Caden pulled back. “Got it?”
“Yeah.” Kevin’s head bounced up and down. “Yeah. Got it.”
Then Caden’s hand relaxed, and Kevin slid out, landing on the floor. He went to Maggie’s side, grabbing her hand.
Two security guys appeared, rushing toward us.
“We gotta go.” Marcus pushed his brother out the door, yelling over his shoulder. “Avery! Come on.”
Avery and Maggie shared a last look, and I felt a pang in my stomach. Tonight’s words couldn’t be unsaid. Avery had officially lost a friendship this evening. She knew it. So did Maggie.
Kevin was coughing, massaging his throat.
One of the security guards asked, “Are you okay?”
Kevin looked up at me. He could call off the guards, have them let Caden go, or he could have them call the police. I was sure there were cameras in the building. The evidence was plain as day, but I narrowed my eyes. If he did, we really were done.
Kevin gave me a small nod as he spoke to the guards. “Yeah, I’m good. I smarted off when I shouldn’t have.”
The guard didn’t look convinced. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Yeah.” Kevin waved at the door, dismissing the situation. “Leave him be.” He stared right at me when he added, “It’s not worth it.”
I took his meaning loud and clear: I wasn’t worth it.
The cat was out of the bag.
I felt like a trap door had opened underneath me, and I’d fallen through. No one had known I slept with Kevin, but they did now. Everything was going to change. I knew it.
I wanted to talk to Caden, plead my case, explain Kevin away, but his jaw was set and he wasn’t looking my way. I knew not to push him, so I stuffed down all my questions and begging, and slid out of the Land Rover when he dropped me off.
I felt like I was kicking my heart ahead of me as I walked away from him. It was there on the sidewalk and—one kick, two kicks—I just kept going until I was in my room. Avery texted me that she was staying with Marcus and would check in with me the next day.
I stayed huddled up in my room all day long.
“I didn’t know about you and Kevin,” Avery said right away as she came in to sit on the floor the next afternoon. “When did it happen?”
I went back to my bed and tried not to cry. “My graduation night.” My throat swelled up. “It was a mistake.”
“But you have feelings for him?”
I wrapped my arms around myself. “No. I mean, I did then. I do now, but I don’t at the same time.” That hole. I felt it gnawing at me, wanting to be revealed. It wanted to wreak havoc over my life. I closed it back up. “None of that matters anymore, anyways.”
“Because of Caden?”
I looked at her. She could see through me. She could see my pain, and she understood.
“I guess. I don’t know. We’re just friends. There’s nothing more.”
“But you’d like there to be more?”
I didn’t know why she was asking. “It doesn’t matter. He doesn’t see me like that.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do. He barely talked to me last night after we saw them. He couldn’t wait to get rid of me when he dropped me off.”
“Marcus offered to drive us both home.”
“When?”
“When we went to the parking lot. You were there, but you must not have been listening. Caden said no. He wanted to drive you home.”
I shook my head. “Because he wanted to give you and Marcus time together.”
“Marcus could’ve come to my room last night, if that was the case. He’s been staying here sometimes. I sneak him in and out.” She gave me an impish smile, ducking her head slightly. “Don’t tell anyone.”
“Oh yeah,” I joked. “Like that’s the first thing I’m going to turn you in about.”
She laughed, her eyes brightening. “You never know.”
“I’m sorry about Maggie.”
Her smile dimmed, and she lifted a shoulder to shrug it off, but it didn’t work. “She’s not a good person. I knew that, but it still sucks.” Avery let out a deep breath, grabbing hold of her knees and locking her arms in place. “It’s not really about Maggie. It’s more about the rest of our high school friends. They’ll take her side. That’s how it was in high school too.”
So she hadn’t lost just one friend. She’d lost more than a few. “I’m sorry.”
“It is what it is.” She tried again to shake it off, rolling her eyes. “People usually fade from high school anyway, right?”
“Sometimes.” I thought about my own two high school best friends, May and Clarissa. I hadn’t heard from them since starting college, and I suddenly missed them so much. I hadn’t realized how much. We’d emailed, then called, but lately it had been nothing. I hadn’t thought about them even.