Page 107 of Better Than the Movies
And oh, dear God—Wes was looking at me. He was dancing with Alex but our eyes met over her head. My heart beat hard in my chest and my breath froze as those dark eyes dipped down over my dress, then ran up to my hair, before settling back onto my face.
I raised an eyebrow as if to say,So?
I’d meant it to be playful, like a diluted attempt at recapturing our banter, but all it did was make his face tighten. He frowned before he and Alex moved a little and he was no longer facing me.
“I’ll be right back,” I muttered, not that anyone was listening, and I headed out the door in the back of the ballroom. I didn’t really know where I was going in the enormous convention center, but I needed to get away. I couldn’t stand another minute of prom, and I definitely couldn’t stand Wes looking at me like he hated me.
I wandered all the way down to the end of the long hallway, and then I saw a stairwell, which was the perfect place to hide for a while. I glanced over my shoulder to make sure no one waswatching me, and then I pulled open one of the heavy metal doors and ducked inside.
“Oh my God!”
“Oh!” I put my hand on my chest and looked at Jocelyn, who was sitting by herself on the steps with her orange stilettos on the floor in front of her. It was almost like she had to be a hallucination, because what were the odds that she and I would be hiding out in the same stairwell? “Geez. Sorry. You scared the crap out of me.”
“Same.” She tilted her head and looked annoyed to see me. “Did Charlie send you to find me?”
“No.” I’d heard that when Kate had gotten an actual date-date, Cassidy and Joss had decided to follow suit so it wouldn’t be just the two of them, but I still couldn’t believe Joss had agreed to go with Charlie Hawk. “I haven’t seen him.”
I hated that I had no idea what to say to my best friend. I missed her and wished so badly that I could go back in time and not hide things from her. “I’m just hiding.”
“Trouble in paradise?” She looked up at me like she didn’t like me. At all.
“Nah—I’m just bored.” I knew I probably shouldn’t admit my foolishness to someone who already thought I was a fool, but I couldn’t stop myself. “As it turns out, I don’t really like Michael that way. And he and Laney are super into each other but just really terrible communicators.”
She studied her nails as she said, “Is that right.”
“Yes.” I cleared my throat and leaned my backside against thedoor. “It also turns out that I actuallydolike Wes, but he actuallydoeslike Alex now. So.”
“Um—”
“And,” I said, swallowing. “And it turns out that I’m so, so sorry. I miss you.”
Joss coughed out a little laugh noise but didn’t smile. “Do you think the fact that everything blew up in your face is going to make me forgive you?”
“Of course not.” I dug my hands deeper into my dress pockets, my face getting instant sweat beads as I realized my safe spot in the stairwell was about to become all about confrontation. “But at least you can take comfort in the fact that I’m suffering.”
“I don’t want you to suffer.”
“Listen.” I sighed. I just missed her so much. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but I amsosorry for lying to you. I knew you’d call me out for trying to land Michael, and instead of thinking that through, I just went ahead and kept it from you so I wouldn’t have to deal.”
She wrapped her arms around her knees. “Such a wimp move.”
“Right? And I shouldn’t have let you think that I liked Wes, either. I mean, it ended up being a self-fulfilling prophecy, but it was pretty despicable.”
“Yeah, it was.”
“Yeah.” I inhaled and said, “I’m gonna go back now so you—”
“Sit.” She pointed her head toward the step beside her and said, “I miss you, too. I’m about to forgive you over the whole prom debacle. But.”
I sat and waited.
“I feel like something iswrongwith us lately. Like I’m constantly chasing you.” Joss’s pretty face was sad, and I hated that it was my fault.
She said, “It’s our senior year. I kind of pictured us doing, like, everything together and making the most of every second we have because we’re going to be living in different places in a few months.”
She reached up and took the pins out of her updo. “Homecoming, prom, senior pictures, senior pranks—I thought we’d make all of those things totally epic. But you just keep disappearing on me for the big things.”
“I know.” I had never thought of it from her perspective. “I’m sorry.”
