Friend Zone

  “Okay, okay. I get the message.” Alice lifted her hands in surrender. “Where are you going for spring break?”

  “Martha’s Vineyard. It’s my other cousin’s—Vicky, the nice one—wedding, and she made it a one-week event in the middle of March on an island you shouldn’t touch until late May or June. But never mind, she’s the one cousin I love.”

  Alice chuckled. “Your family is complicated.”

  “You tell me.”

  “I gotta go now.”

  “Have a good time with Maleficent.” Madison waved, then stuck her nose back in her book.

  Alice stopped at the door. “Are you sure you’ll be all right? Is Haley out, too?”

  Madison lifted her gaze again. “She’s at Scott’s, I think. And Alice, I’m not suicidal. You can leave me alone for an afternoon, I promise.”

  Madison was trying to appear strong, but Alice could tell she was in a lot of pain.

  “Okay. I’ll see you later,” Alice said. She still felt responsible for what had happened between Haley and Scott. She’d made one of her best friends the happiest person in the world, and the other miserable.

  Madison smiled, then made a point of staring intently at her book. The this-conversation-is-over message all too clear.

  Alice walked out of the room, guilt comfortably nestled on her shoulders.

  ***

  Georgiana was waiting for Alice at the Starbucks on Broadway. She’d already ordered two venti cappuccinos and was seated at a round table in the corner near the wall-wide window.

  “Hey,” Alice greeted.

  Georgiana’s eyes widened. “Whoa, it’s you.” She stood up to hug her. “Alice Brown! For a moment, I didn’t recognize you. This new hairstyle is amazing. When did you dye it?”

  “A while ago. I needed a change.” Alice shrugged. She had forgotten the last time she’d seen Georgiana, she’d been a blonde. “You look amazing, too.”

  They both sat down. The weather was freezing, and Alice gladly wrapped her hands around the warm coffee cup.

  “I can’t be that amazing.” Georgiana pinched herself on a cheek. “I’m still super jet-lagged. We landed only last night.”

  Georgiana loved false modesty. Right now, she had the look of a porcelain doll: perfect skin, perfect hair, no bags under her eyes, and no signs of tiredness on her face.

  Alice ignored the bait for compliments. “How was Paris?”

  “The usual.” Georgiana waved a hand casually. “Cultured, so European and romantic.”

  “Is everything good with Tyler then?”

  Georgiana’s boyfriend hadn’t exactly been eager to move across the globe for a semester. Georgiana had pulled some serious strings in the exchange program so that she and Tyler could go to Paris. All to keep him away from his best friend Rose—now Ethan’s girlfriend.

  Georgiana tilted her head to one side, then the other. “Yes and no.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I think there’s still something going on between him and Rose.” Georgiana paused and stared at her with big eyes. “By the way, I was so sorry to hear my idiot of a brother dumped you for her. You’re so many leagues above her, it doesn’t make sense.”

  Alice waved her off. “Ah, it was a long time ago. I’m over it.”

  “Dating anyone new?”

  Alice took a sip of coffee before saying, “Yeah.” She gave Georgiana the highlights of her relationship with Peter. They did the conventional round of Facebook stalking on their phones before Alice brought the conversation back to Georgiana’s love life. “So, Tyler and Rose; why are you still suspicious?”

  “Have you ever had a male best friend?” Georgiana asked.

  Jack. “Yeah, why?”

  “If you didn’t have an interest in him that went beyond friendship, would you stop talking to him if he moved to Paris for a semester with his girlfriend?”

  The thought of Jack in Paris for a semester with an imaginary girlfriend chilled Alice to the bone. She hadn’t told Georgiana about her feelings for Jack. The only two people Alice had trusted with the knowledge were Madison and Haley.

  So Alice decided to give Georgiana a neutral answer. “If I didn’t have feelings for the guy, no. I’d be happy for him to have this opportunity. Why? Rose and Tyler stopped talking because he moved to Paris with you?”

