Friend Zone

  Madison stopped blowing air on her shiny coral nails and said, “Vicky was a beautiful bride.”

  “Any cute boys?” Haley asked.

  “Not one!” Madison sighed.

  Alice stared down at her blue nails, not liking the result. “How was Georgiana?” she asked, as she began to remove the polish with a cotton disk.

  Madison winced; a common reaction when anyone mentioned Georgiana in her presence. “Her usual nasty self.”

  Alice was curious about the whole Georgiana-Rose-Tyler love triangle. “Was Tyler there?”

  “Yep. Rose and Ethan were there, too.”

  Correction: quadrangle including Ethan in the picture.

  Alice finished removing the last specks of blue and started applying a nude miracle gel to her pinkie. “So, did you pick up any weird vibes?” she asked.

  “Why?” Haley asked, puzzled. “What’s going on?”

  Madison launched into an explanation. “My cousin, Georgiana, suspects her boyfriend, Tyler, has a thing for his best friend, Rose. Or, equally bad, that Rose is trying to steal him from her. Only Rose was at the wedding as Ethan’s date. He’s my other cousin, Georgiana’s older brother, and Alice’s ex.”

  Haley raised both her eyebrows. “Come again?”

  “I said my cousin Georgiana—”

  “Yeah, I got all that the first time,” Haley interrupted. “It just sounded too soap-opera to be real.”

  “So, is it?” Alice asked. “Did any of it seem real to you?”

  “Well.” Madison thought for a second. “Rose and Tyler definitely seemed awkward around each other. And Georgiana stared daggers at her for the entire week. Moved the target from its usual spot behind my back, actually. But from the way Rose and Ethan were staring at each other the entire time… Sorry, Alice…”

  “Don’t worry.” Alice shook her head. “He’s ancient history.”

  “They seemed smitten,” Madison concluded. “So, no, I don’t think Rose is trying to steal Tyler.”

  “What about your cousin and this… Tyler?” Haley asked.

  “That, I’m not sure about. I caught him looking at Rose with a brooding expression one too many times.”

  “So Georgiana wasn’t entirely wrong,” Alice mused. “There could’ve been something between Rose and Tyler at one point.”

  “If there ever was, Rose is over it,” Madison said, confident. “And I hope for his sake, Tyler will be over my sweet cousin soon, too.”

  “Oh, come on,” Alice chided.

  Madison shrugged. “He didn’t seem much into her, anyway.” She turned to Haley. “What about you? How was your break?”

  “In one word, boring,” Haley replied. “But I didn’t have to cook, and my mom did my laundry! She ironed my pajamas. Ironed PJs, can you guys believe it?”

  Alice and Madison chuckled.

  “I’m being serious,” Haley insisted. “It was way too cold to do anything remotely fun—”

  “Not as cold as Martha’s Vineyard,” Madison interrupted. “I promise.”

  “Still cold enough to spoil every outdoor activity. Plus, none of my friends was there. They all came back for Thanksgiving or Christmas, but definitely not spring break. It was a desert town.”

  “What did you do all day?” Alice asked.

  “Honestly? I coded, I slept, and I ate my mom’s food. I win the price for lamest spring break ever.”

  “Yeah.” Alice smiled playfully. “I’m afraid you do.”

  “Anyway,” Haley continued, “next weekend I’ll come up with something amazing to cure our back-to-school blues.” She paused to look them in the eyes. “And that, you guys, is a promise.”

  ***

  “Roomies!” Haley sang as she burst into the living room the next Saturday. “What do you say we all go out together tonight?”

  “Define ‘we,’” Madison said.

  “Define ‘out,’” Alice echoed.

  “We, as in us.” Haley pointed at them in a circle. “Plus the guys. And we’re going out as in to some grownup bars.” Haley wasn’t letting their scarce enthusiasm damper hers. “We’re finally all twenty-one. You know what that means.”

  Madison scoffed. “I’d rather not be the fifth wheel. Thanks, but no thanks.”

