The Fill-In Boyfriend
Page 60

“What’s wrong?” she asked immediately. That morning on the car ride over I’d done a pretty good job of hiding my sadness. But somehow talking to Bec made everything worse. Her believing me made it even more sad that Hayden hadn’t. Made me realize even more that he should’ve.
“Bad day.”
“You want to talk about it?”
“Not really.”
“Is it Drew? Are you guys still fighting?”
“Yes—wait, how did you know Drew and I were fighting?” I hadn’t told anyone else because that would require them having to watch the most embarrassing video ever.
“Jules said she saw some video online or something.”
“She did? How?”
“I don’t know. Maybe your brother linked it on his Facebook page. Anyway, she said you were mad at Drew. I thought you told her that. I was surprised you hadn’t told me.”
“No, I didn’t tell her.” I couldn’t process what that meant. That she was still sneaking around looking for answers? That, like Claire, she thought my brother was cute and had friended him on Facebook?
“So is that why you’re upset?” Claire asked.
“No.” Maybe talking to Claire would help. “Remember that guy I went on a blind date with?”
“Yes.”
“We kind of broke up.”
“I didn’t know you were together.”
“We weren’t but I wanted to be.”
“I’m sorry, Gia. First Bradley and now Hayden. That’s not cool.”
“No, it isn’t.” We were in the parking lot now and I could see Jules and Laney waiting by the car. “Can we just keep this between you and me for now?” I asked, not wanting to deal with prying questions from Jules today. Especially since it seemed like she was doing just that—prying.
“Why? We’re all your friends, Gia. We want to help you through it. You need to stop keeping things from us.”
“I just can’t handle Jules right now. Please.”
“For the life of me I don’t understand why the two of you don’t get along.”
“Really? You don’t see how she is with me? She is constantly trying to pick apart my stories for some hidden agenda.”
“Yes, I can see how she does that sometimes, but she’s said the same about you before.”
“Well, she started it.” It sounded juvenile before it was out of my mouth. I didn’t need Claire’s eye roll to confirm it.
“Just try. She’s been through a lot.”
“I did try and she didn’t care.”
“Try more than once. She’s moving in with me for the rest of year because her mom is running from some guy again.”
I swallowed hard. “She’s moving in with you?”
“Yes, and I need my two best friends to get along.”
The one time I’d tried to do something nice for Jules by inviting her to my house for our pre-date ritual she ended up lying about it. I stopped, realizing what I’d just said in my head. The one time. There was the ice cream store attempt too, but that wasn’t me really going out of my way. Claire was right. I really hadn’t tried very hard. I rarely made the effort to reach out to her. If Claire liked her, then there must’ve been something I was missing. Something I wasn’t trying very hard to see. I hooked my arm in Claire’s, laid my head on her shoulder, and said, “Okay, I’ll try.”
“Gia gets to pick the restaurant today,” Claire said as she was unlocking the doors. “Her almost boyfriend broke up with her.”
Jules craned her head toward me. “Which boyfriend?”
“Hayden.”
“Is it because he saw you hanging out with Bradley?”
I took a breath to find some patience before I responded. From Jules’s side that was true. The last time she’d seen me, I was hanging out with “Bradley.” “No, that’s not why. His friend was being a slime bag and he didn’t believe me.”
“That sucks,” Laney said.
“Yes, it really does.” I got in the front seat and clicked the seat belt in place.
Jules placed a hand on my shoulder from the backseat. “I’m sorry about Hayden.”
I smiled. She sounded so sincere. Maybe when I’d chased her down outside the coffee shop, she realized I really was interested. Maybe it had been me all along who was holding our friendship back. I could try harder. I would. We’d be fine.
Claire started the car. “Where to?”
“In-N-Out.”
It took me a second to recognize him out of context like this, walking into the restaurant as I sat there with Claire, Laney, and Jules. I was facing the door and my first thought was, That guy looks familiar. Then I nearly spilled my chocolate milk shake as I got to my feet. “Drew?”
He smiled at me then headed over. When he reached me he gave me a hug. “I should’ve asked permission to make the video.”
That still wasn’t an apology but it made me smile. “What are you doing here?”
“I decided I needed to see you.”
My friends were staring at me so I said, “Drew, you remember Claire and Laney and this is Jules. This is my brother.”
“Good to finally meet you in real life,” he said to Jules.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“We met online a couple of days ago. She said I’d want her help with something.”