Page 70 of Don't Leave
“We weren’t friends.” I pause before adding, “I only recognized him here at Western after I started seeing Cole.”
She cocks a brow. “You certainly seem chummy now.”
“Something happened last year—something I’m not going to discuss, but Luke was there, and he got me out of a really bad situation,” I add slowly. “Once we sat down and talked about it, it just seemed natural for us to be friends. We’ve never been anything more than that.”
Everything I’ve just revealed seems to roll around in her head.
Just as Sammy opens her mouth, our food arrives. We both thank our waitress before she takes off to check on other tables.
The smell of my cheese and mushroom omelet hits me and I realize how hungry I am. Tabling the conversation, we both dig in, demolishing our plates in less than ten minutes. There’s no slow, methodical chewing and savoring for either of us. After a ninety-minute practice, we’re both famished.
Once our plates are scraped clean, we both sit back and sip our waters.
“Why doesn’t Cole believe that you two are just friends?” Sammy asks.
Caught off guard by the question, I grapple for an answer before jerking my shoulders. “I guess it’s because Luke and I have been spending more time together.”
“Okay. Is there more?”
Gaze trained on me, she patiently waits for me to continue. I can’t help but fidget under the intense scrutiny, racking my brain for an explanation.
I clear my throat. “He thinks Luke is interested in more than just friendship with me.”
Her expression never falters. “Do you think that’s true?”
“Maybe.” I add hastily, “But nothing has ever happened between us. We’rejustfriends.”
With a shake of her head, laughter gurgles up from her throat. “Come on, Cassidy! How would it make you feel if your new boyfriend was hanging around with another girl who you knew liked him? Afriend,” she uses air quotes around the word, “who is patiently waiting in the wings for your relationship with Cole to fall apart.”
Her face scrunches. “And Luke is Cole’s teammate.” She takes a lengthy sip of her drink as her expression changes, and she stares at me as if I’m nothing more than a bug smashed across the windshield of her deathtrap.
Heat rushes to my cheeks.
Is that how Cole viewed it? Like he’s being betrayed by not only by his girlfriend, but his teammate as well?
I think about all the times he caught sight of us together. At the Union, looking as if I was going to let Luke kiss me. Or when I left the Halloween party and grabbed coffee with him. Right before we broke up, when I was at the library with Luke. Instead of hearing about it from me, Luke was the one who inadvertently let the cat out of the bag, making it look like I was hiding it from him. And lastly, I think about how angry Cole was on the ice and how they almost came to blows.
Shame fills me as I imagine how it feels from Cole’s perspective.
Unfortunately, I’m unsure if it’s too late to rectify the situation.
Cole could be hooking up with Vanessa.
Or Andrea.
I wince and think about all three of them together at the same time. It’s entirely possible the omelet I just wolfed down is going to make an unexpected reappearance.
Instead of saying anything more, Sammy sweeps her tongue across her front teeth as she silently watches me from the other side of the table.
My breath catches at the back of my throat as I realize that I’ve inadvertently sabotaged my relationship with Cole.
CHAPTER 21
CASSIDY
The the week leading up to Thanksgiving break flies by at breakneck speed. There are papers to write, tests to study for, hours spent at the tutoring center, and hockey practice to work myself over in so I can fall into a dead sleep at the end of the day and not spend more time stewing over Cole.
Does it work?