  “Madison!” Haley turned to face her. “You wouldn’t be the fifth wheel. A lot of guys from the team are coming. The season is over, and they can finally enjoy their Saturdays like normal people. You could meet someone.”

  “Yeah, sure,” Madison said. “Because that always happens to me.”

  Madison’s neck and cheeks heated; she’d hidden the real reason for not wanting to go behind sarcasm. So far, Alice reflected, her friend had never seen Haley and Scott together. Madison had probably gone out of her way to make sure that didn’t happen.

  As for Peter and Alice, this was the first weekend after the season’s end—excluding spring break—that they could go out together. Even with Haley dating Scott for three months, there hadn’t been any previous group dates. A beer with Peter and a random guy or guys on the team on weekdays at the most. But the basketball season was over, and change was in the air…

  “Is Jack included in the group?” Alice asked, to draw attention away from sulking Madison.

  “I’m not sure, but most of the team is going,” Haley replied.

  “David, too?” Alice asked.

  Haley shrugged. “Probably.”

  Madison threw her a mean stare. “It must be nice having two guys fighting over you.”

  Haley frowned. “As it happens, it’s pretty horrible. What’s up with you? Did you eat lemons for breakfast?”

  Madison caught herself and blushed a deeper shade of red. “I’m sorry, Haley, it’s not you.” It was clear to Alice how Madison was trying her best not to be jealous or bitter, but sometimes her repressed feelings got the best of her. “I just got a low grade and can’t wrap my head around why.”

  Haley rolled her eyes. “What did you get, a B+?”

  “A-, actually. But I really can’t understand why the minus.”

  Haley turned to Alice. “Are you going to smack her, or should I?”

  “Hey,” Madison protested. “I’m right here. I can hear you.”

  Haley blew out air. “So, tonight. Are we on?”

  “Sure,” Alice said.

  “I guess,” Madison agreed.

  “Great!” Haley clapped her hands twice. “I’ll call Scott and organize everything.”

  While Haley was busy on the phone with her boyfriend, Alice whispered, “Are you okay? You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

  Madison’s lips parted in a sad smile. “I have to face them sooner or later. I won’t be able to avoid them forever.”

  “Okay,” Alice continued in hushed tones. “But if it gets too much, let me know. Promise?”

  Madison nodded.

  ***

  The downtown bar Haley had chosen was already half full when the three of them strolled inside. It was fancy in an urban way: brick walls with wide, metal-framed windows and high ceilings. Tall, circular tables surrounded a dais in the center of the room.

  None of the guys had arrived yet, so the girls got started on cocktails. With her birthday in mid-December, Haley still wasn’t over the thrill of legally ordering a drink in a public space. She immediately offered to go order for everyone. They happily let her.

  “How are you holding up?” Alice asked Madison.

  She grimaced. “You don’t have to check on me every five seconds. I can handle myself.”

  From the way Madison kept gnawing her bottom lip, eyes glued to the entrance door, Alice doubted her friend was going to handle anything well. But she didn’t press her further. Haley came back with their drinks and started babbling about something. Alice didn’t listen. She was too distracted worrying about Madison.

  Haley snapped her fingers in both their faces. “Hey, I’m talking. What?
??s up with you two?”

  “Nothing,” Alice and Madison said in unison.

  After being caught, they both made an effort to act normal and give Haley their undivided attention. At least, until Madison went suddenly pale. Her gaze fixed over Alice’s shoulder with that deer-in-headlights expression. Alice turned toward the front of the pub where the heads of several tall guys bobbed above the crowd, heading toward them. Her eyes trained on Jack first, then Peter, Scott, and the many other familiar faces with them. It looked like Haley had been right; most of the team was here. At least everyone old enough for public drinking.

  Peter greeted her with a kiss, and Scott did the same with Haley. Madison stared, petrified.

  “Hi, babe,” Haley said to Scott. “Remember Alice?”

  Scott looked at her and said, “Hi.”

  “And this is Madison,” Haley continued. “My other roommate.”