  “More or less. In the weeks before we left, Rose went AWOL.” Georgiana’s eyes sparked maliciously. “I know they didn’t talk much, if at all, while we were there, and she moved out of his house a month after we left.”

  “Wasn’t she there only temporarily, to begin with?”

  “In theory, yes.” Georgiana leaned forward, lowering her voice. “But before Paris, she wasn’t even looking for a place. I kept arguing with Tyler about it. Then she gets the house all to herself and moves out in a blink. Why the rush?”

  “Is she still dating your brother?”

  “Unfortunately, yes,” Georgiana admitted. “She couldn’t get her claws in my boyfriend, so she stuck them in my brother instead.”

  “But if she’s dating Ethan, she won’t be after Tyler anymore,” Alice pointed out.

  “I don’t know.” Georgiana leaned back in her chair, unconvinced. “With a girl like that, she might want to have her cake and eat it, too.”

  “So, what are you going to do?”

  “Nothing for now. I’ll see how things evolve.” Georgiana pursed her lips, determined, before adding, “But I’m not leaving Tyler to her if it’s the last thing I do.”

  Alice secretly thanked the sky above that Jack had never had a girlfriend this resolute. Why was she thinking about Jack, anyway? Her boyfriend was Peter. P. E. T. E. R.

  “I’ll ask Tyler to come to my sister’s wedding with me,” Georgiana continued. “If he says yes, it’ll show how committed he is.”

  “Ah, yes. On Martha’s Vineyard, right? Madison told me about it.”

  Georgiana winced. “Sometimes I forget my cousin is your roommate. That must be a pain; she’s so boring.” Georgiana made a gesture as if she was swatting away an annoying fly.

  Maybe Madison’s prejudices weren’t all inside her head.

  “We get along well,” Alice said noncommittally. “Will Ethan bring Rose to the wedding?”

  “He’s stupid enough to ask her, I’m afraid.” Her friend sighed. “Call it a happy reunion.”

  “Well, at least you’ll be able to study how she and Tyler interact.”

  “Yeah, that’s the only silver lining. What about you? Any fun plans for spring break?”

  “Not yet.” Alice shrugged. “Something fun with Peter, hopefully. The basketball season will end in early March, so he’ll have more free time.”

  Another trip with Peter. Alice wasn’t that eager but tried to be optimistic. A basketball-free, Jack-free trip, had real potential.

  Twenty-five

  Haley

  Haley was about to press Scott’s doorbell when the door opened and she found herself staring into David’s blue eyes.

  His face switched from surprised to coy in a heartbeat. “Hello, Sunshine,” he greeted her.

  “I’m here to see your brother,” Haley said.

  “State the obvious, won’t you?”

  “Is he home?”

  David shook his head. “Nope.”

  “We were supposed to meet here at 3,” Haley explained. “Can I wait for him inside?”

  David smiled that infuriating smirk of his and opened the door wide, presenting the inside of the house to her. “Come on in.”

  “So you guys live together?” she asked as she took off her scarf and coat and draped them on the back of an armchair in the living room.

  “Unfortunately. My parents refuse to pay for separate accommodations.” David closed the door and walked back inside the apartment. “So yeah, I’m stuck with my virtuous younger brother as a roommate.”

  “Why do you always have to do that?
”

  “Do what?” David raised his eyebrows.

  “Speak as if you mean the exact opposite of what you say.”

  “Oh, that.” David chuckled. “It’s called sarcasm.”

  “I get it; you have it in for Scott. But can’t you get over it?”

  David’s eyes blazed. “Get over what, exactly?”

  Haley lowered her gaze, unable to meet his eyes, as she whispered, “He told me about Brigitte.”

  “Oh, yeah?” David gritted his teeth. “And what exactly did he tell you?”

  “He told me you both liked her in high school, and that she chose him.”

  “That’s rich!” David’s nostrils flared wide as he stared at the ceiling.

  “What’s rich?”

  “That little tale my brother fed you.”

  “You’re doing it again: hinting at some mysterious, hidden truth and never saying what’s on your mind!”

