Page 107 of Enemies to Prom Dates
“I am not behind the List,” he said, clearly agitated. “I didn’t take your car Friday and run Wick off the road. You have to believe me. For the sake of our friendship, you have to believe me.”
I nodded. “I do believe you. Now tell me what kind of trouble you’re in.”
He dropped his face into his hands like he couldn’t bear for me to see him like this. “I…I…owed money. To some people. A lot of money.”
“For what?” I asked, then groaned. “Tell me it’s not drugs.”
He shook his head. “It’s not drugs. But it’s an addiction all the same. Gambling,” he admitted. “I couldn’t stop. I kept thinking I could turn it around. The next thing I knew I was deep in the hole trouble. I couldn’t go to my parents, so I sold the car. They think I’m just shopping around until I pick something else out.”
Beth let out a breath. “I’m sorry, Chas. You checked off a lot of the boxes. We just needed answers.”
“Now you have them. Are you happy?” he snapped.
“Chas, Beth, what are you guys doing out here?” Star was now in the lobby and heading for us. “The movie is about to start.”
“Yeah, we’re done,” Chas announced and forced a smile on his face. “No, we weren’t talking about your birthday present so don’t try to get any secrets out of me.”
He met Star halfway, took her hand and headed back into the theater. Leaving Beth and I standing together feeling miserable.
“He was in trouble and he didn’t tell me.”
“I don’t think even Star realizes it,” Beth said, taking my hand in hers and giving it a squeeze.
“We’re no closer to having the answers than we were. This is fucking with my head.”
“Yes, but there’s nothing we can do now. So let’s go back to thefucking normal datepart of day.”
I rolled my eyes at her attempt at an impersonation, but when she pulled me along, I complied. There was nothing to do. I couldn’t help Chas. I didn’t have any answers. So why not watch a fucking movie with my fucking girlfriend.
* * *
Beth
We weren’t insidethe house for a second before Star jumped on me. “What was that all about, Beth?”
I tried to look innocently over my shoulder. “What?”
Her answering glare indicated I hadn’t fooled her.
“Chas told you. He wants to know what to get you for your birthday.”
It sounded like a plausible lie. Except…
“My birthday is not for three months. You honestly think I’m going to buy that? I don’t have your brains, but I’m not stupid.”
I turned to face her. “What do you want me to say, Star? You want me to tell you we didn’t ask Chas about why he sold his car? Fitz is in trouble. Serious trouble, and I needed answers.”
“Youneeded! Who the fuck doyouthink you are?” she shouted.
“Star,” I gasped. Star never cursed. Ever. She always said it was crude and thoughtless. Then again, I don’t know that I’d ever heard her take this tone with me. She was never this angry. Not at me. We were a team.
Her face turned a blotchy red and, for a half second, she wasn’t very pretty.
“Do you have any idea what you could have ruined? What if Chas broke up with me? What if he wanted nothing more to do with me because of you? Where would that have left us? As a family? Did you think about that before you put your precious boyfriend ahead of everything? Five seconds of being popular and now he’s all you care about.”
My jaw dropped. We were fighting. Star and I were fighting?
“First, that is not true. Second, please tell me you haven’t bought into our mother’s fairytale that you are going to marry Chas and make all our problems go away. You said it yourself, you’re not stupid.”