  A flicker of recognition creased Scott’s forehead. “Hi.” He smiled as if he’d placed where he’d seen her. “You’re in my poetry class.”

  “Yeah.” To her credit, Madison managed to function as a normal human being, smiling only a little awkwardly. “Madison, nice to meet you.”

  “Scott.”

  They shook hands, and when Scott turned to kiss Haley again, Madison downed her entire drink. Alice was about to say something when she became distracted by Jack appearing with a flock of girls in tow. They looked like freshmen at best, but they couldn’t be. In a bar, it always was twenty-one-and-above only. Fake IDs, perhaps? Jack was shamelessly flirting with three of them at the same time, and he was clearly well on his way to charming the pants off the entire group.

  Alice sighed and then followed Madison’s lead, downing her drink in one sorry gulp.

  Twenty-nine

  Madison

  “Oh, look,” Madison muttered into her glass, talking to herself. “Haley is going home with Scott. Super fun!” She stared at the half-consumed drink in her hand, waiting for a reply, and decided it was better to finish her cocktail rather than trying to talk with it. Madison tilted her head backward and chugged. What in the hell had made her agree to come out with them tonight?

  Two hours into the evening and Madison was ready to call it quits. She’d masochistically stalked Haley and Scott most of the night and had had enough. If Haley—who had insisted so much on this “night out drinking,” only to sip a single cocktail and ignore her friends to be with her boyfriend—was going home, so could Madison. She had drunk enough to be tipsy, and the constant thumping in her temples promised a mean hangover the next day.

  Madison was about to follow the happy couple out when another member of the team leaned his elbows on the table next to her now-empty glass. “They make my stomach turn, too,” he said.

  Madison detached her gaze from Scott and Haley to stare up at the newcomer. To call him “hot” would have been an understatement. “And you are?” she asked.

  “David. Pleased to meet you.” He smiled a confident, lopsided grin that screamed danger.

  Madison’s lips parted in a surprised O. “You’re the infamous brother.” It figured that Scott’s brother would be even better looking and into Haley just as much as his younger sibling.

  “I hope you didn’t believe everything you heard about me.”

  “Why?” Madison cocked her head to the side. “I’ve only heard good things. Are they not true?”

  Whoops, she was flirting. So? David looked just as pissed off at the leaving duo as she was; so what if they mourned together?

  Trouble shared is a trouble halved.

  David jerked his chin toward her empty glass. “Want another one of those?”

  “Sure, why not?”

  Or possibly double-trouble.

  “You go to Harvard too?” David asked, once he was back with their drinks.

  “Yep,” Madison said between sips. “What’s your concentration?”

  “Statistics. Yours?”

  “Ew. No offense, but I can’t stand numbers.”

  David smiled genially. “None taken.”

  “I’m studying English Literature and Poetry.”

  David raised his eyebrows. “I hope you’re not as much of a tormented soul as my little brother.”

  Madison blushed at the mention of Scott. “I hope ‘tormented’ isn’t the first word that comes to mind when one looks at me.”

  “Definitely not.” Davis brushed his right thumb across her cheek. “‘Beautiful’ would be more appropriate.”

  The rosy tint on her cheeks grew a deeper red. “Want to dance?” Madison asked, for lack of other responses.

  David pinned her with his blue gaze. “I’d love to.”

  “Great!”

  Madison gulped down the remains of her drink and grabbed David’s hand to lead him to the dais in the center of the room. It was already crowded with throngs of partygoers having a good time. She made to turn to face David, but he spun her round and wrapped his arms around her from behind. As they started swaying in time to the music, David’s chin brushed the top her head. He was so tall. Having him so close, Madison moved rigidly as a stick at first. Until David lowered his head and whispered, “Relax,” close enough to her ear to send shivers down her spine.

  Maybe it was the one-too-many drinks, or the hot guy standing behind her, or the one that had gone home with her best friend. Madison didn’t care; she let her inhibitions melt away. She was happy to just dance to the fast rhythm of the music, pressing herself against the solid wall of David’s chest. She lost count of how many songs played before the dancing changed to full-scale making out. David was a great kisser.

