Page 78 of Searching for Sadie
"Absolutely not. I will be there for the reunion, but that's it."
"I get it, but Ryan is a little worried about how all this is playing out."
"That is not my problem," she said as she ran her hand through her hair. She glanced as Lucas furrowed his brow watching her.
A commotion came over the line. "Sadie, this is Ryan."
Her head snapped back, she was about to hang up. "Please don't hang up. I really need to talk to you."
"What?"
"I know you haven't been paying too much attention online, but you know we had a real connection. People online are saying that I was just clout chasing. It would really help if we came out as a united front."
"And why would you want to be united front with a fat girl?"
The look on Lucas's face turned from cautious to murderous.
'Is that him?' he mouthed to her. Part of her wanted to get up and go talk to him on the porch so Lucas couldn't hear, the other part wanted to just hang up and pretend this wasn’t her life. Instead, she decided it was time to stop hiding and lean on Lucas who had been her steady support this entire time.
"Sadie, come on. It wasn't like that."
"You're right. It was worse than I thought. I've seen all the stuff you say behind my back. And now you want me to help you, absolutely not."
Lucas nodded.
"Let me talk to Zara or I'm hanging up."
"Please, Sadie, I'm begging you. If your feelings for me were ever real."
She scoffed, he had some nerve saying that to her.
"I would do it for you," he said, getting loud.
"No."
"Why do you have to be such a bitch?" he yelled.
Her mouth fell open and she felt like she'd just been slapped. No one in her life ever talked to her like that. An outstretched hand came into her line of sight. She looked up at Lucas who was holding out his hand for the phone. She knew if she waved him off, he would just sit there being the supportive presence he was. But she wasn't sure anyone had ever stood up like this for her before and if he wanted to, she was going to let him.
"Is this Ryan?" he said in a deep voice she barely recognized.
Sadie really wished he was on speaker because she would love to hear him respond.
"Who I am doesn't matter, but if I ever hear you call her that again you'll have a much bigger problem. Do you understand?... Okay, now I believe she just asked to speak to Zara, put her on the phone... no, I won't let you talk to her. You heard her, Zara or she hangs up... Are you Zara?"
He nodded and handed her phone back. She looked at him wide eyed as he gave her a little smile and nod of his head.
"Zara?"
"Who is that?"
"My neighbor."
"Ahhh, your neighbor, things are making a bit more sense."
"Do you need anything else from me? I emailed my confirmation for the reunion, my socials are live, we're good, right?"
"Ummm, yeah, we're good."
