Page 63 of Going the Distance
Chapter 16
I’d spoken to Rachel a little over the last several days, and even though her frosty attitude was thawing, I still felt unusually awkward calling her. But Lee hadn’t answered his phone in hours, and that was really unlike him. I’d asked him if he wanted to come to the mall with me tomorrow, and then, more recently, wanted to know if there were plans for getting to Sadie Hawkins. The lack of answer was concerning.
It was only once I was dialing Rachel’s number that I realized maybe they were both…otherwise occupied. I was about to hang up when she answered.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Rach, is Lee there? Promise it’s just a quick question.”
“No, he’s…he’s not with you?”
I frowned. “Why would he be with me?”
“He told me you guys were hanging out tonight.”
My face scrunched up, an uneasy feeling settling over me. “Um…no. He told me it was date night.”
“He’s definitely not with me. Is everything okay? What’s up, anyway?”
I rubbed a hand over the back of my neck. “Oh, it’s no big deal. I just thought it was weird he wasn’t replying to me. He’sreallynot with you?”
“I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding,” Rachel said, her words slow and measured. I could tell she didn’t believe it even as she said it. “Maybe he got a flat tire somewhere?”
“I doubt it, the rat bastard,” I muttered. I put Rachel on speakerphone and loaded Snapchat, then Instagram. “Dammit, there’s nothing on his story. You don’t have him on Find My Friends, do you?”
“Uh, no. Maybe his mom does?”
“No, the most she can do on her phone is forward me articles via Facebook about which food is gonna give me cancer this week. Last week it was popcorn.”
“What was it this week?”
“Tofu. The prediction for next week is kale. Anyway, we’re getting off topic. You don’t have any idea where he’d be? He didn’t say anything to you?” Her speculation that he might have a flat tire sent my mind racing. What if he’d got in an accident? What if something awful had happened?
But then…why had he lied to me and Rachel? Where the hell was he?
“No, he just said he was hanging out with you tonight. He said he was having dinner with you and your dad and your brother, and then you were gonna play some video games and chill.”
I stared at my phone for a second. That was awholelie. Not even just a little one. He’d told me it was date night and he was taking Rachel out for dinner.
What was so important that he’d lied to both of us?
“Wait, I’ve got him,” Rachel said. “Look at Olivia’s Instagram story.”
The first picture was of five kegs of beer and the caption#getrekt.The next one was a selfie of Olivia with two of the guys from the football team. Then there were some videos, of what looked like a party, only, as far as I could tell, it was just the football team and some of the popular girls, mostly cheerleaders.
“He lied to us to go to a party,” Rachel said. Her voice was small.
“He’s dead. I’ll come pick you up and we’re so busting his ass. Give me two minutes to put on some shoes and get in my car.”
• • •
Rachel was trying really hard not to cry. She kept sniffling, then wiping the corners of her eyes, then saying, “I just don’t get why he lied? Why didn’t he just say he was hanging out with the guys from the team?”
Every trace of animosity she’d held toward me had vanished. This wasn’t about Lee trying to juggle his friendship with me and his relationship with her. Tonight, we were a united front.
The house wasn’t lit up like a beacon of high school chaos and freedom, like it was for any of the other parties Jon had hosted, but as we walked up the drive we could hear laughter and music through an open window.
Rachel hesitated while I tried the door handle. It was open.
