Page 44 of To Love or to Lose
“That wasn’t funny.” I want to shove him away so I can make my grand escape, but I can’t with all these people watching.
“Should we do it again?” He smirks.
“No.” I point a finger at him, hoping no one in the crowd has noticed my hostility. “Do not make us look like something we’re not. It’s already bad enough that Logan concocted this whole situation to begin with.”
Thankfully, that’s when the song ends.
I try not to exit the dance floor looking like a bat out of hell, but I couldn’t care less if everyone can see the disdain written on my face.
The first person I see is Logan. He’s sitting back down at the table, that stupid crown still sitting on top of his head.
“You douchebag!” I reprimand him with a punch to the arm.
He winces, pretending I hurt him. “What?” He asks, feigning innocence.
“Why would you do that?” He stiffens when he realizes my anger is genuine.
“Wait, wait, wait.” Logan holds his hand out toward me. “You and Jamesonactuallydon’t like each other?”
“Was that not obvious?”
That’s when he laughs. “Genevieve, was that not you on the dance floor with him? Did I imagine that?”
His rhetorical questions irk me the most. “What are you getting at?”
Logan sighs, as if he’s about to deliver terrible news. “Sorry to break it to you Gen, but there is no way two people can dance likethatand not have romantic feelings for each other. He fuckingdipped you,for Christ’s sake!”
“Romantic?Logan, I am worried about your current mental state,” I say in shock. “The onlyfeelingsI have for Jameson are ones of hatred, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.”
“Sure,” he says, dragging out the word.
“You’re infuriating.”
Winnie and Eloise are standing to the side of the table, both sporting the same expression as Logan.
“Not you guys too,” I groan.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Winnie sighs. “We’re having a horribly hard time believing that you guys are still enemies afterthat.”
“We’re notenemies,” I snap. “If I called him my enemy, people would think that means I believe he could actually win over me. We’re not on the same level, I simply don’t like him.”
“I think we need to reevaluate our version of the word enemy,” Eloise tells Winnie.
“The only thing we need to reevaluate is how we are going to pass that stunt off as anything less than a romantic gesture!”
“Okay, okay, so you guys are competitive. Does that automatically mean you cannot be at least civil with each other?” Logan asks.
I almost roll my eyes, but I withhold the urge. Yes, Logan may be one of my best friends, and I respect his opinion entirely, but at the same time, he’s too blasé to truly understand how I feel about this situation.
“You are severely underestimating what this means to me.”
Winnie raises her hands in surrender, no doubt trying to defend Logan. “Guys, this conversation should be left for another day.”
It’s almost like Logan doesn’t even hear her because he continues, “I understand what Valedictorianmeans to you,” he emphasizes. “Jameson is not stopping you from getting that, he’s just an additional component.”
My lungs start to feel like they’re shrinking in on themselves. I don’t understand how no one can understand my point of view in this situation with Jameson. All I want to do is scream,“Is anybodylistening to me?”
Instead, I take a breath and step back. “You don’t understand, and that’s fine, but don’t try to mend a situation when you’re only pretending to care.”
