Frenemies(27)
Except the fact that the Other Woman in this scenario wasn’t some faceless creature—she was my friend. Or I’d thought she was my friend. So while it was possible I was betraying the sisterhood by wanting to forgive Nate, I was angry with Helen all on her own merits.
“You’re right,” I snapped at her. “We weren’t dating. But, correct me if I’m wrong here, you and I were supposed to be friends. Friends don’t steal each other’s boyfriends. It’s like the number-one cardinal rule.”
“You and Nate were never going to work out,” Helen said dismissively. “It would have been like Lisa all over again. He would have dated you forever but believe me, nothing would’ve come of it. At least you found out what he was up to. You should thank me for that.”
“Thank you?” I pressed my fingers against my temples because I couldn’t process what she’d just said. It was too astounding. I plowed forward. “You knew how much I liked him! You knew how excited I was about him! And you decided that meant you should hang all over him for the rest of the summer!”
“I did you a favor!” Helen retorted. “You’re supposed to be my friend, Gus. I can’t believe how resistant you are to even the possibility that I might be happy!”
I blinked at her. “What am I supposed to say to that? Do you want me to apologize that I’m not more supportive of the new relationship you have because you stole it from me?”
“Look,” she said, “I’m sorry for my part in this. I just wanted to let you know that. Even though, once you get over being mad about stuff, I think you’ll agree that this is for the best.”
Why did they both keep saying that to me?
“I’m glad you think so,” I replied. “But right now I’m pretty sure that’s never going to happen.”
“I know Nate,” Helen said with a shrug. Then she smiled at me, a big, wide smile. It was alarming, to say the least. “And speaking of Nate, I’m thrilled that you and he are able to be friends again. I know he’s relieved. He never meant to hurt you, Gus. And I’m just so pleased that you can look past your anger with him and remember the years of friendship—”
As was becoming usual around Helen, I found it hard to believe that what was happening was actually happening. And yet …
“—Because really what matters here is the friendship. We all need to make sure that no one forgets that, you know?” She seemed to want a response.
“Of course,” I murmured. “Friendship is what counts. As I believe I’ve been trying to point out to you.”
“I knew you’d understand!” she cried.
She went on like this for some time, extolling the virtues of Nate’s and my friendship. How happy she was we were friends. How important it was not to let emotional upset destroy friendships, because everybody needed friends, especially if romantic relationships couldn’t possibly have worked out anyway … And blah friends blah friendship blah. She wisely steered clear of our own supposed friendship.
I’m not sure when it dawned on me that she was doing damage control.
All I knew was that at some point, the more she used the word friend, the more I became certain that anyone who was genuinely interested in encouraging a healing sort of friendship between her current boyfriend and his ex would not haul her ass across town on a weekend to share this interest with said ex. In fact, there was only one reason I could imagine for anyone to invest this much energy in a friendship between two other people, and that reason had nothing to do with the goodness of Helen’s heart or her finer motives. It did, however, have a lot to do with that look I’d seen on Nate’s face the night before. As if there was something only we knew. Helen must have seen more of that exchange than I’d realized. It must have worried her.
Hallelujah.
Finally—finally!—Helen had overplayed her hand.
I couldn’t help myself.
I gloated.
Because there was one thing I knew about dirty, underhanded girl politics, whether it involved that girl or not: nobody wanted another woman to be friends with her boyfriend to this degree, unless she was very worried indeed that friends wasn’t what her boyfriend had in mind at all.
Which meant something glorious.
Nate still had feelings for me!
Nate still wanted me!
Enough, at least, to get Helen all up in a tizzy.
Gloating felt good. It felt, in fact, like summer in the middle of November gray. I let myself bask in it.
“I really hope you understand,” she said at last, studying my expression as she wound down. “I just want what’s best for everyone.”
“Believe me,” I told her, unable to hide my smile. “I understand you perfectly.”
chapter ten
I would have liked nothing more than to spend the next week or so going over Helen’s every word, movement, and facial expression with Amy Lee and Georgia, but I was foiled by the national holiday.
The fact that it was Thanksgiving week meant that Georgia was pulling twenty-three-and-a-half-hour shifts at the office in order to get some time off to see her mother, which was obviously nonnegotiable. She was also, she told me in hushed tones, planning to keep seeing Jethro or Jamie or whatever his name was, whom she’d met at the Park Plaza. I could tell by the way she told me that he was already getting slippery, some three days after they’d first met.