The Fill-In Boyfriend(47)

I could hear the smile in his voice when he said, “There’s one thing left.”

“Looks like it’s your bag of M&M’s. You must’ve been too busy being fearless and strong to remember to take it with you. I’m going to eat those.”

He snatched the bag of dried bananas from my hand and I opened my eyes.

“Dried bananas and an extra bag of M&M’s it is,” he said. “You will not be stealing mine.”

“Your game was fun,” I called after him as he marched to the register in a pretend huff.

When we arrived at the car, Bec had moved to the back, probably because her boyfriend was now coming.

“Boring people in front.” She was all stretched out on the backseat. “Now give me my treats.”

“I told you I’m not your personal shopper. I didn’t get them.”

She didn’t say a word, just held her hand, palm up, between the seats.

Hayden shook his head and handed her the items she’d requested. “One day I won’t get those.”

“One day I’ll join the cheer squad and go by Becky.”

“Wasn’t that last year?” Hayden asked.

“Oh yeah. Guess that wasn’t a good comparison, then.”

“You were a cheerleader?” I asked, not sure if they were kidding or not.

“She was. A pretty good one too.”

I remembered how Hayden had said at the party that she liked to put up a front so that people didn’t get too close. I wondered if this was another example of that.

“Pretty good?” She met my eyes. “Don’t look so shocked, Ms. President. I was popular once too.”

“Wait,” Hayden said. “You’re the student body president?”

Bec gasped. “Oh no, were we supposed to bring secret service with us? Is this a security breach?”

Hayden ignored his sister. “I thought you just said you were on the student council.”

“I am. President of the student council.”

“Is this for scholarship purposes or because you like being in leadership?”

“Both, I hope.”

“That’s a pretty great accomplishment, Gia. Congrats.”

I shrugged, feeling like he was making it a bigger deal than it was. “I guess.”

“No, he’s right,” Bec said, surprising me for the second time today. “There are a lot of people who campaign for that. So you are the most popular of the popular.”

“I just happened to be the one on the ballot that the most people knew. I think I only got, like, twenty percent of the vote. The rest was divided between the other two candidates and Mickey Mouse, Elvis, and a hundred other various write-ins.”

“So what was your campaign strategy? Did you promise off-campus lunch for all? No PE?”

“I basically spent a lot of time socializing online with a bunch of people I didn’t know to get my name in their heads.”

“Smart.”

“So let me get this straight,” Bec said. “You used people to get what you wanted? Did you unfollow all those people as soon as you won?”

“No. I didn’t.”

“But you probably stopped talking to them.”

Bec had this very special way of making me feel like the worst person on the planet. It was her talent or something.

“Bec, stop being a brat.”

I was glad Hayden interrupted because I didn’t want to have to explain that now I responded when people engaged but never reached out first.

We pulled into an older neighborhood and up to a run-down house. Bec jumped out of the car and rushed up to the front door. She smoothed her hair before she knocked.

“She has a major crush on this kid.”

“I would hope she’d have a crush on her boyfriend.”

“He’s not her boyfriend. She just wants him to be. Maybe you can help her with that.”

“Huh. I could’ve sworn they were together.” I watched Nate come out the door and shut and lock it behind him. The half a foot of space between him and Bec as they headed for the car was way more apparent now. I hadn’t noticed it before.

“Hey, Nate,” Hayden said as they both climbed into the back.

“Hi,” I added.

“Hello.”

Doors were shut and Hayden started driving again.

“I got you licorice,” Bec said.