Page 25 of Broken Ties (Rixon High 4)

“Poppy asked you a question.”

“She did?”

“You’d know if you were listening—”

“Okay, I’m done.” Sofia shot up. “I’ve tried, I really have. But I’m done. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” She gave me a small smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

And I got it, I did.

If our roles were reversed, I would have wanted to leave too.

“We’ll give you a ride home,” Eli said.

“No, it’s okay. I can walk—”

“It’s the least I can do. Here, you girls go on ahead.” He passed me his keys. “And I’ll settle the check.”

“Come on,” I said to Sofia, throwing Leo a dirty look.

She was a silent storm beside me as we left the diner.

“Sofe?”

“Remind me never to let you talk me into this again.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize… I screwed up.”

“No.” She let out a gentle sigh. “It’s not your fault. I just can’t believe what an asshole he was. Even if he didn’t like me, he could have— whatever, it doesn’t matter.”

“I’ll make it up to you this weekend. We can have girls’ night. Just the two of us. Whatever you want to do.”

“I’m going to hold you to that.”

“Good. I hope you do.”

We reached Eli’s car and I unlocked the door, then climbed into the back.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say he’s jealous,” Sofia said.

“Jealous?”

“Yeah, of you and Eli. Some guys can’t handle losing their friend to a girl.”

“We’re not even together.”

“No, but Eli clearly likes you and—”

“Sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.” Eli dropped into his seat and twisted around to look at us.

“Where’s Leo?” I asked.

“He’s not coming. We got into it, and well, I told him to make his own way home.”

“But he lives across the river.”

“Yeah, well, he should have thought about that before he ruined everything.”

“You really did that?” Sofia asked. “But he’s your friend. Isn’t there some kind of bro code for that?”

“Don’t give a shit.” Eli shrugged. “It wasn’t cool and I’m sorry I didn’t tell him to fuck off sooner.”

“It’s okay.” A small, impressed smile spread over Sofia’s face. “This kind of makes it all worth it.” She glanced at me and mouthed, ‘He’s a keeper.’

I pressed my lips together to hide my own smile.

It was a pretty awesome thing to do.

And another thing working in his favor.

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