  Her phone started vibrating in her small leather clutch. Madison ignored it, too engrossed in the kiss to stop. But when it kept on vibrating, she pulled back with an embarrassed, “Sorry” to check out who it was.

  She had two missed calls and a text from Alice asking where she was and saying she was heading home.

  “It’s Alice,” Madison said. “She’s going home. You want to go, too?”

  David smiled. “I’m having fun right here.”

  “Yeah, me too. Do you mind waiting here while I go say bye?”

  “Not at all.” David grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close to kiss her lightly on the lips. “Don’t make me wait too long.”

  Madison blushed. “I won’t.” She took two steps backward, never breaking eye contact, and turned to push her way through the crowd to go tell Alice she was staying.

  Thirty

  Haley

  Haley left Scott’s apartment early the next morning. She had a ton of homework to do before Monday and an entire program to code that she’d left to the last minute. Scott walked her halfway to a Starbucks, where they had breakfast together, and then kissed her goodbye. Haley sleepwalked the rest of the way home; the coffee had not been strong enough to wake her up properly. Mercifully, it took her only five minutes to get to her building and take the elevator up to her floor.

  Pushing open the door to her apartment, Haley was startled to find a tall, dark-haired, bare-backed guy in her kitchen. Haley couldn’t see his bottom half from behind the bar, but she hoped at least that part was covered up. The mysterious dude was standing in front of their opened fridge, acting as if he owned the place. The mere stance of his shoulders exuded arrogance. He took his time to examine the contents of the fridge and settled on Haley’s 2% milk. With the milk carton in his hands, the dude grabbed a glass out of the cabinet above the sink and poured himself a drink.

  The theft of her milk shook Haley out of her shock. She kicked the entrance door shut with force, to make sure it made enough noise to startle the thief. It did. As the door slammed shut, the dude’s shoulders jerked. But the milk thief didn’t turn around. He finished drinking his milk, taking his time, and then placed the used glass in the sink without washing it.

  Haley’s nostrils flared. “That’s my milk you’re drinking,” she accused.
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  Slowly, deliberately he turned around, and Haley found herself staring into a pair of piercing blue eyes. David.

  “Morning, Sunshine,” he purred. His lips parted in a lopsided grin. “I apologize for abusing your hospitality.” He made a mock bow. “I’ll buy you a new carton.”

  Haley narrowed her eyes to slits. “What are you doing in my house?” she hissed.

  “I’m a guest.”

  “I never invited you here.”

  “You are not the only person living here.”

  His eyes never left hers, causing a soft blush to creep up her cheeks.

  “What do you mean?” she asked, even if a sneaking suspicion was already making her heart beat faster.

  “Your roommate is a lovely girl,” David said. He walked out from behind the bar.

  Please let him not be naked, please let him not be naked, Haley chanted in her head.

  He rounded the corner, revealing that he was wearing the same pants he’d had on last night. Haley was both relieved and somehow disappointed at his being half-dressed. Before she could stop herself, her eyes traveled down his chest and over his sculpted stomach, coming to rest just above the open button of his pants.

  “See something you like?” he asked, cocking one eyebrow.

  “No.”

  David closed the distance between them until he was so near Haley could feel the heat coming from his body. “I’ll see you later, then.” He gave her that mocking grin again. “Or not.”

  Haley poked him just below the collarbone, pressing hard on his chest. “Hurt her and—”

  “What?” he challenged, inching even closer, his face a breath away from hers. “What are you going to do, Princess?”

  Haley held his gaze. “You don’t want to find out,” she hissed.

  David stepped backward. “Relax,” he said. “Contrary to popular belief, I can be a gentleman when the need calls for it.” Without waiting for a reply, David walked into Madison’s room and closed the door behind him.

  Haley was left standing alone in the hall, her face so hot she was sure she must’ve had steam coming out her ears. She glared at Madison’s door, then stormed inside her own room.