Page 16 of Going the Distance
I knew what his answer would be, but I remained hopeful. Lee was my best friend, after all. We’d been to loads of dances together, before—well, before Rachel.
Predictably, his face fell, before scrunching up with apology. “I’m sorry, Shelly. You know I would, but…”
“No, no, it’s fine. Totally. I shouldn’t have asked. Of course you’ll go with Rachel.”
“I’m sorry.”
I shrugged.She’s more important to you.I didn’t say it out loud, because I knew it would sound spiteful and jealous, and Iwasfeeling kind of spiteful and jealous. Instead, I said, “You can’t ditch your girlfriend to go to a dance with me. I’m sure that’s overstepping some kind of boundary. Rachel’s nice and all, but even she’d hate that.”
“I’m sure Dixon would go with you, as friends, if you asked him.”
I shrugged. Dixon would probably have offers from other girls. He might not have been conventionally attractive, but he was charismatic and funny and sweet.
“Maybe Noah will be home the weekend of the dance?” Lee suggested brightly—a little too brightly. Neither of us actually expected that to happen, and I wasn’t going to hold out hope. Besides, Noah didn’t even like school dances. He’d gone to them before because that was what the whole football team did, but he didn’t enjoy them so much. He’d made a big display of asking me to the last Summer Dance and asking me to be his girlfriend in front of everyone, but…
“He’s a college boy now,” I said, trying to joke about it. “Way too cool for some stupid high school dance.”
Would he laugh at me if I asked him? Would he come home for a weekend and go with me? Was it even fair of me to ask him to come all the way back here just for some dance?
Lee reached over and slipped his fingers through mine, squeezing my hand. I squeezed back before letting go.
We wandered around a couple of stores, and while I was still busy wondering how I could bring up the dance to Noah, I noticed Lee checking his phone and getting agitated. He kept almost saying something.
I kept waiting for him to say something. I wasn’t sure what, butsomething.
Eventually, I grabbed his arm, yanking him to a stop near the fountain.
“What the hell is going on with you? You’re acting weird.”
“I have to talk to you.”
The words sent a pang of dread through me. I forced out a laugh and said, “Lee, are you…are you breaking up with me?”
He rolled his eyes, but the grim look stayed on his face—eyebrows pulled low and close together, eyes downcast, mouth twisted, nostrils flared.
“Okay, now you’re scaring me. What’s wrong? Is it Noah? Did something happen with Rachel last night? Lee?”
“I didn’t see Rachel last night.”
“Huh?”
“You assumed that’s where I was, and I didn’t tell you otherwise, but…I let you think I was with Rachel. I didn’t bail on you last night to see Rachel.”
“Then…then where were you?”
The only time I’d kept anything from Lee was when I was sneaking around with Noah. I’d kept it from Lee because I didn’t want to hurt him or ruin our friendship. But it wasn’t like I had a sister Lee was sneaking around with, so what secrets did he have to keep from me?
“Football.”
“Wait, hang on. You…lied to me because you were at football practice? None of this makes sense.”
“It wasn’t practice.” Lee hooked his hands behind his head, leaning back. “It was initiation. A bunch of guys who were on the team last year organized it. They said we couldn’t tell anyone, so when I bailed on you, and you assumed it was because I was hanging out with Rachel…”
“Why couldn’t you tell anyone?”
“I don’t know, it was just athing.It wasn’t like they threatened to kidnap someone we cared about if we told,” he added, lightening up a little and flashing me a fleeting grin, “but I just…I guess I wanted to be part of the team, you know?”
“How come you didn’t just tell me earlier?”
