Friend Zone

  “I’m sorry I ruined your romantic night.”

  “Haley, you didn’t do anything,” Alice reassured her friend. “Seems to me it was all David’s fault.”

  “He was being a douche,” Haley agreed. “But Scott attacked him first.”

  “Has this changed your mind about him?”

  “I don’t know. It definitely wasn’t a first date to remember.” Haley chuckled sadly. “And him running away like that without a word. Weird, huh?”

  “They say women are complicated, but guys are even stranger,” Alice said. “Should we try to get some sleep?”

  “Oh, no!” Haley covered her face with her hands again.

  “What?”

  “I dropped my overnight bag in David’s room.”

  “I’ll have Peter get it tomorrow.”

  “Thank you.” Haley peeked at her from between her fingers. “I don’t want to have to see him again.”

  “You need to borrow some PJs?”

  “No, I have a long t-shirt in my luggage I can use.”

  Haley hopped off the bed to get changed, and Alice dropped her head on the pillow, feeling uneasy. She stared at the ceiling, wondering what else would go wrong on this trip.

  Twenty-two

  Haley

  A brief but decisive knock on their door woke Haley early the next morning. She dragged herself out of bed and shuffled toward the door. She peered through the peephole and saw David waiting on the other side. Haley instinctively took a step back.

  “What do you want?” she called through the door.

  “Good morning, Sunshine.” David’s ever-mocking voice was muffled on the other side. “I come in peace to return your possessions.”

  Haley flattened herself against the door to check again through the peephole. David wasn’t lying; he had her duffel bag with him. She opened the door.

  “How did you know it was mine?” she asked.

  “I doubt any of my teammates wear lacy underwear, at least that I know of.” David’s smug smirk was infuriating. “By the way, impeccable taste.”

  “Give it back.” Haley stretched her arm forward to grab her bag, but David snatched it backward.

  “Ah, ah, ah. Not yet,” he said, still smiling. “You’re going to have to hear me out first.”

  Haley crossed her arms and took a step back. “Hear out what?”

  “I wanted to apologize for what happened last night; it wasn’t my intention to cause trouble.”

  “Yeah, it was.” Haley was not about to let his charm fool her. “Why else would you be like that?”

  “Well. When an amazingly beautiful girl, who is not my brother’s girlfriend, happens to knock on my door in the middle of the night, I find it hard not to present her with…” David paused. “Options.”

  The compliment, no matter how cheesy, made Haley blush. Flattery rarely worked on her, but pair it with piercing blue eyes and uncanny good looks, and it did have an effect.

  “Listen,” Haley sighed, “I’m not sure what’s going on between you and your brother, but I’m not getting in the middle of that.”

  “Might be too late for that.”

  “How so?”

  “I’ve my heart set on you now.” His blue gaze was intense and unsettling.

  “Not going to happen,” Haley snapped.

  David winked. “Never say never.”

  “Can I have my bag now?”

  David handed it over. “Until next time.”

  Without waiting for her reply, he turned on his heel and walked back to his room. For reasons inexplicable to her, Haley watched him go and waited until he disappeared into his room before she closed the door.

  “Who was that?” Alice asked from her bed.

  “David Williams.”

  Alice straightened with a worried expression. “What did he want?”

  “To give my bag back and apologize for last night.” Haley sat on her bed.

  “Was it okay?”

  Haley considered the question. “I don’t know; with him, it’s hard to say,” she admitted. “I don’t know if he was serious or if he was mocking me. Maybe he just wants to piss off his brother more.”

  “Well, it was nice of him to apologize.”

  “It felt more conniving than nice.”

  “I could ask Peter what the deal is with the Williams brothers,” Alice offered. “No one seemed surprised they were fighting last night.”

  Another knock came at the door.

  “Who is it now?” Haley asked the ceiling.

  “I’ll place my money on the other Williams brother.”

  Haley instinctively checked herself out in the wardrobe mirror, fluffed her hair, and opened the door.

