There's Something About Sweetie(61)

“We know,” Izzy said, giving her a tentative smile. “We just don’t want you to get hurt, that’s all. Ashish didn’t tell you that he would come around, did he?”

Sweetie was about to say that of course he had, but when she thought about it, she realized he hadn’t. He’d just asked her if she was sure she still wanted to date him. “No,” she said finally, her voice quiet. Then, straightening her shoulders, she added, “But that’s okay. I know what I’m getting myself into. It’s all going to be fine. Celia’s out of the picture now, and it’s the Sweetie Show.” She paused and framed her face with her hands. “I mean, come on, guys. How can he resist this?”

They burst out laughing, and Izzy put her arms around Sweetie. “He can’t.”

“He won’t,” Kayla said, a little more darkly.

“Or we’ll kick his arse,” Suki added, and before Sweetie could open her mouth to protest, she launched into a kick-ass, thunderous drum solo that shook the walls and made the floor tremble.

Sweetie grimaced as she slid into her car and glanced at the clock on the dashboard. It was already past eight o’clock, and she hadn’t even begun her giant economics project that was due Monday morning. Sweetie generally didn’t spend her Saturday nights doing homework, but she probably should’ve started this behemoth of a project two weeks ago. She had a lot of work to cram into forty-eight hours. Sighing, she pulled into the parking lot of Roast Me on the way home to pick up an espresso and maybe some of those chocolate-covered coffee beans. She probably wouldn’t need to sleep till tomorrow night.

Sweetie was waiting for her order when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see Oliver, Ashish’s friend. Her face instantly creased into a smile. “Hey!” Then, remembering what Ashish had said about Oliver and Elijah’s breakup, her smile faded.

He half smiled at her, and she noticed the dark circles under his eyes, the way he was all scruffy and unshaven, and his button-down shirt was totally rumpled. Not at all how he looked the last time she’d seen him.

“Hey,” he said quietly. “How are you?”

“Double espresso for Sweetie!” the barista called out, and Sweetie went up to grab her cup. Oliver followed.

“Big night ahead of you?”

Sweetie made a face. “Econ paper. Bleh. I should’ve started eons ago, but …” She took a breath. This was uncomfortable. Not because Sweetie was uncomfortable with people’s feelings. She wasn’t. But because she didn’t know whether she’d be totally overstepping a boundary by reaching out to Oliver now. They’d only ever talked once. “Um, Oliver …” He looked at her, his gray eyes dark and lifeless. “Ashish told me about you and Elijah. I’m so sorry.”

He nodded, swallowing compulsively a few times. His eyes looked misty, and Sweetie realized with a jolt of alarm that he might be about to cry. Without even thinking about it, she put an arm around his waist (his shoulder was out of reach, dang basketball players) and led him over to the couches toward the back of the café, where they’d hung out that one time.

They sat on a couch together, and Sweetie handed him her espresso. “Here. You need it more than me. I’ll get another one on my way out.”

He accepted it with a grateful, watery smile and took two big swallows. “Thanks. That helps.” He sighed a long, deep thing, holding the coffee cup between his knees, his head hanging low. “Man. I just … This doesn’t feel real.”

Sweetie put a tentative hand on his back. “I’m sorry. You guys seemed happy.”

“We were.” He laughed abruptly, the sound hard and dark. “I guess I should say I thought we were. But Elijah was obviously coming to other conclusions.” In a wobbly voice he added, “I’m pretty sure he cheated on me.”

“What?” Sweetie didn’t know them very well, but the one thing she couldn’t do was picture Elijah cheating on Oliver. Even to her inexperienced eye, Elijah had looked at Oliver like he was … he was the answer to some unspoken question. “He said that?”

“No. He wouldn’t say anything. But so many people on the Eastman team told me they’d seen him with some guy.” He shrugged. “And he didn’t even try to convince me when I confronted him. He just said that if I couldn’t trust him, we should break up. After two whole years! Apparently, we’re too close or something.”

“But that’s stupid,” Sweetie blurted out without thinking. “Oops. Sorry.”

Oliver smiled at her. “No, you’re right. It is stupid. This whole thing makes no sense.”

“I wonder …” Sweetie nibbled her lip, afraid again that she was overstepping. But then she decided if she were in Oliver’s situation, losing the love of her life, she’d want someone to be straight with her. “I wonder if you know why you’re having so much trouble trusting him. I mean, it’s obvious to me you guys were happy. And you’ve been together for two years. So why did you believe those Eastman guys?”

Oliver studied his shoelaces so long, Sweetie was afraid he was trying to hold in a really angry outburst. But when he finally met her eyes again, he just looked confused. And hurt. “I don’t know,” he said, almost wonderingly. “That’s a really good question. Why didn’t I trust him?”