward the restaurant, hoping he would take the hint.

He only half-did, as he followed behind me but put his hand on my lower back and whispered in my ear, “Those heels make your legs look really good.”

I was sure he was going for a flirty vibe, but it just made me feel even more like I was going to throw up. Not to mention how much I hated the feel of his hand on my back. When Sebastian did that, it felt sweet. When Thomas did it, I felt like he was waiting for the chance todrop his hand lower and cop a feel—which wasnothappening.

We fell silent again as we finished walking into the restaurant and waited for the hostess, and without his (terrible) music to distract me, it was ten times worse. Did most dates have this much silence? I felt like everyone in the restaurant was staring at us, aware that we were on our first date and it was as uncomfortable as it could be.

The hostess appeared, looking a little frazzled. “Sorry, hun,” she said. I wasn’t sure exactly which one of us she was referring to. “Packed night. Do you two have a reservation?”

“Yeah, for two,” Thomas said. “Under the name Thomas.”

She ran her eyes over the reservation list but then nodded. “Okay, perfect. You two can follow me.”

I was pleasantly surprised that he had thought ahead to book and reserve a table because it never would have even occurred to me that we should have. He let me walk ahead of him, following behind as the hostess led us to a booth in the back corner of the restaurant, which was mostly empty.

It was one of those fancy restaurants where the lighting was so dim that you could barely read what was on the menu, so I had to squint at the paper as I tried to read it. I was already getting a headache from the long day and my lack of sleep last night after going out with Sebastian for so long, and this was only making it ten times worse.

I never should have said yes to going out the same night as a swim meet. I was always exhausted after them and that mixed with how long this week had felt made this feelmore like a chore than something fun or exciting. I wasn’t sure why it hadn’t occurred to me to suggest going out tomorrow night instead. I guess I was just so focused on the thought of Sebastian going out with Tiffany that I hadn’t thought through the logistics of this. And of course, at the time, it never occurred to me that Sebastian might break up with Tiffany before we even got this date. Not that it should have made any difference, I reminded myself.

Thomas started going on about how we should just split an appetizer and an entree to save money, and I mumbled in agreement, not really listening all that much. I wasn’t hungry anyway.

“Welcome to the North Glen Eatery. Can I start you off with some drinks?”

I froze as I heard the bored feminine voice. I would recognize it anywhere—but I never expected to hear ithere. I didn’t lift my head as I tried to peer out of the corner of my eye at our waitress. The booth was raised but not enough that I was in-line with her face, so all I saw was the black shirt all the waitresses were wearing. But it was enough to see the name tag:Tiffany.

“We’ll take two Cokes,” Thomas said, even though I hadn’t told him what I wanted to drink. I liked Sprite more than Coke but I didn’t want to correct him now and bring attention to myself. There was still a chance that Tiffany hadn’t recognized me yet—with us being in the dark corner and me wearing clothes I wouldn’t normally be caught dead in, there was no reason for her to immediately think it was me. I could be any girl Thomas was on a date with.

“Coming right up,” Tiffany said. Her voice was flat and emotionless, and I wondered if that wasalways how she was at work or if it was still the lingering feelings from her fight with Sebastian last night. I only raised my head once I was sure she was gone, just in time to see Thomas pull his gaze back to me, acting like he hadn’t been staring after her as she walked away. A guy who checked out other girls on a date—what a gentleman.

I tried to get the conversation onto some neutral territory by saying, “So your game the other day was really good. I mean, I don’t know much about soccer, but it seemed like you were playing really well.”

“Yeah, it was all right. I mean, I think that Novak hogs the ball a little bit too much and everybody just fawns over him, but you know.” He shrugged. “What can you do?”

I guess we’d exhausted all the good things to say about the game in the hall yesterday, but I definitely didn’t expect that.

“I thought he played well,” I said. Sure, I hadn’t been following the game closely, but it was obvious to anyone that Sebastian was a great player. He deserved to be fawned over.

He snorted. “Yeah, that’s what everybody says. That he plays so well. He’s going to go to the pros eventually. He’s probably going to get some scholarship to college. But the rest of us? Eh, who cares?” He tapped his fingers against the table, his face clouding over. “It just annoys me so much, you know? That one guy can be so popular and only leave the scraps for the rest of us.”

Was that what he considered me? The scraps that Sebastian left behind? I guess he figured that because Sebastian didn’t want me, he could get me instead.But I didn’t want to get into a fight over it in the middle of a restaurant so I bit the words back.

“I’m sure that’s not true,” I said, trying to keep my voice light and airy. “I mean, there’s plenty of scholarships to go around, right?” Thomas gave me a harsh look that told me that I was supposed to be agreeing with him blindly. So I swallowed thickly and said, “Anyway, where do you think our drinks are? I’m getting thirsty.”

“You know what really grinds my gears?” Thomas asked as if I hadn’t said anything. “It’s that all the girls just love him. It’s always Novak this, Novak that. Nobody ever cares about the rest of us.”

I bit my lip, desperate for any sort of distraction to get us off this very dangerous topic. I would even take Tiffany reappearing with the drinks, because at least Thomas couldn’t complain about Sebastian without her tearing his head off. Unless the breakup had changed her feelings—because then having her here could be even worse. It would turn into them both dunking on him.

Part of me just wanted to snap at Thomas and tell him there was a reason all the girls fawned over Sebastian. Not only was he kind and charming and actually knew how to talk to girls, but he was a fantastic kisser and Thomas was probably just lacking in all departments. But if I thought the anger right now was bad, I didn’t even want to imagine how he would react to that, so I kept my mouth shut.

“I mean, he gets everybody,” Thomas continued on. “Everybody. And what am I left with? Nothing.”

“You have me,” I muttered.

“What?”

I took a deep breath, knowing that I was probably going to regret saying this, and said, “You have me. We’re on a date right now. Do you really think that’s an appropriate time to complain about how you never get any girls?”

Thomas stared at me in bewilderment. “Well, obviously I didn’t mean you.”

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