Page 24 of Broken Ties (Rixon High 4)

“What do you mean?”

“Leo hasn’t exactly made her feel welcome. It’s obvious he doesn’t want to be here.”

“That’s not true, he’s just…” He trailed off, watching as Leo rolled his ball. “Nice one.”

“Seriously?” I muttered. “I’m going to—”

“Shit, I’m sorry. Maybe bowling wasn’t the best choice of activity. Things between us can get competitive.” Eli dropped his hands to my waist, closing the distance between us. “I’m glad you came.”

“Can you talk to Leo? I promised Sofia a good time, but he’s kind of being a douchebag.”

“Yeah, I’ll talk to him.” His gaze dropped to my mouth, the air around us turning thick. “I really am glad you came, Poppy. I want to get to know you better.”

“You know me.” Strained laughter bubbled in my chest.

“I know the girl everyone else knows, sure. But I want to learn what really makes you tick. Your hopes and dreams. The stuff other people don’t know about you.”

“I—”

“You’re up, Hannigan.” Leo’s voice was like a bucket of cold water, simmering the heat building between us. “Excuse me.” He leaned over us to grab his drink.

Eli moved back, rubbing the back of his neck. “Not cool, man,” he whisper-hissed to Leo who shrugged.

“We’ve got a game to play. You can play Romeo later.”

Something passed over Leo’s face, but it was gone too quickly to decipher. He was clearly very protective of Eli, which usually, I could appreciate, but it seemed a little over the top considering this was our first official date, and a double-date no less.

I shook off my reservations. Eli and I had a connection. Something that was worth exploring. And I couldn’t deny the flutter of butterflies in my stomach every time he looked at me.

“Where’s Sophie?” Leo asked, and anger raced down my spine.

“Are you joking?” I looked to Eli for support, but he had already moved to the edge of the lane. “Her name is Sofia.”

“My bad.”

“If you didn’t want to be here, why did you come?”

His eyes flicked to Eli and he let out an exasperated breath. “Because he asked me to.”

“Do you always do what Eli asks of you?”

“He’s my best friend. Pretty sure there isn’t a single thing I wouldn’t do for him.”

“Well,” I snapped, moving around him to choose my ball. “Maybe you could stop being such an asshole about it.”

“Is he trying to piss me off?” Sofia glared at Leo as he sat, more interested in whatever was on his cell phone than our conversation.

After bowling we’d gone to Cindy’s Grill for something to eat, but the whole date had gone from bad to worse.

Sofia had won at bowling, which only sent Leo spiraling into an even worse mood. Eli got pissed at him and the two of them had a heated discussion on the ride over here, and Sofia wanted to leave.

But I’d begged her to stay, hoping that we still might salvage the night.

I was rapidly losing hope though.

“Dude.” Eli elbowed his friend in the side and Leo winced.

“What the hell was that for?”

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