Zoey: Are you on your way?
Kass: Be there in fifteen.
Zoey: Okay. Grab me my usual at Starbucks.
Ignoring the absence of a please in her message, I grab my bag, pitch it over my shoulder, and amble to my car. My mind travels back to Will’s text as I sink into the passenger seat.
No, I didn’t move out of my house, Will. I’ve just changed every single thing about my schedule to make sure I never run into you.
I’ve been spending all my time away from my place lately. When I’m not at school or work, I’m at my friends’. I only come home to sleep and leave at the crack of dawn to pick up Zoey. Even managed to miss art class this week, courtesy of a fake headache.
Since I had to think up an excuse to feed my mom about why I leave so early, I’ve been driving Zoey to school every single day. She’s been needing a ride since she broke up with Sean.
Again.
Zoey’s birthday party ended with Sean’s tongue down another girl’s throat. I’m guessing this time it’s really over, but then again, with Zoey, you never know. My phone buzzes with another text as I’m reversing out of my driveway. I don’t get to read its content, but I do catch who it’s from.
Willy Wonka.
I don’t know why he’s doing this. Why he’s been texting me round the clock since the night he freaked out on me. He told me to stay away from him, hence my efforts to get him out of my life, but he hasn’t been making it easy. The last time I saw this guy he was almost inside me. And now he doesn’t want things to be weird? I’m sorry, Willy, but things will never not be weird between us ever again.
I pull up to Starbucks five minutes later, then drive straight to Zoey’s apartment. It’s past eight when I snatch the guest parking spot by the entrance. We have to be at school in an hour.
Zoey gave me a key to her building when it became clear I was reinventing myself as a taxi driver, so I don’t bother waiting for her to buzz me in. I come to a stop in front of her unlocked door and step inside, careful to be as quiet as possible. The walls are paper here, and I don’t want to wake up the cranky lady next door. She already hates us.
Seconds before I holler to alert Zoey of my arrival, a female voice captures my interest.
“I’m so sorry about Sean, girl. I heard.”
“Don’t worry about me. I rebounded thirty minutes later.”
That’s Zoey.
Curious, I follow the voices, tiptoeing down the hall toward her half-opened bedroom door. I see Zoey lying in bed on her stomach through the crack. She’s on a video call with someone.
“No way? With who?”
She’s talking to Callie.
“Okay, fine, I’ll tell you but…” Zoey pauses, glancing around as if to make sure she’s alone. I retreat into the shadows. I don’t have a visual anymore, but I can hear everything. “You have to promise not to tell anybody. Kass would kill me.”
I hold my breath.
“Pinky swear. Spill.”
“Well, you know how I told you Miss Perfect didn’t want me with her brother…”
My stomach twists.
“You slut! You didn’t?” Callie gasps.
“Let me finish. Since she made me swear off her brother, I had to find someone else. I mean… a girl has needs.”
Somehow, I don’t need to hear another word for my heart to break. The pain settles in pre-betrayal. I know she’s about to hurt me by naming someone a best friend shouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole.
“Wait, so you didn’t sleep with her brother?” Callie asks, her goldfish brain struggling to keep up.
“No, I slept with her ex.”
There it is.
“That Blake guy? Her first?” Callie’s laugh drives the knife deeper into my chest. How the hell does she know so much about my life? How many of my most intimate moments has Zoey shared with her?
“Yeah. He came to pick up his friend Alex, but he couldn’t find him. So, after Sean kissed that whore, we…” She laughs into her palm. “We did it in the bathroom.”
Zoey slept with Blake.
My best friend… that I’ve known since I was five. The girl I defended when she treated me like disposable garbage. That same girl slept with my ex. The ex I cried about in her arms. The guy who dumped me over text.
“And between us… it wasn’t the first time.”
“What? When was the first?”
“Callie, I swear on my life, if you tell anyone about this, you’re dead.” Zoey hesitates.
“I won’t! Come on, you’re killing me.”
“Okay. Okay… It started back when they were together.”
Cue the waterworks.
The silence that ensues suggests even Callie is judging her, which causes Zoey to backpedal.
“Hear me out—I wanted to stop, I did, but he kept coming back. Every week. Like clockwork. The first time was at the back-to-school bonfire. After Kass passed out, he came to find me and… Well, I don’t need to draw you a picture, do I?”
A beat of silence.
“Damn, Zoe, that’s… kind of cold,” Callie accuses.
Kind of cold?
It feels like I’m being gutted on repeat.
That night, after I gave Blake my virginity, he…
They…
I can’t fucking breathe.
Fueled by rage, I kick the door open and Zoey yelps, jumping up to her feet. Standing in the doorway, I glare at her in silence.
Her face crumbles.
She hangs up the call. “Kass, you’re… you’re here. B-But you said you’d be there in fifteen.”
Refusing to waste another breath on her, I sprint to the front door.
“Kass, wait. Why are you leaving?”
Is she serious?
She catches up to me, gripping my arm to hold me back. “Why are you making a scene? It’s not a big deal. It’s not like you ever really loved him. Plus, it’s so clear you’re head over heels in love with Will.”
“It’s not a big deal?”
