The Way to Game the Walk of Shame(61)

My hand flew to my mouth. “I—I can’t do this. I’m sorry, but Evan—”

A flicker of realization flashed across Brian’s face. “Do you love him?”

“No, of course I don’t.” I shook my head. “I mean, I don’t … know.”

His face displayed all the hurt and confusion that was in his voice, making it crack. “He’ll hurt you in the end. You know that. We all know what he’s like. He’s a player who’s never serious about anyone. He’s only out to get as many girls as he can.”

A flicker of anger hit me, searing through my confused thoughts. “You’re wrong. You don’t know him at all.”

“Taylor…” His hand stretched out to grab hold of me, but I darted out of reach. “I’m sorry. That was stupid. I don’t know why I—”

I held up my hand, and he immediately froze. “No. Just stop talking.” I grabbed my bag from the floor and turned away from him. I stopped at the door, but I couldn’t bring myself to turn around and look at him. “I’m sorry.”





22

-Evan-

Aaron came over just as I was in the middle of pounding my head against my locker. “So I heard about your little fight.”

Smack. “Why am I so stupid?” Smack. “I screwed everything up.” Smack. “It’s over. She’s never going to forgive me.”

His hand shot out and blocked my head before I could make a dent in the lockers. “Dude, chill out. Just go apologize. Everything will be fine.”

I sighed. “You don’t understand. I really screwed up. Big time.” The hurt and shocked look on Taylor’s face swam in my head, tormenting me. Why did I have to say all those things to her? Why didn’t I keep my mouth shut?

“Oh, I know. To be honest, I’ve been waiting for you to screw things up with Taylor for ages now.”

“What?”

He leaned back against the lockers with crossed arms and rolled his eyes. “Look, you may be an expert when it comes to hooking up with girls, but you suck at actually having a real girlfriend and keeping one. I mean, you may be Zeus, but when was the last time that dude had a real relationship?”

Aaron didn’t know that Taylor and my relationship wasn’t a real one, either. But sometimes it felt real. There was no denying that she meant more to me than any of those other girls. And Aaron had a point. He was better at this stuff than I was. He’d had a couple of girlfriends here and there. I may have dated tons of girls, but Lauren was the closest I’d ever been to a real relationship before Taylor. Two incomplete, warped relationships.

And his words gave me hope. “So what do I do to fix it?”

He leaned in real close, like he was about to give me the secrets of the universe. “It’s going to sound really stupid and crazy, but just talk to her. One fight could break up a fling, but not a real relationship. You just have to work it out.”

I gave him a skeptical look. “Seriously? Your big advice is just to talk to her?”

“Well, it’s better than your stupid plan of banging your head through the locker. Besides, that’s what you have to do in a real relationship. You talk about your feelings. It’s annoying and frustrating. You may have to try a couple of times if she doesn’t feel like talking yet, or you might even talk for hours. And you’ll probably want to grab a drink afterward, but that’s the point. You have to try. Because if you don’t bother trying, then what’s the point in being in a relationship?”

He made sense. I never bothered trying with the other girls. Never wanted to go through the effort. What was the point when there were other girls to date? But there wasn’t another Taylor. “But just talking seems a little too easy.”

“Trust me, sometimes the easiest way is the best way.” Aaron stroked his chin with one hand and patted me on my head with the other. “Listen to me, you shall, Obi-Wan. All right, things will be. Wax on, wax off.”

I laughed and shook off his hand before giving him a short jab in the shoulder. “You’re mixing up your masters.”

“No, I’m not. I’m combining them because I’m just that awesome.” He grinned and shoved me off. “Now go find her.”

It took a while to find Taylor. She didn’t pick up my call, and Carly told me that Taylor’s parents hadn’t picked her up yet. But she didn’t know where she was, either. For the next half hour, I searched the entire school. I even poked my head into the girls’ locker room to check. Nobody was there except Coach Jill checking some of the lockers. I bolted before she caught sight of me.

Where could Taylor be?

Somehow I found myself standing beneath the tree where we had our Valentine’s Day picnic, remembering how excited I was to bring Taylor here. Her ecstatic face when she saw my surprise. Things were so much easier then.

And it was the exact place to find Taylor. I had almost missed her at first. She was half hidden behind the oak tree, facing toward the football field. She must have heard me coming, but she didn’t move. Not even when I came up behind her.

“So you decided to stand me up to watch the jocks practice?” I leaned against the tree. My shadow fell over her small, curled-up form. “A little heads-up would have been nice.”