I rolled my eyes at the description. “Be nice.”
“I am being nice, I didn’t call him the football dickhead.”
My mouth twitched as a giggle-snort escaped. “True.” When she pinched me, I yanked my arm away. “All right, all right.” Where to start? “We went out by the pool, he’s not supposed to have guests, but he said he figured his mom would make an exception. Apparently, he’s in a lot of trouble with his parents because of the fight.” His parents hadn’t been there, so that might have been an excuse, too.
“Sucks to be him.”
Kind of did. He was eighteen and likely grounded, but he said he deserved it, so maybe that was on him. I don’t know anymore. Bit by bit, I told Rachel a little of what happened over the last few days, beginning with Ian leaving Saturday morning after telling me he didn’t think he could do this but we could still be friends.
The whole time I spoke, I kept my attention on the jewelry. Coming to the shop had been half an excuse to talk to Rachel on neutral ground, and half because I actually did need something to go with my dress.
If I even ended up going to Homecoming at this rate.
When I reached the part where Ian told me about the points, she grimaced. “Yeah, I knew that.” At my askance look, she lifted her shoulders. “Everyone knew it.”
The note about did I know who they’d done that summer made a lot more sense.
“Sorry,” she muttered. “Go on.”
“Anyway, he told me Jake wanted to know what was going on with him, so he told him, and Jake was sticking up for me and telling Ian he needed to talk to me, just lay it out there and find a solution.” For which I could kiss Jake because dammit, that was what I wanted, too. I hated this awkward distance between me and Ian, and I hated it even more that he and the guys are struggling. “I mean, it was bad enough the night Ian punched Archie.”
“Party night. Good times. Tell me rich boy deserved it.”
“Rachel…”
“I’m still being nice, you just happen to like the douche bags more than I do, and frankly, I don’t think one of them deserves you. But I’m definitely biased, so I will do my best here. Okay?” She crossed her eyes and made a face at me, and I shook my head. I didn’t know what to do with her sometimes.
“Moving on,” I said, because while Ian and Jake seemed to think Archie deserved it, I personally did not. “Ian’s convinced I don’t know what’s good for me.”
“Oh, he’s sounding better to me…”
“Like I can’t make my own decisions about what I want.”
“Never mind. Not so much.”
Rolling my eyes, I tried to focus. The conversation had been uncomfortable because he’d avoided looking me in the eye for a lot of it. Right up until he got to the part I needed to know. “The fight started because Ian told Jake he’d told me about the points.”
“That would explain why Jake threw the first punch,” Rachel mused. “The question I have is, was he more pissed that you knew about their dirty laundry or pissed because ‘Ian,’” she said with air quotes, “telling you broke some kind of bro code.”
That was food for thought. “Maybe both. Jake’s really protective.”
“And in other news,” Rachel held up a box of a necklace and earring set like it was a microphone. “Water is wet.” Sobering, she put the box back. “What did you do?”
“I asked him if the problem lay with me dating Coop, Jake, and Archie. Or if he just didn’t want to date me.”
Pivoting to face me, Rachel studied me. “And he said…?”
“He didn’t know.”
“You should plug your ears. No seriously—because I’m about to not be nice.”
“Rach—”
“Nope. He doesn’t fucking know?” She spread her arms. “Those were not difficult questions.”
“But they are complicated ones.”
“Frankie,” she said, gripping my biceps. “Do you want to date all four of them?”