Page 134 of Counter Bet

She blinks, then turns her attention to Ben. “I’ll see you inside, baby.”

Okay, so that was rude.

Wait, what?Baby?

My heart pounds painfully in my chest as she leans up on her tiptoes and grabs his neck, kissing him—with tongue.His eyes stay locked on mine the entire time. It’s impossible to look away even though my heart cracks open and starts bleeding out on the ground by his feet.

He’s moved on.

I swallow past the thick lump in my throat. Why am I pouring salt on an open wound? I wrap my arms around myself as the kiss goes on.Wow… I’ve been so stupid.

The girl finally lets him go and saunters into the auditorium with a smug smirk on her lips.

“Em?” Landon asks behind me.

My eyes fall shut. The concern in Landon’s deep voice is too much. I don’t want to fall apart right now. Not here.

Ben is watching me when I open my eyes.

“I’m glad you’re doing well, Ben.”

“You okay?” Landon asks me, searching my face before extending his hand to Ben. “Hey man, I’m Landon.”

“I’m Ben,” Ben replies coolly, shaking Landon’s offered hand. I don’t miss the way he sizes him up, drawing conclusions.

Good. Let him think I’m fucking Landon. God, I’m so angry with myself for longing for the boy in front of me when he’s got a girl waiting for him behind that door.

Landon takes my hand and nudges his head back toward the way we came. “We should get going, or we’ll be late for class.”

Ben’s eyes fall to our joined hands.

I fight the urge to move away from Landon.

“It was nice to see you,” I say with a shaky smile. Ben frowns, searching my eyes. He knows me too well. I slam my mask in place, refusing to let him see how he affects me.

Landon leads me away, and we’re just about to turn the corner when Ben’s deep timbre rings out in the corridor, “See you around, princess.”

I look over my shoulder and hold his intense gaze until he disappears from view.

Did I imagine my own emotions mirrored in his eyes? Did his throat bob, or is my mind playing tricks on me?

* * *

“What are you looking for?” Scarlett asks me after school when she finds me crawling underneath my bed.

“You haven’t seen a skateboard lying around, have you? I could have sworn I put it under my bed.”

I have a strong urge to go skating after my run-in with Ben. I crawl further underneath the bed until my calves stick out, blowing a dust bunny out of the way. “When was the last time we vacuumed under here?”

I move a box filled with vacuum-packed clothing out of the way and strike gold. There it is, right at the back, flush against the wall next to my abandoned roller skates.

I shuffle back out and sit back on my haunches. I turn the skateboard over in my hands. So many fun memories!

I smile, tracing my fingers over the drawing Matt did on the back of it with a black felt tip. I was like a newborn lamb on shaky legs that first time, but I don’t remember the last time I laughed so much.

It was the day I fell in love with them all. Not just Ben and Dallas but Matt, Josh, Nina, April, and Steph too. They welcomed me into their group and were there for me when I went through a really challenging time of self-discovery.

Now that my anger has simmered down enough for me to think more objectively, I can finally see that the bet brought us all together. We wouldn’t have met otherwise, and they wouldn’t have gone out of their way to befriend me.

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