The Girl I Was Before (Falling #3)(102)

“Whatever they ordered, charge it to that card,” I say. Casey’s mouth opens, but shuts quickly when I challenge his look with one of my own. “And buy them a round on us, too.”

“You got it,” she says, tapping her pen twice in front of me on the table. “You’ll be buyin’ them Cokes, though, ‘cause I know those girls aren’t twenty-one. I’m not helping this troublemaker out any more than he’s already helped himself out today.” She smacks the back of Casey’s head as she leaves, and he pushes the palms of his hands into his eyebrows.

“Fuck, why can’t a man be hung over without catching shit from his friends,” he mumbles.

“Because you blew my shot with the girl I love,” I say before realizing it was out loud. I can feel Casey and Eli both staring at me, so I resist the urge to look in their direction. I keep the serious expression on my face and my eyes on the TV just over their shoulders long enough for them to decide not to give me shit about what I just said.

After about a minute, I feel like I might get away with it, so I glance at my bum of a best friend. He’s still staring at me, and I’m mad at myself for not waiting him out longer. But he doesn’t make a joke. And he actually looks like he feels genuinely bad.

“So, is that her?” Eli asks, pointing behind me, while taking a sip of his beer.

I turn around and Paige is steps away, her hand playing with the stem of a cherry floating near the top of her Coke. She’s smiling, and my heart starts to beat a little faster with hope until she talks.

“You honestly think I’m going to let you buy me a drink the day after your date with hottie McScrub Pants?” she says. I’m not sure what to laugh at most at first—the name she just gave the poor girl Casey set me up with, or the fact that she’s so jealous.

“For the record, I bought the drinks,” Casey says, holding his glass up to toast her. She squints at him, then moves her eyes back to me.

“Why is your friend dressed like a pimp?” she asks. She pulls the cherry out of her Coke and eats it while she waits, and I get a little lost watching her tongue play with the stem.

“I don’t know,” I chuckle, just happy she’s decided to keep her drink, she’s not throwing it at me, and she’s still standing here. I take a deep breath, and she takes a long sip through her straw, both of us locked in this small little window of fresh air and happiness. I don’t hesitate to step through the opening.

“Casey bought your drinks, because he’s the one who was supposed to be on the date with…” I stop, shaking my head at her.

“Hottie McScrub Pants,” she fills in for me, still not convinced or ready to let me off the hook easily.

“Right. Or we could call her Tracey,” I say.

“You can call her Tracey,” she fires back. Okay, I still have work to do.

I smile at her with my lips tight, letting her have that one. She can have more, too. Whatever she wants. Just don’t leave, Paige.

“Okay,” I nod. “Point is, I didn’t have a date,” I start, and she interrupts again.

“Ah, not sure about that. I saw you. On one. A date, that is,” she says. I sigh with frustration, but when I look at her, I notice the right side of her mouth tick up, her smirk playful in her eyes, too. She’s messing with me.

“Fine, we’ll call it a date,” I say, and when I feel her try to cut me off again, I hold my hand up to stop her. “But not a date I made or knew about until minutes before I showed up to cancel. It was a date my very annoying friend…”

“Best friend,” Casey butts in. I smack his head just like Meg did, sending him back to the land of headaches so I can finish talking to Paige.

“My best friend decided it was time for me to get back in the game, not realizing there was only one place I wanted to be, one girl I wanted to go on a date with, one person who I would even consider.” I say these words to her, not caring if Casey and Eli are hearing them, and Paige works so hard to keep herself from giving anything away. But I know her tells. I see her breathing change. I notice her eyes react, and her lips tremble for just a second.

She takes another long sip through her straw, her lips slipping even more into a grin. I let mine go too.

“We’re going to Nate’s game later today. Scouts are going to be there; it’s suppose to be a big deal,” she says, her teeth chewing at the tip of her straw as her eyes flit to mine. “You should come.”

“I’ll be there,” I say. I have to work, but I’ll quit before I miss this game, this moment, this chance.

The smile on her face does me in.

Before she leaves, she glances to Eli, furrowing her brow. “Who’s this guy?” she says, pointing to him.

Eli shakes his head. “I’m Eli. We met. I moved, like, a shitload of furniture from one room to another for you,” he says.

“Oh, yeah. You had a beard, right?” she asks.

“I shaved,” he says, sitting up, almost proud that his beard has been the focus for two conversations today.

“Yeah. You should grow it back,” Paige says, completely deflating his ego. He slumps back down on his stool. “See ya at the game, Houston,” she says, turning away and never glancing back at me, even as she catches up with her friends and leaves the restaurant.