Page 149 of The Friend Scheme
“About what?”
“That I lied? I’m sorry I did, I just…”
“Hey, no, I totally get it. But when you’re ready to talk about it, I’m here, all right? There’s so much I wish I knew about girls when I was your age. So if you want advice from someone who’s been through it, I’m around.”
It’s actually really sweet of him.
Who knew he could be so wholesome?
“Thanks, man.” I step closer. “But, dude, what happened?”
“I guess Dad pays more attention than I thought. If it was just me, I probably would’ve gotten away with it. But because it’s you…”
Ah.
That does check.
“Dad’s been different lately, ever since…”
He got shot.
“He’s way harder to predict now.”
Well, that’s pretty terrifying.
“Anyway,” he says. “We got away with it, so don’t stress. I expect you to hold up your end of the deal, by the way.”
“Yeah, sure.”
I walk past him, back to my room. I close my door behind me, and then pull my phone from my pocket and open my messages to Cassidy. There’s one last piece of the puzzle I need to sort out.
Hey, I have a HUGE favor I need to ask of you. I’m seeing this guy, and we went on a weekend away. Anyway, Dad found out, and asked me who I was hanging out with. Long story short, I said I was with you all weekend. He said he’s going to double-check this tonight at the bar. Is there any chance you could cover for me? I’m not ready for him to know yet.
I hit send.
I stare at the message, like that will make her respond faster. While I wait, my thoughts return to Jason.
I fall backward onto my bed.
My room feels really still.
I rest my hands on my stomach and watch my fan spin. It’s really over.
This is it.
After everything, it ended. Now I’m never going to see him again.
I mean, I can’t, right?
He’s the son of a cop.
This is going to be painful, but I need to do it. I open Instagram and unfollow him. For good measure I block him. Then I go through every single app I have him on and delete him. Unfriend, unfollow, the whole shebang.
I get sick of thinking about how much this sucks, so I scroll my phone, looking for the right song. Nothing feels right. I end up settling on this band I like called With Confidence. I hit play on one of their sad breakup songs.
But the song doesn’t distract me. I can barely focus.
Then my phone buzzes. Cassidy.
