Page 30 of Surviving Lies

I looked her way to see if it was true, and she nodded to let me know it was. That was good; I hadn’t seen him since he gave me the bad news about Becca; I wanted to thank him for being honest with me.

Everyone fell into a normal conversation at the table while eating, including Jake. He was on the other side of Kayla and had taken up a chat with her, taking her attention from me, which was just fine. It was only then I had realized how quickly the time had passed.

It was already past one thirty.

Becca should have been here. And I should have been long gone. To keep my word to her.

Gathering up my half-eaten sandwich and wrapping it up for later, it was obvious I was starting to get ready to leave. Packing my belongings into my bag, I started to stand from my chair, but Kayla stopped me, her hand on my arm again.

“Ty, where are you going? You didn’t finish eating?”

“Yeah, Ty, where are you going in such a rush?”

Everyone froze.

Lanie looked behind me, her blue eyes as big as saucers and a huge tell. I didn’t need to turn around. I could feel her, sense her.

Defeated, I put my bag on my chair.

“Don’t leave on my account, Ty,” Becca said as she stomped around to the other side of the table toward Lanie.

Lanie’s troubled eyes caught mine as I tried to decide what to do. I fiddled with the handle of my backpack and watched Becca pull out a chair, careful not to look at me once.

“I’ll be back; I’m getting something to eat,” Becca said in Lanie’s direction.

“OK, Bec,” Lanie said softly, her tone indicating she was almost as nervous as I was.

“Hey, everybody,” a loud booming voice said from behind me. I jumped a little, not prepared for Xander’s entrance. When I turned his way, he took stock of my face and looked toward Lanie next. “Everything OK? Something I should know about?” Xander’s first concern was always Lanie, especially after what they went through last year.

But her warm smile set him at ease, his shoulders relaxing immediately. His hand went to my shoulder as he spoke again. “Ah, I’m guessing there’s trouble in paradise?”

I left his question unanswered since I could see Becca making her way back to the table. Searching our setup, I realized we didn’t have room for all of us anyway, which was the perfect reason for me to get up and go. As she approached her chair next to Lanie, I pulled away from mine. “Here, Xander, take my seat. I was just going.”

Xander looked a bit confused, but then followed my sight line, seeing the same tight-lipped fake smile on Becca as she found her seat. If her eyes could bore a hole of fire through my skull, they would have at that moment. She turned to Lanie and said something quiet between the two of them, refusing to look my way.

I was in limbo. I had no idea if I should say anything to her or not. She was obviously mad at me, had obviously walked up on Kayla touching me. But she also hadn’t seen that in the past ten minutes, Kayla’s attention had been on Jake. The two of them had been talking nonstop.

“Hey, man, want me to go sit somewhere else with you?” Xander asked, I thought quiet enough the girls wouldn’t hear. But they did hear.

Becca Reynolds was a firecracker. Everyone knew that. She always had a comeback for anyone’s wiseass comment. She always got the last word in after a fight. But that was what people loved about her; that was what I loved about her. So I was fully expecting some snarky words from her, considering how she felt about me and our current state of affairs.

But when she lifted her head, I saw unshed tears in her eyes and the hard swallow in her throat that she needed to take in order to not let the tears fall.

And that nearly broke me.

“No,” she said, so quiet we almost didn’t hear her. “Xander, stay.” She looked around the room, still avoiding me. But then her eyes connected with mine, the glistening wetness challenging her full lashes in an attempt to spill over them. “Ty, you should stay, too,” she whispered, then looked away. The attempt to hide the tear that slid down her cheek failed.

I had to do something; I couldn’t make her stay here like this.

“Hey, guys, you mind if I steal Becca for a minute?”

Lanie’s eyes went to Becca, as did mine, as Becca’s head pivoted to me after I said that.

“Ty,” Becca said with more force this time, “we have nothing to say to one another.” She paused, but then the assault came. “Besides” – her hand gestured down the table to where Jake and Kayla sat – “I don’t want to keep you from your otherfriends. You seemed busy when I came in.”

Huh, shewasjealous.

I walked over to where Becca was sitting and placed my hand on her arm, encouraging her to stand with me. She didn’t resist, rather giving in much easier than I’d anticipated. Keeping her head down, she wrapped her arms around her in a protective way, pulling out of my hold.

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