Page 36 of She Used to Be Nice
“No worries! How are you?” she said.
“I’m great,” Jonathan said with a very nice smile. “So funny I ran into you! Did you know the high school is doingFiddler on theRoofthis year? Are we that old that they’re recycling the plays now?”
Avery laughed. “That’s so funny. It’s been, what … six years since we played husband and wife?”
“I know. Sometimes I’ll wake up in the morning to that freaking ‘Miracle of Miracles’ song ringing inside my skull. It’s the worst.” Jonathan smiled again. The crow’s feet that crinkled next to his eyes made him even cuter. She noticed, too, that his eyes were blue. Like Pete’s.
She shook away the thought of him. He’d certainly forgotten all about her by now after the hasty way she left his parents’ house. And if Ryandidcome to Morgan and Charlie’s wedding, surely it didn’t matter who Avery’s plus-one was as long as it wassomeone. Maybe that someone could be Jonathan. He could help her show everyone that she’d moved on just as well as Pete could, even if he wasn’t her first choice.
“Anyway, how are you?” Jonathan asked. “I heard you moved to the city.”
Avery tensed at the reminder of what was waiting for her back home, at the trail of destruction she’d left behind. She tried to focus on the park. The sky shone a beautiful, cloudless blue, and the winter air was energizing and crisp. She came here so often as a teenager. It made her so happy. She just wanted to be happy again.
“I did, but I’m home for a couple of days,” she said. “You still live around here?”
“Yeah, can’t seem to escape this town.” Jonathan playfully rolled his eyes. “And the law firm I’m interning at is about ten miles away.”
“Of course you’re gonna be a lawyer. You were always so good at public speaking. What kind of law do you wanna do?”
“I’m thinking litigator, but who knows? I’m trying to go to law school next year.” Jonathan kicked back his foot and grabbed his ankle to stretch out his leg. “Yes, I’m just as nerdy as you remember.”
Avery watched his thigh muscle clench through his running tights. “Perhaps even nerdier.”
Jonathan glanced at his watch and started jogging in place. “Hey, you around tomorrow? I’d love to catch up more when I’m not a sweaty mess.”
Avery’s eyes brightened. This could be her chance to try something new with a guy from home. She liked the responsible, well-rounded version of herself that she was when she was friends with Jonathan as a teen. Hanging out with him could help her tap into that side of herself again. In high school, she didn’t yet have any regrets, wasn’t yet tainted by the selfishness of a man who felt entitled to her body. She’d love to remember what that felt like.
“Absolutely,” she said.
“How about lunch?” he asked. “1PM?” Avery nodded, and Jonathan took out his phone. “I think I still have your number in my contacts from high school.” He recited her number to confirm, and they exchanged a smile before agreeing to see each other tomorrow. Then she watched him disappear deeper into the park.
11
AVERY WAS TAPPING THROUGHInstagram Stories while waiting outside the salad place where she and Jonathan had agreed to meet when she came across Morgan’s Story. Her heart stopped. Morgan appeared to be spending the entire day hanging out with Blair.
First, the two of them got brunch at Via Carota, the most difficult place to snag a reservation, and Avery knew they were there because Morgan had geotagged the restaurant in a video of her and Blair cheering across the table with matching mulled wines. Next, they wandered around the Whitney, which Morgan once again geotagged on pictures of a massive, sweeping gallery room and the view of buildings and spiky snow-covered trees from the rooftop. Following their museum trip, they went to some boutique with a French name on the Upper West Side that Avery had never heard of nor could afford, also geotagged across pictures of them trying on flowy midi dresses and making kissy faces into the camera. The geotags mocked Avery, making her loneliness not just apparent but also worldly and far-reaching, spanning neighborhoods and cultures and socioeconomic classes.
Avery clicked off her phone and chucked it into the backseat of her car. She was fuming now. She hadn’t wanted Morgan to pick sides after senior year, but now she was reconsidering. And even if Avery hadn’t asked her to, she should’ve just done it anyway! Morgan had so many friends, so many better and more worthy peopleto ask to be bridesmaids. She didn’t need to pick the person who betrayed Avery the most. Avery hadn’t been surprised by some of the people who took Ryan’s side after the breakup, but she’d been surprised by Blair and her actions. Blair could have shown Avery some compassion for her mistake instead of spewing so much vitriol about it across campus. At least when Morgan heard that Avery had cheated, Morgan was sympathetic, knew how badly Avery was hurting and was kind enough not to make it worse. But Blair didn’t offer Avery any sympathy at all. It wasn’t so much that Avery blamed Blair for thinking she cheated as much as she hated that Blair was so cruel and unrelenting about it.
Avery spotted Jonathan walking across the parking lot looking sharp in a dark navy suit. She exited her car. Using Jonathan to tap into a past wholesome version of herself was going to be difficult now that her present-day trash self needed a confidence boost.
They greeted each other and entered the cafétogether, then ordered their salads and drinks before grabbing a corner booth tucked in the back, away from the rest of the lunch crowd. Jonathan took off his suit jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his white button-down. Avery’s gaze lingered approvingly on his muscular forearms. He’d come a long way from the nonsexual thespian he’d been in high school.
“I like your suit,” she purred. Fuck it. She wasn’t sure if sex was on the table this afternoon, but she was now officially trying to put it there. She was going to turn on the seduction and charm, to make herself seem as unaffected by Blair and Morgan as she could.
Jonathan’s face flushed pink. Good start. “Why, thank you. I’ve gotta wear one every day.”
“Sucks that they make you come in on the weekends.”
“Yeah, but it’s okay. Excited to continue the family legacy.” Jonathan shoved a forkful of salad into his mouth. “My dad is thrilled that my brother and I are into law. Marissa couldn’t give less of a shit about it.”
“Is she still into the environment? I remember her activist group in high school. Everyone joked that you guys had theperfect combination of skills to end global warming.” Avery wrapped her lips over her straw and sucked hard, on purpose. Jonathan’s pupils dilated as he watched.
“I remember that,” he said, meeting Avery’s eye. “But my sister is actually brilliant. I was just good at pretending I was. You’re smart, too, Miss Six-AP-Classes-Junior-Year.”
Avery scoffed. “Iwassmart. Now I do audience development forMetropolitan.Not exactly on my way to becoming a CEO.”
“That’s cool, though! I loveMetropolitan. I read it all the time. Love their Twitter presence. Or X now. Whatever it is.”
