Page 57 of Enemy Crush
“Well, I’m not surprised. You were snoring in the van on the way back to school,” Miller said, his eyes firmly on the road ahead.
“What? I did not! I don’t snore!” I protested.
“Oh, you were snoring,” Miller insisted, a smirk on those full rosy lips of his. Heaven knows why I was noticing the shape and color instead of telling him to shut up. There was no way I snored!
I shifted closer and punched his upper arm. My knuckles stung a little, his muscle firmer than I was expecting. “I have it on good authority that I don’t snore.”
“Good authority?” He sounded amused.
“Yes, I’ve been on many sleepovers and was never told I snore.”
“You either had good friends or they’re liars,” Miller said.
I froze, quickly changing the subject. I wasn’t sure I could even classify my old friends as friends anymore. “Ah, do you know what time Clarissa’s coming? I think last week it was real busy around 10ish.”
“Not totally sure,” Miller said, “hopefully earlier than that.”
I leaned back a little and took a calming breath. I needed to settle down and not get carried away, which clearly I had. Safer to stick to potatoes, carrots, beets and onions— though trying to make riveting conversation out of vegetables was a bit of a stretch.
Once we arrived, Miller and I wasted no time in setting up the stand, even forgetting to get ourselves a coffee. Though who needed caffeine when fueled by adrenaline. I set up the card reader and cash box, ready for the influx of customers.
Like last week, the beginning was slow, but momentum built and Clarissa arrived just as it got busier. The two of us served while Miller restocked the crates and carried bags of potatoes for customers. Time flew with barely a chance to sip on my water bottle.
“Can you take a twenty pound bag for this lady please?” Clarissa called out to Miller who was behind us stacking empty crates.
“Sure, no problem,” he said, hoisting up the bag as if it was light as a feather. He followed a young lady who was carrying a baby in a backpack and pushing another one in a stroller.
“I’m just parked over by the...” I heard her say to Miller, whose eyes met mine for a second. He smiled,those lipscurling up, and I don’t even know if it was at me or at the lady and her little baby. Whatever, it put me in such a fluster that when I looked back to the row of people standing in front of me, I had no idea who I’d been serving.
“A bag of carrots too, dear?” A little old lady wearing a silk scarf dropped me back to earth and I regained my senses, though why my heart was racing was beyond me.
The mini rush subsided and because Miller hadn’t come back yet, I turned around to grab more paper bags. That’s when I heard Clarissa ask, “Hi, can I help you?”
“You can’t, but maybe she can.”
I spun around, coming face to face with Celeste, Naomi and Lara. There was a beat of silence where I waited for Celeste or Naomi or both of them to yelp in excitement, to go hysterical over our reunion.
But Celeste’s face was staunch and sour liked she’d sucked on a lemon, and she was staring at me like I was her worst enemy.
It was Naomi who broke the ice. “So, it’s true then? Lara said you were working here.” She looked down at the cratesof potatoes that separated us. “Potatoes? Really?” And giggled. “Quinn at a potato stand? How quaint.”
It hadn’t escaped my attention that there had been no greeting, no simple hey, hi, hello. We hadn’t seen each other for over two months, since before I went to my father’s place for the summer, and I sensed I was about to be vilified by my supposed best friends.
Celeste mouth tightened and her lips pursed. “You couldn’t even tell us the truth,” she spat in a low voice and in my peripheral vision, I noticed Clarissa step away. “Noah was right, wasn’t he? Your family’s business went bust and you’ve lost all your money. That’s why you left Brizendine, right?”
I stood there in a dazed stupor, her words the complete and utter truth. She had every right to be mad at me, I couldn’t refute her statement. I was guilty as charged. I hadn’t told my friends that my family was broke. I’d done it to save face, for Mom, to protect her from the shame and humiliation. But now Celeste and Naomi were mad at me.
“I...I...,” I whispered, my lip trembling, “I’m...sorry. But Mom didn’t...want anyone to know.”
Celeste’s face exploded into one wide grin. “No, of course she didn’t,” she said, triumphantly holding up a small white satchel. “Mulberry,” she said crisply, her freckled nose scrunching. “Nine hundred dollars, brand new. Though I see you can get a second hand one online for $300.” Her eyebrows lifted and she smiled like she was in an advertisement for toothpaste, “That’s if you don’t mind someone’s used bag.”
My throat thickened and I couldn’t have spoken if I’d wanted to.
“Times must be pretty hard, huh?” Celeste flashed a smirk at Naomi and Lara. “I mean, if Annabelle Devereaux is selling her prized handbag collection online, you guys must be desperate. Guess your allowance is kaput now too.” She eyeballed me with aferocity I didn’t think my friend was capable, a look of pure hate. “No money for makeup? Or you just rocking the farm girl look?”
I bit down on my lower lip to restrain my quivering chin, the sting of her words about to reduce me to a blubbering mess. And yet, she had every right to be annoyed with me, to be angry, because I had lied. Lied by omission. It was the same thing.
“I’m...I’m sorry,” I spluttered, my voice squeaking with emotion, “I really am. I miss you guys so much. But I couldn’t tell you anything. Everything just fell apart so fast.”
