Page 19 of The Pretender

“It’s nice to meet you,” I return, pulling my hand back and tucking my hair behind my ear. Why? I have no idea. I guess just feeling Sebastian’s eyes on me as he watches from my chair is making me seriously nervous. What the hell is he doing over there anyway?

I fight the urge to glance in his direction and instead give Vance my best smile. I’m sure he didn’t really care if he met me, but he’s being decent, so I will be too. Even if I would love to turn around and see what the demon next door is up to.

“Vee is also into all that, right, Vee?”

Wait, what?

“Uh…” I hesitate and wince, making Vance laugh.

“That’s alright, Valentina. You wouldn’t be the first woman I bored with my talks of conservation efforts.”

Dammit, Vee. Look at what you did. Here’s a nice guy who isn’t stealing your shit and you can’t even bother not zoning out when he speaks to you.

“Oh, no. That’s not it at all,” I apologize. “I am into conservation.” I shrug. “Well, more like recycling. I haven’t had a whole lot of time with much else, but I try to help out where I can.”

“Awesome,” Vance replies. “If you’re interested, I run the Stay Green program at Havemeyer, we’re always looking for more volunteers.”

As cute as he is and as much I love the cause, it sounds like way too much peopling for me. “Oh, wow. How often do you meet?”

Maybe I can squeeze in a session or two. I mean, it’s for a good cause, even if I have to suffer through a few conversations with people I don’t know.

“Three times a week.” Vance flashes me a boyish smile that I don’t hate. “You should come.”

At least the view would be good, right?

“Yea—”

“Valentina.”

The voice that makes me gag every time I hear it sends a cringy shiver down my spine when he says my name.

“Malcolm.” I turn and smile with a fake friendliness. “So awful to see you. Are you here to clean up?”

I look at my wrist like I have a watch. “The party won’t be over for another few hours. Maybe you should go wait across town. We’ll call you.”

Aspen chuckles next to me while Malcolm holds his stomach in a fake laugh. “It’s so nice to see you in the daylight, Valentina. I was worried you might have transferred schools in the past two months.” He snaps his fingers. “Oh wait. Let me guess? You’ve been in mourning since you and your neighborhood crush called it quits.” Malcolm pokes his bottom lip out into a fake pout that makes Vance shuffle awkwardly.

He’s not completely wrong with his assessment. Sure, I’m not Miss Social Butterfly, but I have been staying in more since my fallout with Sebastian.

“Did he break your little manly heart?”

“That’s enough,” Vance says, just as Aspen takes a threatening step directly in Malcolm’s face.

It only serves to amuse Malcolm more.

He peers around Aspen, still taunting me. “Aww. Did I hit a nerve?”

I’ve never needed anyone to stand up for me, and I especially don’t now. Malcolm doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He has no idea why Sebastian and I stopped pranking each other. “You don’t know sh—”

A hint of moonshine wafts through the air like minion droplets, introducing their leader before he arrives. I would know that smell anywhere. It took me months to get it out of my clothes after we stopped speaking.

“Valentina,” Sebastian grits out, like each syllable was painful for him to say.

“Dick,” I return without hesitation.

His glare is volleying between Vance and Malcolm, like I purposely wanted to be over here between them.

“Are you hurting these poor boys’ feelings again? We’ve talked about this. You can’t afford another restraining order.”

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