Page 179 of The Bet
Chapter 51
Her heart sank when she walked into the apartment and heard the radio on. Cara wandered out of her room with her hairbrush in her hand.
Izzy blinked in annoyance. A house party in Brooklyn, no thanks. She had texted Cara to say she didn’t want to go, and had purposely taken her time getting back, hoping that Cara would have left without her. “What are you still doing here?” she asked, placing her knapsack on the floor. “Didn’t you get my text?”
Cara ran the brush through her hair. “I did, but I ignored it. I won’t have you sitting at home again, moping. I told them I was running late.”
Bythem, Izzy assumed Cara’s boyfriend and some of their friends.
“But youaregoing?” She was desperate to have the apartment to herself.
“Once you tell me how it went.”
She wished now that she hadn’t told Cara she was returning the MacBook.
“I gave him back his MacBook, and that was it.”
“That was it?” Cara remarked, looking at her as if she didn’t believe her. “And now you don’t want to come out with us tonight.”
“I don’t feel like it.”
“You were happy enough to come along before.”
Izzy let out an exasperated sigh. “I didn’t want to, but you always make me feel guilty, especially when you look at me like that.” Izzy nodded her head at her friend.
“Like what?”
“Like you are now.”
Cara folded her arms. “I’m sick of seeing you locked up in your room.”
“I’ve had lots of homework to do.”
“But you never feel like doing anything these days. You don’t want to go out, unless I drag you. You don’t want to meet friends. You go to college and you come back.”
Izzy stared at her friend, and as much as she loved her, she didn’t need this level of questioning and guilt-tripping, and concern. Not after the rollercoaster of her meeting with Xavier earlier.
At the time, she had been in the moment, hadn’t had a chance to contemplate each and every thing he said. But on the way back, sitting in the clackety subway car, surrounded by a sea of disinterested people, she had been alone with her thoughts. She had dissected every single word, and sentence, and every look Xavier had given her.
The rush of that encounter had sunk deep into every pore, and even now, she could feel his presence as sharply as if he was standing next to her. She had come away with a piece of Xavier hard wired into her brain.
“I wish you’d stop breathing down my back.”
“Breathing down your back? What happened? What did he say?”
She didn’t reply.
Cara walked towards her, pointing the hairbrush at her. “You still have feelings for him, don’t you?”
“No. No, I don’t.I don’t.”She didn’t, but she was starting to wonder about all the things he’d said to her in the past, in his defense.
“You can try and convince yourself you don’t, but I can see right through you, Iz.”
“I’m in shock because I haven’t seen him for a while, that’s all.”
“You’re in shock because you’re not over him. I knew you were lying.”
Izzy grabbed a cushion and sat down on the couch in silence.
