“A little,” I admitted.
“Let’s get comfy and eat, then we’ll talk—but first…” He pulled his phone out and hit a number then put it on speaker. It rang, and finally Jake answered on the third ring.
“What the hell man—” My heart did a little flip-flop at his voice.
“Frankie’s here with me,” Archie said meeting my gaze.
“Shit…”
I bit my lip.
“And someone there is documenting your visit with Maria.”
“Excuse me?” A darker, edgier note crested in his voice.
“You were tagged on Instagram,” I said, refusing to play coward. “Just you and Maria and hashtagging whether you guys are together again—and you weren’t answering my texts.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Seriously, I am trying to get her and Sharon to…”
At his hesitation, Archie said, “She saw it.”
“I’m pretty sure the whole senior class has seen it.” I shrugged.
“Fuck me. Give me an hour? Frankie? I’m going to wrap this up. She’s either going to help or not. But I’m not interested in them hurting you. If they keep this up…” Well, he didn’t clarify, but then, he didn’t have to. I could already read the resolve on Archie’s face.
“Where are you two?”
“At my place,” Archie said. “Frankie needed to get away from her mom, so now you know. Deal with Maria and then get out of there.” He hung up without waiting for his response. “We were trying to get rid of it before you saw it.”
“Okay.” I believed him. His expression tightened as he studied me. “Not going to lie, the pictures hurt—the dates on them, but—I knew you guys dated and weren’t virgins. So…” I spread my hands.
“Yeah, those pictures don’t mean a damn thing.” He sighed. “I’m just sorry she did that.”
“She’s hurt.” Was I defending Sharon?
“That doesn’t mean she gets to lash out at you.”
I didn’t really want to talk about Sharon. “It doesn’t really matter. People are going to believe what they believe. And it’s not like there isn’t some truth to it.” I took a sip of the coffee and looked around, but before I could sit on the floor, Archie caught my arm and tugged me toward the bed. He set the food bags down and waved me on.
A shiver went through me as I looked at the sheets, then at him.
“I promise, yes I want you, no, I’m not doing this to get in your pants, no matter what you just said.” The last came out on a hard edge.
“Archie… you guys are all technically dating me because IdecidedI wanted to date.”
“I don’t care, Frankie. Everything about that post says we dumped them because now we have you, and to be honest, three of us were already history.”
“Like I said, I know this.” Coop had to break up with Laura—again—though only Coop could end up accidentally dating someone. Of course, after tripping into all four of them, I really couldn’t talk.
Shoes off, I crawled onto the bed and he fluffed the pillows up and held my coffee until I was settled. Then he sat right next to me and spread our food on our laps.
“Okay,” he said. “We’re safe. We’re locked in. You know the picture about Jake and Maria is bullshit. What did your mom do?”
Stomach still in knots, I stared down at my burger. Finally, I dragged my gaze up and met his. “Well, first she told me how happy she was with Eddie.”
His expression of distaste had to match my own.
“Bear in mind, she brought home fried chicken to celebrate with.”