  “I hate to break it to you, Princess, but with me what you see is what you get.” He pointed down at himself. “I don’t pretend to be good when I’m not. And I don’t pretend to be a righteous son-of-a-bitch when I’m not.”

  “Again, you don’t say it, but you’re implying Scott does pretend to be something he’s not.”

  David shrugged, apparently calm again. “Your words, not mine.”

  “And what would he be lying about?”

  “Ah, see.” David’s smirk was bitter this time. “To lie outright wouldn’t be Scott’s style. He prefers to omit. That Brigitte story, he conveniently left half of it out so he wouldn’t look bad.”

  “What did he leave out?” Haley asked.

  “I’m sorry, I can only give sarcastic, half-true answers… So why don’t you ask your boyfriend.”

  David put so much hatred into the word “boyfriend” that Haley recoiled. She wondered how it was possible for the two of them to live together without either of them having killed the other yet.

  She refused to let David provoke her. “You’re just trying to screw with my head.”

  “Tell yourself whatever you need to sleep at night.”

  “I don’t need to tell myself anything,” Haley snapped.

  “Good for you.” David walked back to the door and opened it. “I trust I can leave you here without you scavenging the place, yeah?”

  Haley sat on the couch and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at him. “I’ll wait right here.”

  “Perfect. Don’t wait up for me.” He slammed the front door as he left.

  Haley wanted to scream. She shouldn’t let him get to her. How did he manage to get under her skin so easily and so quickly?

  To distract herself, Haley studied the room, taking in details of the house. Definitely a guy’s apartment. The couch was brown leather with plastic compartments to hold glasses or beer cans. She swiped a finger over the rim of one. Everything else screamed model-house as if this were the apartment they used to show for visits; it was all plain furniture. The only personalizing touches were basketball-themed items casually propped here and there around the house, and a huge flat-screen TV.

  She wondered what the bedrooms looked like. Could she get away with taking a quick peek? But what if Scott came home and found her snooping in David’s room? She’d be so busted. Haley checked her watch; he was supposed to have been here fifteen minutes ago. It couldn’t be much longer until he arrived.

  As if on cue, Haley heard a key turn in the keyhole and the door opening. She got to her feet.

  “Haley, you’re here,” Scott said. He seemed surprised to find her inside. “I’m so sorry I was late, I was reading and lost track of time.”

  “It doesn’t matter. David let me in.”

  Scott’s face immediately darkened. “I’m surprised he was here. He’s usually never at home.”

  “He was headed out,” Haley said. “Said not to wait up for him.”

  Scott looked wary. “Is that all he said?”

  Haley considered how to answer. She didn’t want David to stir up problems between her and Scott, which had clearly been his intention, but she was too curious about Brigitte to let it go.

  “We had a bit of an argument actually,” Haley said, hugging herself.

  Scott took three quick strides across the room and braced his hands on her shoulders “Did he do something to you?” he asked, looking at her with a worried expression.

  “No.” Haley shrugged free and sat down. “He didn’t do anything. He said things.”

  “What things?” Scott sat next to her.

  “He said you haven’t told me the whole truth about Brigitte.”

  Scott massaged his temples with his fingers. “What else?”

  “Nothing. That’s all he said.”

  “All right.” Scott sighed and faced Haley. “David has this idea in his head of how things happened that’s not true.”

  “Okay…”

  “Listen, you shouldn’t let him get to you like this.”

  “I know. But I can sense you’re not telling me something, and it feels like David’s trying to use that against us.” Haley was tired of Scott’s instant semi-muteness whenever David or Brigitte were mentioned. “So what’s the truth?”

  “I don’t like to talk about that period of my life.”

  “I get that,” Haley said. “But if you don’t tell me, I’ll never know which one of you I should believe.”

  Scott scoffed. “See? You’re already starting to doubt me. That’s exactly what he wants.”

  “And also why we’re talking about it,” Haley insisted. “Listen, you can’t tell me David’s got the wrong idea without telling me why or about what.”

