Page 40 of Reckless Liar

“No, I won’t,” I interjected though I had no idea what they were going to do.

Hallie pushed past me, stomping down the driveway. Max looked from her to me and back to her. She paused at the end of the walkway, glaring back at us in that cool bitchy way I knew I’d never pull off no matter how old I got. “Are you coming or not?”

Max stepped down toward her, sparing a glance back at me. “Sorry, I got to get going. I’ll see you at school, okay?”

I stood there stupidly standing on the front porch for a few minutes, watching them walk down the middle of the street. Slowly, I made my way down the walkway, stepping over the cracks and pits.

Once I got to the street, I considered my options. I could go home, where I’d have to avoid my mother who’d ask me about the visit. I could walk around town until I was feeling better and buy myself an ice cream at Dairy Queen. I could see if Scarlett was home from her cousin’s wedding in Phoenix.

Instead, I sank down on the curb, buried my face in my hands and began to cry. I don’t know how long I was sitting there crying before I heard the tinny chime of a bike riding toward me. I lifted my face to see Xander pulling up.

“Ana? What are you doing here?” he asked, hopping off his bike. He tried to kick out the kickstand several times but from the looks of it, the metal had rusted in the up position. He huffed loudly, dropping it to the mottled grass behind us.

I opened my mouth to speak, but all that escaped was a loud wail.

Xander sat down next to me, his knees folded up almost to his shoulders. “Whoa. You okay?”

Obviously not.

I wiped my face, nodding my head. “I’m fine,” I sobbed.

He folded his hands in front of him, looking down at the sidewalk. “You sure? You don’t really look...”

I took a shaky breath, willing myself to stop crying. “Yeah, I’m good. I came over to see Max but...”

Xander looked up the walkway between Hallie and Max’s house and then down the street where Max and Hallie had disappeared into the woods. “Oh.”

“I’m an idiot. I don’t know why I’m crying about this.” I sniffed, looking down at the ground. I kicked a small patch of grass that was growing through the cracks in the sidewalk, nudging the shallow roots until the patch was shredded under my sandal.

“About Max?” Xander asked. I nodded at him, moving a rock into the hole where the grass had been growing. “He steals some of his mom’s liquor when she’s not looking, that’s why they’re hanging out.”

“Oh,” I said stupidly.

Slowly Xander put his arm around my shoulder without moving his body closer to me. His hand rested awkwardly on my upper arm. “You like him, don’t you?”

“Of course, I like him. We’ve been friends for a long time.”

Of course, Xander was too perceptive. He always had been with me. “No. You like,likehim. You want him to be your boyfriend.”

I considered lying but, in the end, I couldn’t do that. I nodded, somehow hearing the words made it ache that much more. “Not that it matters. He’s never going to like someone like me.”

Xander tightened his grip on me, pulling me closer to him. It felt good to be close to someone. I found myself leaning into him.

“He’s a dumb guy.”

“No, he’s not. Max is—“

Xander pulled away to look down at me. “Trust me, Ana. I’m a guy. I’m a dumb guy. We’re all dumb guys. And Max is the worst of us all.”

I stared at the spot in the woods where they disappeared, willing him to come out, knowing that the longer they were back there, the farther he’d go with this older girl.

“Just once, I wanted him to look at me like that. To see me at all. It’s like he still thinks I’m some little kid with ruffled socks.”

Xander rubbed my arm softly and I tilted my head against his shoulder, closing my eyes. He cleared his throat but didn’t speak at first. “He does see you like that. A lot of guys see you differently. You just don’t realize.”

I scoffed loudly, keeping my eyes closed. “Yeah, whatever. You’re trying to make me feel better because Max is off doing, you know,stuff,with Hallie.“ I couldn’t even say the words for what they were likely doing.

“No, I’m not,” Xander asserted.

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