  “Hi, is this a bad time?” Scott said.

  “No, I was already up.”

  “Hey.” He lowered his gaze to the floor, embarrassed. “I wanted to apologize for the disappearing act last night.”

  “It’s okay,” Haley lied. “You don’t have to explain anything.”

  “Actually, I do.” Scott looked back up. “Team duties start in little over an hour. I was wondering if you wanted to take a walk down the beach with me first?”

  Scott was so genuine and sweet. Exactly the opposite of his brother.

  “I would love to,” Haley said. “Can you give me fifteen minutes to get ready?”

  Scott’s face brightened. “I’ll wait for you in the hall.”

  ***

  The sand was cool this early in the morning. Haley had taken her flip-flops off and was walking barefoot on the beach. The sun was still low above the horizon, but its warm rays indicated the temperature would rise soon enough. Scott hadn’t said much yet; he had a serious frown and the face of someone thinking too much.

  Haley decided to break the ice first. “So that was your brother, huh?”

  Scott was still lost in his thoughts. “Yep.”

  “What’s the deal with you two?”

  “We were never close.” Scott looked straight ahead, his voice emotionless. “But I’m not sure when David started hating me. Maybe he thinks I’ve stolen his thunder or something by, you know, being born.”

  “Mmm, so nothing else got stolen between you two?” Haley asked.

  “Ah.” Scott scratched the back of his head. “Is it that obvious?”

  “Well, you saw us talk last night and lost your mind. All that rage wasn’t about me.”

  “No, you’re right,” Scott admitted. “It was déjà vu.”

  They walked a little further in silence.

  “So are you going to tell me about the girl?” Haley asked when she couldn’t hold it in any longer.

  Scott didn’t try to deny it. “It was a long time ago, in high school. Her name was Brigitte. She was a student from France doing her junior year in the US. Long story short, we both liked her, and she did something David will never forgive me for.”

  “What?”

  “She chose me.” Scott stared at the sky.

  “That’s it?” Haley thought there was a lot more Scott was holding back.

  “No, it’s a lot more complicated.” He finally looked at her. “But enough about the past.” He stopped to face her. “What happened yesterday won’t happen again. I won’t lose control like that… What I’m saying is, I’m sorry you had to see that, and I hope I haven’t scared you off for good.” He raised both his eyebrows in a cute and interrogative way.

  Haley smiled. “You haven’t… scared me off.”

  “Good,” Scott said. “Because I’ve been dying to do this since the moment I first saw you.” He cupped her face with his hands and lowered his mouth to hers.

  Twenty-three

  Alice

  Christmas Day was the weirdest. It wasn’t just the warm weather and floral décor that clashed with Alice’s snowy image of the holiday, or that she had to eat a light, quick lunch because the team played later that night. It was being with Jack
without really being with him. It felt strange, wrong. She’d always imagined their first Christmas together under different circumstances.

  Alice’s mood wasn’t exactly cheery to begin with. Peter had seriously downplayed how much the team-related activities would keep him busy. If Alice had come alone, she’d have been pissed. Add the fight between David and Scott, the room swap complications, the fact that Jack had been a total bitch the entire time, and there was a distinct lack of merry in her Christmas vacation. And it was about to get worse.

  The referee blew his whistle three times, signaling the end of the game. Alice stared at the scoreboard, downcast. Harvard had lost. They’d won their first two games, and Alice had hoped the winning streak would continue. But no. Now Peter would be in a bad mood, and their last night in Hawaii didn’t sound very promising with a sullen boyfriend.

  “We lost,” Alice said.

  “I don’t care.” Haley pushed her hair behind her ears. “I couldn’t wait for the game to be over.”

  “Aren’t you worried Scott will be mad about losing?”

  “He doesn’t look too ruffled.” Haley waved and smiled at him.