  Scott sighed. “All right. I’ll tell you everything.” He leaned his back against the couch and spoke, looking at the ceiling. “Brigitte was my first. The first girl I loved, my first everything. She was beautiful, playful, and she had this impossible-to-resist French accent that would make any guy lose his mind.”

  “Okay, you don’t need to be that specific,” Haley joked.

  “Sorry.” Scott smirked. “Anyway, from the first day she set foot in our school, David had his eyes on her, and so did I. But I was shy and inexperienced and he was not. They started dating almost immediately.”

  “Then what happened?”

  “She was my age, a year younger than David, so we had a lot of classes together and we started talking. She had a compelling personality. It was impossible not to fall for her, especially for a shy guy like me. At one point she started complaining about my brother, said their relationship wasn’t working. Finally, one day she told me they’d broken up.”

  “Was it true?”

  “I believed her. I wanted to believe her so badly.”

  “So, she was lying?” This Brigitte character wasn’t growing on Haley. The opposite, in fact.

  “Yeah.”

  “And you couldn’t tell?”

  “No.” Scott shifted position and finally met her gaze. “I never saw her with David anymore, and I had no reason to assume she was lying.”

  “So you two… what?”

  “Exactly what you think. We were together while she was still seeing David.”

  “I don’t understand. What did David do?”

  “He didn’t know.” Scott shook his head. “Brigitte told me we had to keep our relationship a secret. She explained it by saying she didn’t want to hurt David’s feelings, that it was too soon for us to date openly… blah, blah, blah. I was young and in love, gullible enough to go along with it if it meant I could be with her.”

  “It didn’t last, I take it.”

  “No. David found us together.” The shadow of a bad memory crossed Scott’s face. “We got into this huge fight, and then we told Brigitte she had to choose.”

  “And she chose you,” Haley finished for him.

  “And that, David will never forgive.”

  “So you stayed with her, even after she
lied to you like that?”

  “As I said, I was young, stupid, and in love.”

  Haley put the last pieces together. “David doesn’t believe you didn’t know.”

  “No, I don’t think he does. And the fact that I kept going out with Brigitte afterward was proof enough for him.”

  Haley honestly could not blame him. “How long were you with her?”

  “At the end of the year she moved back to France, and David moved on to college. This wound between us has been festering ever since.”

  “Well, at least now it makes sense why he behaves like that.” Haley’s head was spinning with all this new information. “Haven’t you tried to explain to him how it really happened? It seems to me this Brigitte person was pretty awful.”

  “In hindsight, she was,” Scott agreed. “And I’ve tried to talk with my brother a million times, but he won’t listen.”

  “I’m sorry for dredging all of this up.” Haley squeezed Scott’s upper arm. “But I needed to know.”

  “And I’m glad I told you the whole story.”

  “Come here,” Haley said.

  She opened her arms to hold Scott to her chest as she leaned back on the couch. Haley stared at the ceiling, enjoying Scott’s weight on her. But as she stroked his hair, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for David.

  Twenty-six

  Alice

  “You guys,” Madison called, strolling across the living room with a huge suitcase in tow. “I’m off. Wish me luck for the worst spring break ever!”

  Alice interrupted her own packing and emerged from her room to say goodbye. “Oh, come on,” she said. “It won’t be that bad!”

  “A week stuck on a tiny island with my entire family?” Madison rolled her eyes. “Yeah, it will.”

  Haley joined them. “If it’s any consolation,” she said, “I’ve been conscripted by my parents as well after skipping Christmas.” Haley hugged Madison and then eyed Alice sideways. “She’s the only one who’s going to have a good time.”

  “I’m sure you guys will have just as much fun,” Alice said defensively.

  “Yeah.” Madison snorted. She lifted one hand and lowered the other as if weighing options on an imaginary scale. “Boring family wedding on freezing Martha’s Vineyard.” She reversed the height of her hands. “Or amazing trip with hot boyfriend in sunny Miami. Mmm… you’re right. It’s hard to call!”