The Stand-In Boyfriend (Grove Valley High #1)(79)
I shake my head, “Please, just talk to me.”
“Right?”
“Chase,” I plead.
“Just answer the fucking question, Liv. It was never real was it?”
“I don’t—”
He steps toward me, his stance ready for attack. I’ve never seen him this angry. “Yes or no. It was never real, was it?”
I shake my head in despair. “No,” I whisper. “No, it was never real.”
All the fight falls out of him. He simply nods at me, like he just got confirmation of what he already knew, then turns and walks away. Watching him walk away from me, shoulders slumped, without further argument leaves me feeling worse than I’ve ever felt in my life.
Brendon and Jackson immediately follow after. Aaron hesitates, his face hard, until I step forward to follow Chase. “Give him some space,” he tells me—commands me.
“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” I whisper.
Aaron shrugs, his usual cheerful persona deadly serious. “Come on, Livy, you knew how he felt.”
I shake my head. I didn’t. I didn’t for ages. This was about him avoiding Abigail and focusing on soccer. I didn’t know it would turn into this. “I’m sorry.”
Aaron lets out a snort of disbelief then turns away and follows his friend. He doesn’t have to say it: sorry isn’t good enough.
I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO do after Chase leaves. I want to be alone. I want the ground to swallow me up. I want this horrible feeling that I’ve made an irreparable mistake to leave me. All I can do is watch in despair as he disappears into his car and starts it up before Aaron, Jackson, and Brendon have even had time to climb in. As his taillights disappear around the corner, an overwhelming sadness takes over.
“Livy.” I glance over to see Jessie standing there, concern written all over his face. “It’s okay. He’ll get over it.”
I want to nod my head but I don’t. I’m sure he will eventually, but right now it doesn’t seem likely.
“Did you really just cheat on Chase Mitchell with Jessie Stephenson?”
I turn to see Sarah Billington watching me with her arms folded, and I audibly swallow when I see the number of people that have spilled out onto the lawn behind her. Half the party witnessed that scene. Everyone in school will know by the end of the night.
“Shut up,” Abigail snaps next to her. “You don’t know what happened.”
Sarah raises an eyebrow at her tone. She looks as surprised as I do that Abigail seems to be sticking up for me.
“Come on.” Jessie draws my attention back to him, jerking his head toward the street where his car is parked. “Let’s get out of here. I’ll take you home.” He reaches for my hand but Sophie beats him to it, gripping hard and pulling me away from him. “Hey!”
“She’s coming with me,” Sophie tells Jessie, looking him dead in the eye and daring him to argue with her.
“What?”
“You have a house full of people. This is your party—you can’t bail.”
“Yeah, I think the party’s over, Soph.”
“I don’t care. She’s coming with me.”
“Are you serious? We need to talk.”
Sophie just grips my arm tighter and starts leading me away. “You can talk in the morning.”
“Sophie!” Jessie steps in front of us, blocking our route.
“Move,” she demands, her voice determined.
“You’re really not gonna let me take her home?” he asks incredulously. “I don’t know if you noticed, but we have some things we need to talk about.”
“I think you’ve done enough for tonight,” she tells him, her voice scathing. I’m watching them but I’m not taking it in. All I can do is replay that scene with Chase over and over in my head. I catch my breath and bite down hard on the inside of my mouth, desperate not to start crying again.
They stare each other down and I feel like my head is about to explode. I can’t deal with these two fighting on top of everything else. Finally Jessie breaks eye contact and reaches for my hand, and for a second, I consider taking it. I consider taking Jessie’s hand just like I’ve wanted to all along, but I can’t right now. I can’t with everyone watching us. I can’t with the look on Chase’s face still imprinted on my mind.
“I’m tired, Jessie.” And I am. I’m suddenly so, so tired.
He nods and offers me a weak smile, a feeble attempt to hide his frustration at my rejection. “Okay. Call me if you need to talk and we can catch up tomorrow. It’s gonna be okay.”
I nod.
“We are going to be okay, Livy.”
We—Jessie and I are a we now. Sophie doesn’t stick around to let us talk further, back to dragging me away from him, and when I turn to give him a half-hearted wave, I’m grateful because I can’t stand how many people are still lingering, watching like this is reality television.
We don’t say much on the car ride home. I don’t think I could say anything even if I wanted to. I’m still trying to process what happened, how in the blink of an eye Chase is gone and Jessie is in his place. I should be happy about this—I am happy about this, but I can’t stop the panic I feel when I think of Chase not being in my life. I can’t stop feeling that I don’t want Chase out of my life.