Page 88 of She Used to Be Nice
“But who’s gonna be the best man?”
“I’ll figure it out,” Charlie said. “Someone else will step in. We have time.”
Avery couldn’t believe it was that easy. That Morgan and Charlie were just doing this, no questions asked.
“Everyone’s gonna hate me,” Avery muttered. “Even more than they already do.”
Morgan pulled Avery in for a hug while Charlie rubbed Avery’s back. Avery’s eyes burned with tears.
“You’ve got us no matter what,” Morgan whispered.
Avery wiped her eyes. She felt so held. So supported. So loved.
Avery went back inside the house after her conversation with Morgan and Charlie, wanting a moment alone to process everything. She ran her fingers through her matted hair, which was still soaked in sweat from the hike and salt water from crying. She was desperate for a shower, but using Noah’s towels or shampoo would only make her feel dirtier. Resigned to her filth, she put her hair in a bun, then went to the kitchen to grab another beer from the fridge and sat on a stool in front of the island. She was eager to get out ofNoah’s house as fast as she could, but while she was here she might as well drink his alcohol.
Noah suddenly appeared in the kitchen carrying a water bottle. Avery jumped. He twisted open the lid, lowered the empty bottle into the sink, and turned on the faucet. He had one of those massive forty-ounce Stanley cups that would take forever to fill up, so he wouldn’t be budging from that spot for twenty seconds. Avery distracted herself by chugging her beer.
Halfway through his refill, he said, “We need to talk.”
He dug his hand into an opened bag of Ruffles beside the sink, then put a chip in his mouth and licked his fingers clean. Avery’s body jolted with a memory—those fingers on her skin, the way she rubbed her flesh raw in the shower the morning after he’d touched her and watched her blood swirl down the drain.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” she said.
Noah turned off the sink. Twisted the cap on his Stanley. “Actually, there is.”
He tried to make eye contact with her, but she wouldn’t look at him. Her pulse throbbed.
“This whole thing is ridiculous. You know that, right?” he said.
Avery slid her gaze to meet his. He took a few steps toward her, but she pressed her back against the stool, urging him not to come closer.
“You know, the thing about how Irapedyou.” He said the word like it was theoretical. “Come on. You can’t just go around saying shit like that.”
He took a long sip of his water. Avery imagined him choking to death, drowning.
“But you did,” she said plainly. “That’s what happened.”
Noah rolled his eyes. “Spare me,” he hissed. “You were all over me that night. And then we hooked up. It’s not the big deal you’re making it out to be.”
Avery drew in a long breath and moved her attention to her beer bottle, picking at the label and rolling up the wet paper intotiny balls. She willed the strength from her conversation with Morgan on the porch an hour ago, from the way Charlie and Morgan had believed her so easily, to carry her through this confrontation. She needed to remember everything she knew to be true about that night.
“Noah, I was just being nice,” she said. “Just because someone is being nice to you doesn’t mean they’re agreeing to fuck you.” She flicked one of the wet paper balls away. “Also, you knew I was dating Ryan. Why in the world would I be all over you?”
Noah slapped his hands against his sides. “What do I know? I thought maybe you guys were in a fight or had broken up or something. I wasn’t keeping track of every development in your fucking relationship. And you and I were hanging out all night.”
“We wereallhanging out.” Avery looked him right in the eye. “In agroup.”
“You and I weren’t with the group the whole night. You followed me upstairs.You”—and here Noah pointed at her—“wanted to be alone.”
“No, you’re misreading that entire interaction. It was an oven in that basement and you said you were going to get some air, and I agreed that was a good idea. That’s all that was.”
Noah let out an exasperated sigh. “What about when you were getting handsy with me in Ronald’s bedroom? You werevery happyto be alone with me in there.”
Avery drank the remaining few sips of her beer and chucked it into the recycling bin, where it clanked loudly against other empty glass bottles. “Handsy?” Her nostrils flared. She rose from her stool. “You mean when I was trying to pry you off me? And then when you held my wrists behind my back against my will? Isthatwhat you’re referring to?”
“Against your will? Are you serious?” Noah’s agitation was mounting, spittle forming in the corners of his lips. “Girlslikerough sex. Just look at Blair. She’s into it. And that’s what we were doing, too.”
“That wasn’t what we were doing, Noah.Iwas not ‘into it.’ I was trying to get away. And you would’ve known that if you’d checked in with me evenonce.”
