Page 98 of Something Tattered
MaybeIwas just a friend – or not even that, given the fact that he was leaving without saying goodbye. Through the glass of the passenger's side window, I studied his campsite. There was nothing there. And soon, he'd be gone, too.
At the sound of my name, spoken more gently than I might've expected, I turned to look. To my surprise, Joel's gaze had softened into something that looked almost affectionate. In a quieter tone, he repeated his question. "Which two girls?"
I'd never been one for playing games. For one thing, I wasn't very good at it. With a resigned sigh, I said, "Last night, someone spotted you with a couple of girls at T.J.'s." My own voice grew quiet. "And I guess I was kind of mad that you ditched me for them."
Joel studied my face for a long moment. And then, his lips twitched. "You weren't jealous, were you?"
"No."
He leaned down and rested his forearms on the window's opening. "Hey, lemme tell you something."
"What?"
"If it were me, and I sawyouwith two guys, I wouldn't've been happy."
My heart gave an embarrassing little leap. "Really?"
His gaze met mine. "You've gotta ask?"
My breath caught. I didn't know what to say. I was still dying to know who the girls were, but there was another question churning in my brain. "Are you really leaving?"
"That was the plan."
A spark of hope kindled in my heart. "Was?"
He looked toward his empty campsite. "The car's already loaded."
A wave of fresh disappointment coursed through me. "Oh." I looked around. "So, uh, whereisyour car?"
"At the storage place." He flicked his head toward the main road. "Across the street. You wanna give me a ride?"
I didn't, actually.
If I gave him a ride, he'd only be leaving that much faster. And yet, I couldn’t exactly refuse, not after everything he'd done for me. So I turned away and pushed open the passenger's side door.
When he circled the car and climbed inside, I reached forward to start the engine.
"Wait," Joel said.
I turned to look. "For what?"
"I wanna tell you something. Those girls – they weren't with me."
I searched his eyes. He looked so sincere. I wanted to believe him. But Cassie had seen them arm-in-arm.
At something in my expression, he added, "I mean, yeah, I was with them at T.J.'s, but we were just killing time."
Killing time?
While he'd been off at T.J.'s, I'd been at my house, waiting for him. I'd been worried. And angry. And just a little bit pathetic. The fact that he'd been merely killing time wasn't exactly a mark in his favor.
And then, there was the other thing. "But you had your arms around them."
"No," he said. "They had their arms aroundme." He gave something like a laugh. "They were dragging me in there."
I gave him a dubious look. "Against your will?"
"Pretty much. None of it was my idea."
