Page 142 of Betting on You

“Aaron.”

Not only did she knock it over, but she literally ran and jumped onto his back.

Without missing a beat, Aaron’s hands came up and grabbed her legs, supporting her piggyback landing as if he’d been expecting her. He stopped, slid her to her feet, and turned, and they were both laughing as they looked into each other’s eyes.

Then he had her in his arms and they were kissing.

I was so happy for her, for them, but my heart burned with longing. The entire restaurant broke out into applause, and I blinked back happy tears as he hugged her hard and lifted her off her feet.

Aaron got an extra chair and joined us for dinner, which was fun because I loved Aaron but not ideal because it made me feel like a total third wheel, especially when I sat in the back seat of Nekesa’s car after he ditched his friends so he could ride with us to the dance.

Once we arrived at the venue, it got even worse.

Nekesa and Aaron danced to every song, and even though she kept coming over to check on me, I told Nekesa that I wanted her to dance. Idid, but I also felt like a total loser sitting at a table by myself because Dana and Eli were also dancing to every single song.

“Hey, gorgeous,” I heard, and when I looked up, it was Zack. “You look amazing.”

Of course.I was sitting alone like a total derf, so whynothave Zack say hello, Universe?

I hadn’t responded to him after our tiny text exchange at Target,but that seemed like an eternity ago because things with Charlie had eclipsed everything else in my life.

Zack was wearing all black—black suit, black shirt, black tie—and it occurred to me that his shirtwasa little tight. Charlie’s Baby Gap comment slithered through my head, even as butterflies went wild in my stomach.

“Thanks,” I said, my cheeks getting warm. “So do you.”

He grinned and ran a hand over the front of his shirt. “Me and the guys wanted to go all Prom Mafia with the black; totally Ford’s idea.”

I nodded and smiled, unable to remember which of his friends was Ford. “Well, it was a good one.”

“Who’s your date?” he asked, looking around. “Mr. Breaking Bad?”

I felt a stab of satisfaction at that, but of course, it immediately reminded me of Charlie. I said, “Nah—it’s Nekesa.”

I glanced over and saw her dancing with Aaron. “Well, itwas.”

He laughed at that, and I realized that everything had changed.

And hadn’t changed at all.

Because I still found him to be beautiful. And charming. And kind.

But I didn’tfeelanything.

“Well,” he said, his eyes moving down to my dress for a second before returning to my face. “I better get back to the group, but I just wanted to say hey. I miss talking to you.”

“Same,” I said breathlessly, and as he walked away, there wasn’t even a tiny part of me that wanted to stop him.

“Are you guys getting back together or what?”

I looked to my left, and Dana and Eli were coming back to the table. Dana was smiling at me as she said it, and I quickly shook my head. “No, he was just saying hi.”

“I heard he and Kelsie broke up,” she said, plopping into the chair beside me. “So I wondered.”

“Wait, what?” I squinted and asked her, “They did? When did they break up?”

“I think sometime last week.” She leaned a little closer and said, “Why—are you interested?”

This was the news I’d been waiting for, yet my we-need-to-get-back-together desperation had left the building.

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