Page 42 of You Belong With Me

I tilted my head. “Didn’t you, though?”

I didn’t think there was another way for me to interpret what he was saying about getting scraps and being left with nothing. If I didn’t fall into that category, then what was I to him?

He scoffed and looked away. “What does it matter anyway? It’s not like we can be together.”

I gaped at him, not sure what to make of the words, but was saved from responding by Tiffany reappearing with the drinks. She put down Thomas’s first, smiling flirtatiously at him, and suddenly any guilt I felt in the part I played in her breakup with Sebastian disappeared.

“Well, thank you gorgeous,” Thomas said. He picked up the glass and tipped it toward her like he was toasting her. I couldn’t hold back my snort. Here he was, complaining that he was stuck with Sebastian’s leftovers then turning around to flirt with his ex-girlfriend. The sound made both of them look at me and Tiffany’s face immediately morphed into disgust as she saw me.

“Oh. Nellie.”

“It’s Nora,” I corrected, putting more venom into my voice than I ever let myself do when she was still with Sebastian.

She put her free hand on her hip, leaning all herweight into one side, and stared at me pityingly. “So you’re the girl of the week, huh?”

I scowled. “Excuse me?”

“Thomas,” she said, tilting her head toward him, “has a standing Friday night reservation. Brings a new girl here every week after the football game. And today it’s you.”

My blood ran cold at the words. Even though I had very little interest in Thomas and I knew we wouldn’t be going out again, the idea of just being one on his roster made me feel sick. I looked at Thomas, but he didn’t even try to deny it. And then I looked at his hand, resting against her thigh, and I began to feel sick for a whole other reason.

“How long have you two been hooking up?” I asked in a false bright voice. My heart pounded as I said the words. This was a bad idea. It wasn’t going to save this date and I was sure to make an enemy out of Thomas by saying it, but just for once, I wanted the chance to show Tiffany I wasn’t going to roll over and take whatever she said. This wasn’t just about me—it was about how she treated Ainsley and Sebastian too. Was it so wrong of me to want her to stop feeling like she was the queen of the world? “I wonder if Sebastian knows what you’ve been doing with his teammate.”

Bringing up Sebastian was a bold move, both because I knew he and Tiffany had already broken up, and because there was every chance he did know about Thomas. He certainly knew that Tiffany hadn’t been faithful. But as I saw both of their faces form, I was certain that it was something they had managed to keep under wraps.

“It would be a shame,” I continued, “if he happened tofind out about it, huh? I wonder how he would feel about beating up his own teammate.”

I let my gaze fall on Thomas, who gulped. His hand, which was now fully holding onto Tiffany’s thigh, was tightening, his fingers digging into her skin.

“I don’t care what Novak thinks of me,” Thomas spat out. I just raised my eyebrows. As a guy who spent half our date complaining about Sebastian, it was hard for him to make that argument sound real. “Gosh, I never should have agreed to go out with you.”

“Agreed?” I let out a sharp laugh, one that sounded much more confident than I was feeling right now. “It’s not exactly like I came begging. You asked me out if you recall.”

“Only because your stupid friend wanted me to! I never would have looked at you twice otherwise.”

Any other time, the words might have hurt. But I’d seen the way he was staring at me today and I knew that Clementine never would have pushed him to ask me out. She set up our meetings, sure, but she never would have divulged that I was into him or asked him to ask me out. He was just mad that I wasn’t giving in.

“Why don’t I go and leave you two alone?” I suggested. “That’s probably what you do after every date, right? You pick the day you know Tiffany will be working so if the date doesn’t work out, at least you have your back-up plan ready.”

The anger in Tiffany’s face was enough for me to know that I was right and that she hated to be called anyone’s back-up plan. But now that I knew how horribly she had treated Sebastian during their relationship—and then hadthe audacity to say thatIwas the burden on him—I didn’t care about hurting her feelings.

As I went to stand up, she threw her hand forward. For a second, I thought she was going to slap me and I cringed away, but it wasn’t her hand that hit me. It was the full glass of ice-cold coke that hit my chest and stomach, covering the full dress. I let out a shocked cry, which was loud enough to turn heads on all sides.

“What is wrong with you?” I yelled. I shook my arms, trying to get any droplets of the drink off them as best I could, but it was no use. I was completely soaked and it wouldn’t be fixed until I could get home and change.

“Tiffany!” An angry voice yelled from across the restaurant. We all turned to look, and I saw an older man standing by the bar, looking ticked. When I looked at Tiffany again, she seemed genuinely nervous, and I realized the guy must be her boss.

I tried to push past her so I could go outside, but she grabbed my arm as I did, forcing me to turn back around to look. Her eyes were wide and panicked.

“You have to tell him it was an accident,” she said.

“What?” I yanked my arm out of her grip, her acrylic nails scratching me as I did. “No.”

“Please!” She hissed. She glanced at the man, who was indicating for her to come over, then at me. “I’ll totally be fired.”

I stared at her, trying to understand how on earth she could genuinely think I would do her a favor after she just threw her drink on me. After she embarrassed me time and time again, after she cheated on Sebastian with not only half the school but his own teammate.

“Why the heck would I ever want to help you?” I asked her flatly. I spun on my heel and walked out, leaving her behind.

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