  Scott flashed her friend a grin that indeed said he didn’t care much about the final score. Haley and Scott had officially become an item. Yesterday, the only game-free day in their trip, the four of them had spent the entire day at the beach. And the new couple had been inseparable; they hadn’t stopped kissing for more than two minutes. Last night, finally, they’d managed to swap rooms without incident. After a night with Scott, Haley had come to breakfast with a smile so bright it had told Alice all she needed to know.

  Alice watched as the team gathered their gear and disappeared into the locker room. There were only two people with expressions darker than Peter’s: Jack’s and, well, David’s. The older Williams brother didn’t seem to have taken Haley and Scott getting together lightly. But he hadn’t pulled another stunt since their first night on the island. Instead, he opted to keep a haughty, detached attitude. And Jack… well, he’d been a jerk for the whole trip. Alice couldn’t pinpoint exactly what bothered her so much about his behavior. It wasn’t just that he’d done his best to avoid her; he acted as if he couldn’t stand to look at her. It was clear he was annoyed she’d come on this trip. Why? Had she stolen his preferred wingman? The thought made her bristle.

  “Let’s go,” Haley said. “I can’t believe we’re flying home tomorrow. I don’t want to lose one minute we have left.”

  Alice followed her friend out of their seats toward the stadium exit. “Yeah, sure.”

  Her mind was on a completely different page. She couldn’t wait to be home and craved the comforting view of the snow-covered campus and the chill, time-of-the-year-appropriate temperatures. But most of all, she wanted to be alone. No Peter and no Jack. This whole trip seemed like a huge mistake and a total waste of money at this point. She would have counted Haley’s new romance a success, except that it was with the guy her other best friend had a crush on. All in all, a complete fiasco.

  Madison would be devastated. Haley’s happiness was so obvious and in-your-face it left no room for interpretation. Alice could only hope Madison’s infatuation for Scott wasn’t as deep as she suspected. Because from the way he and Haley kept looking at each other, Haley’s strong feelings were reciprocated.

  What a mess. What a complete, utter mess.

  ***

  Alice’s worries proved true the following night. When they arrived back home at the apartment, Alice noticed Madison staring at Haley’s ecstatic smile with a look of pure dread.

  “Merry Christmas,” Madison said. “Only a day late.”

  Haley twirled around the living room, blind to Madison’s discomfort. “It’s been a very, very merry Christmas!”

  “Yeah?” Madison wringed her fingers, steadying herself for the bad news. “So the trip went well?”

  “Better!” Haley spread her arms wide and kept spinning. “I left single and came back in love,” she announced in a singsong voice.

  Madison paled. “With who?”

  “The best guy in the world: Scott Williams!”

  Haley was too excited to notice how Madison drained completely of color and had to lean against the couch for support.

  “I can’t wait for you to meet him,” Haley continued. “He’s so great.”

  “Actually, I-I do k-know him,” Madison spluttered.

  “You do?” Haley was genuinely surprised. “How come?”

  “English concentration, remember?” Madison’s voice carried a ring of accusation. “I told you when we went to see that basketball game.”

  “How am I supposed to remember from so long ago?” Haley dismissed her. “Anyway, he’s Superman when it comes to courses.”

  “What do you mean?” Alice purposely injected herself into the conversation to give Madison a minute to recover.

  “He’s taking all these pre-med courses on top of his main English concentration, on top of basketball. He’s superhuman.”

  Alice checked she’d heard right. “So he wants to go to Med School, but he’s majoring in English?”

  “Yeah, says it’s his passion.” Haley shrugged. “You should ask the other poet in the room.” She jerked her chin toward Madison. “I’ll never understand why people spend so much time reading all that stuff dead people wrote.”

  “Just because the only thing you enjoy reading is lines of code,” Madison snapped, “doesn’t mean all other people shouldn’t care about literature.”

  Haley lifted her hands in surrender. “No one’s touching your precious Shakespeare, don’t worry. Wow, I can’t say a thing about books without you getting all touchy. Hands-off lit, I promise.”

