Page 45 of Honest With You

“Halloween. Party. My. House. Tonight! You guys finally done sucking face long enough to come hang?”

Ava giggles beside me and I grin down at her, waggling my eyebrows playfully.

“We can suck face anywhere, right babe?”

She smacks my chest before calling out to Vanessa, who stalks away from Dean. She pulls Ava to her and they start talking about what they’re wearing tonight.

I slide a glance at Dean and find him eyeing Vanessa in contempt. He gives her the middle finger–which she doesn’t even see because her back is turned—and stomps off.

What an ass. I will never know what she sees in him.

“What’s his fucking deal?” Matt frowns, addressing Ryder.

Ryder looks over his shoulder with a grimace as Dean stops walking long enough to match the steps of some girls from the cheerleading squad and starts shamelessly flirting with them.

Thankfully, Vanessa’s back is still turned and Ava is distracting her with costume talk, but I see my girl's eyes glide past her friend’s shoulder. It’s subtle, but her right eyebrow raises slightly and she purses her lips in disgust. She runs a hand through her dark mane to mask her displeasure as her eyes drift over to us and our eyes meet. I wink at her to diffuse her tension and she gives me a small smile.

“Damn if I know, man,” Ryder grunts.

I roll my eyes. If Matt treated his girl like that, I would be hauling his ass to his girlfriend to apologize.

“Why the hell are you still friends with that asshole, Kim?”

“We’re neighbors. Our moms are friends.” Ryder shrugs. “Honestly, besides practice and games, we don’t even kick it anymore.”

I raise an eyebrow at that, surprised. I played ball with these guys freshman year, and as far as I knew, those two were inseparable.

I’m about to open my mouth and ask when Ava and Vanessa saunter over.

Ava’s fingers slide into mine, and I’m about to twirl her so I can wrap my arms around her when I see her looking at Ryder, who is whispering to Vanessa. His voice is low but it’s clear to everyone that he’s making sure she’s okay. She smiles at their exchange.

I can’t even hate the guy. He’s a good guy but he’d be so much better if he didn’t have the hots for my girl.

Ava tugs on my hand and I dip my head so she can whisper in my ear.

“Is it okay if we give Vanessa a ride home and then to the party?”

I kiss her temple. “Of course, babe.”

The smile I get in return makes me want to forget all about the party and spend tonight getting more acquainted with those lips.

I’m sweating in my costume but it’s nothing compared to the mounting anxiety currently raging inside of me.

I’m pacing my room, waiting for Jesse to pick me up while trying to get ahold of Vanessa. She texted me earlier, saying she would just meet us at the party.

As soon as I read that text, I couldn’t shake the feeling that she wasn’t okay. Even more so than earlier, when we dropped her off and it took everything in her to not break down. I could tell she was holding it in until she was alone.

I fuckinghateDean. I hope it’s a real breakup this time. She deserves so much more than a guy who frequently breaks up with her, just so he can hook up with some random girl. A guy who blows up if she even so much as looks at another guy.

I’ve tried countless times to talk to her about how toxic he is but every time, she simply insists he’s going through a hard time with his parent’s divorce.

Something about “hurt people hurt people”.

It’smore like Vanessa is too good of a person to abandon someone she cares about, no matter how shitty they treat her.

She wouldn’t even tell me why they fought this time. It was like she couldn’t physically say the words aloud, because all her strength was focused on staying strong.

After she sent that text, she didn’t pick up when I attempted to call her and she didn’t answer any of my following texts.

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