There's Something About Sweetie(82)

Sweetie squeezed his arm. “Not pathetic. Just like someone in love.”

He snorted. “Yeah, what’s the difference?”

She raised her eyebrows and nodded. He had a point.

Kayla, Suki, and Izzy came up then. “Hey, we’ve got to go over to the band area,” Suki said. “The first band’s about to start their set.”

“That’s my cue,” Oliver said. “Break a leg, girls!” He turned and melted away into the crowd.

“Where’s Ashish?” Izzy said.

Sweetie’s smile faded as her heart thumped brokenly in her chest. “Oh, getting Pinky two-for-one coffees with his Frequently Caffed card. Don’t ask,” she forced herself to say in a normal voice, seeing Izzy’s eyebrows knit together. “Apparently, Pinky’s got a caffeine addiction.”

“Well, do you want to wait for him for a couple of minutes?” Kayla asked.

“No,” Sweetie said. “I’d rather not, actually.”

She began to walk toward the band area on the right side of the coffee house.

“Wait, wait, what happened?” Kayla asked behind her.

Sweetie kept walking. “Don’t want to talk about it.”

She could practically feel the looks the three of them were exchanging behind her back.

“Did he hurt you?” Suki asked when they’d all come to a stop in the band area, her eyes sparking. “Because I will kick his—”

“No, he didn’t hurt me. I just … I just want to forget about it for tonight, though, okay?”

The three of them nodded reluctantly.

A guy grabbed Kayla around her waist and she spun around, smiling. “Antwan! What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be over there, with the plebes.”

The tall black boy in hipster glasses laughed. “Plebe? Ouch. Don’t forget who you’re taking to prom.”

Prom. The word settled in Sweetie’s heart like a splinter in soft flesh. Why had Ashish bothered to do all of that, to ask her to prom, if he was still messing around with Celia? Why bother to go on these four dates at all if he was still seeing her? He’d put so much effort into telling her how he really felt, that his heart still belonged to Celia. And then, more recently, that he really liked her, Sweetie. Had she misread all his signals? Had she been completely foolish and starry eyed, like the dating amateur she was? Or … was it all a ploy? She remembered those dirtbags talking about how fat girls were easy. Was that all this was? Had Ashish been playing her the entire time?

An abyss opened inside Sweetie’s soul. She wanted to cry and throw things. She wanted to scream and hit something. The Sassy Sweetie Project had been going so well. And part of that had been her relationship with Ashish. Part of it was knowing that a boy like him could find her not just desirable—the opposite of what Amma thought—but that they might actually be happy together. She’d finally begun to accept that what she’d always believed in her core—that her weight did not signify anything bad about her, that she was just as worthy and talented as any thin person—was true, in spite of what anyone else might say. And now … now it turned out Ashish had been toying with her. He’d decided she was not actually a whole person, with feelings and a heart. And why would he think that? Her appearance, of course.

Molten fury pulsed in her, like a volcano about to erupt. She balled her fists and took a deep breath. She counted backward from a hundred so she wouldn’t begin flipping chairs and Hulk-smashing the wall. Nothing has changed, Sweetie, she told herself. He broke your heart, but that says more about him than it does about you. You’re still the girl you were yesterday. You can still continue the Sassy Sweetie Project. You don’t need him; you never did. Her heart rate began to slow. She unclenched her fists.

Well, if this had all been an act, she had to hand it to him. He was an excellent actor. She’d fallen for it, every bit of it. Heck, she’d fallen for him in the process.

Tears threatened and Sweetie blinked them away. She wouldn’t let him ruin her night or her makeup. She was going to go up there and put on the best show Atherton had ever seen. So what if they were love songs? She’d sing them with every fiber of her battered being. She’d bring everyone—including Ashish, especially Ashish—to their knees.




“Hey, man. You, uh, left your phone.” Oliver dropped the phone into Ashish’s palm with a weird expression on his face. Like, half judgy, half curious.

“Huh. Thanks.” Ashish frowned, pocketing it. “Um, everything ok—”

“Why are we doing this?”

Ashish turned to find Elijah on his other side, staring intently at Oliver, who scratched his jaw and looked away. “We’re doing this because you wouldn’t deny sleeping with someone else,” Oliver said.

Elijah stepped in closer. Ashish realized he was in the middle of their couple sandwich and discreetly backed up a half step. Should he leave? Nah, that’d be too abrupt. Besides, he needed to moderate if things got too feisty … uh, in a bad way feisty, not the good kind of—anyway.

“You should’ve trusted me,” Elijah said. “You know how I felt about you.” His voice dropped a notch. “How I feel about you.”

Oliver bit his lip, and his eyes got misty. “Maybe … maybe you were right. Maybe we got serious too quickly. Maybe … maybe we should see other people.” His voice wobbled and he shrugged.