  Oh, Haley. She had no clue Madison’s attitude had nothing to do with literature. It was more of a hands-off-Scott issue.

  Madison blanked out Haley and turned to Alice. “Did you have a good time too?”

  “Yeah, but I got so mad at—”

  “I’m hopping in the shower and then straight to bed,” Haley interrupted. “I’m beat.”

  “Good night,” Alice said.

  “Night.” Haley disappeared inside the bathroom.

  “You were saying?” Madison asked.

  Now that Haley was out of hearing range, Alice asked, “Are you okay?”

  “I’d rather not talk about it,” Madison said, close to tears. She was visibly struggling to choke back a lump in her throat. “Can you distract me with your own boy problems?”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah.” Madison nodded. “We’ll talk about it, but not now. Can I keep Blue tonight?”

  “Sure.” Alice walked into her room to pick up the bunny. She brought him into Madison’s room and sat on the bed next to her. “Here, bunny joy for you.”

  “Thanks.” Madison took Blue and placed him on her lap. He squealed at being handled, then relaxed when Madison started stroking him. “So was it Jack or Peter who pissed you off?”

  “Jack, for the most part.”

  Alice started telling her friend about Hawaii, focusing on how Jack had ignored her, and leaving out Haley and Scott’s romance. If Madison wasn’t ready to discuss her feelings for Scott, giving her a break was the least Alice could do. And she had enough Jack-complaints to keep talking all night long.

  Twenty-four

  Alice

  The weekend before the start of Spring Term, Alice received a text from Georgiana. Her mentor was back from Paris and she wanted to meet up.

  Alice popped her head inside Madison’s room. “Hey. You busy?”

  Her roommate was lying on her made-up bed, enthralled by some nineteenth-century literary tome.

  Madison raised her bespectacled face. “Huh?” Her expression was one of not-so-veiled annoyance that she usually gave when someone interrupted her reading.

  “Georgiana is back from Paris,” Alice said. “I’m meeting her for coffee.”

&
nbsp; Madison lowered the book to her knees. “So she didn’t stay in Paris? Pity.”

  “Eh…” Alice could not understand how two people—cousins—she liked so much could despise each other. At least, she knew Madison didn’t like Georgiana—she wasn’t sure if it went the other way around, too. “I take it you wouldn’t want to join us?”

  “I’d rather stick a fork in each of my eyes.”

  “How would you read, then?”

  “Audiobooks.”

  Alice walked into the room and sat on the only chair available next to Madison’s desk. “I honestly can’t understand why you don’t get along with her.”

  Madison snorted. “And I honestly don’t understand how you can be so blind to the fact that my dear cousin is a stone-cold bitch!”

  “She’s always been kind to me.”

  “You must be part of an elite group of chosen ones.” Madison drummed her fingers on the hard cover of her book. “As for the rest of us, we only get to see her Queen Bee side. Everything has to be about her and never anyone else.”

  “But did she ever do something bad to you?” Alice asked.

  “You mean like stealing my boyfriend?”

  Now, that explained a lot of things. “She did that? I didn’t know.”

  “Well, it’s not like she’s going to tell you or even admit it. If you asked her, she’d tell you he wasn’t really my boyfriend. That the relationship was all in my head since I had a childish infatuation. And, anyway, she couldn’t help it if he loved her and not me.”

  Alice did not recall Madison ever being with someone in a long-term relationship. “When was this?”

  “High school. I was a freshman, and she couldn’t stand me dating a senior. She didn’t even like him; she did it just to spite me.” Madison’s features contracted in anger. “She made freshman year a nightmare for me; the day she graduated was the best day of my life.”

  “Sounds like a long time ago,” Alice said. “Couldn’t you give your cousin a second chance?”

  Madison huffed. “Listen, Alice. I know she’s your friend and I’m glad she’s nice to you. But we’re like oil and water; we don’t mix. I already have to spend spring break trapped on a tiny island with her; I want to avoid any unnecessary suffering.”