Her words, as innocent as they were, sucker punched me in the stomach. It wasn’t a dig or a backhanded comment, she was being one hundred percent genuine because that’s who Celeste was. Good and kind and full of compassion and second chances. But that little voice inside my head twisted her words, whispering something else entirely.
“Hey, I know.” She pulled on my arm a little. “We should go out, just the two of us. We could invite Chloe too, if you wanted. I’ve never had girlfriends before. It’s nice.”
“What would we do?”
“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “Go to the spa and get facials and manicures maybe?” My face screwed up at that and she snickered. “We could go bowling?”
“At Strike One? The guys would find out and gate-crash.”
“A party. We could go to a party.”
“Umm, no.” I pressed my lips together.
“Okay, what about… oh I know, we could go to open mic night at The Coffee Spot, that cute little coffee shop downtown with the bookstore inside. They do live events on the weekend.”
“Hmm, that could be fun, I guess.”
She grinned. “It’ll be great. I’ll ask Chloe. We could go Saturday.”
“Okay. But no boys.”
“Deal.”
“You didn’t have to give me a ride home,” I said to Nate. “I could have—”
“Would you stop? It’s fine.” He smiled over at me. “Wilder?” His eyes dropped to the phone in my hand.
“Yeah.” I quickly texted Nix back.
Me: Hope practice goes well.
When I looked up again, I frowned. “Nate, this isn’t the way to the house.”
“Confession time. I’m not taking you to the house.”
“You’re not?” Fear spread through me as I curled my fingers into the seat.
“Nix called me.”
“He did?” I gawked at him, disbelief coursing through me. “But he has practice.”
“Not today.”
“Okay, this is weird. Isn’t it weird for you?” Nate was driving me to meet my boyfriend.
He chuckled. “It’s all good.”
I folded my hands in my lap, trying to focus on something—anything—except the violent beat of my heart.
“You good over there?”
“Fine.” I inhaled deeply, counting the perfectly symmetrical trees lining the sidewalk. One. Two. Four. Six. Eight—
“Harleigh, it’s just Nix.”
Just Nix.
But it wasn’t just Nix. It was lying to Michael and Sabrina. Keeping Max’s secret. Avoiding Marc and Angela. Pretending to be Nate’s girlfriend. Not having a plan for post-graduation.