At first, I don’t see her. Abi’s crouched on the footstool, tucked behind a stack of paper towels.
“Hey.” I pull up a box of tile cleaner and take a seat next to her. “You okay?”
“You shouldn’t have done that.” Her voice is low but controlled. At least she’s not crying.
I say nothing. I was sure she’d love it. I thought she would be thanking me, not angry with me. I know I should apologize, but I’m not sure for what.
“I understand you meant well,” she says finally. “But you put me in a bad position. Roland, too.”
“Well, it wouldn’t be a bad position if you’d said yes.” I realize this is probably not a wise response, but I can’t help myself. I grab her arm and plead with her. “Why didn’t you, Abi? I know you like him. I know you want to go with him.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Right.” I lean back, resting my head against the wall. “The thing is, I think he’s learned. I honestly believe it will be different this time. You know he never meant you any disrespect, right? He was just kind of … clueless.”
Abi turns to me, her expression guarded. “What if it’s not different? What if I go back to him, and he turns around and does the same thing—flirting all the time and letting other girls hang on him right in front of me? I deserve better.”
“You do. You absolutely do.” I sit up straight and look her in the eye. “I’m asking you to give Briggsy a chance. And I can’t promise you he won’t mess up, but I can promise you I’ll be the first in line to whack him upside the head if he does.”
That brings a small smile. “So you’re going?”
“What?”
“To prom?”
“No. What? I can’t—”
“Lexi, please.” Abi grabs both my hands in hers. “I need you there. For moral support. And the head-whacking thing. Seriously, you have to go.”
“If I do?”
“I’ll give Roland a chance.”
I sigh and close my eyes. “Done.”
I hang up before the second ring. Crap. Jerod’s going to see my number. Why did I hang up? And why doesn’t this get any easier?
I hadn’t planned to go to prom. I don’t have a date, and I’m not exactly the go-anyway-and-hang-out-with-a-bunch-of-girlfriends type, seeing as I have no girlfriends per se. I had my entire evening mapped out, with a proper mix of mindless action movies, rocky road ice cream, and self-pity. And of course, I would check Instagram every ten minutes for pictures of Lindsay and Chris in all their red-dress-and-possibly-red-tie glory.
Now I have to activate Plan B: Jerod. I’m not proud of the fact that I think of him as Plan B, especially since that puts him below rocky road. The whole thing is unfair and ill-advised and possibly even a bit mean. But I promised Abi I’d go to prom, and Jerod is my best shot. Anyway, I’m probably overthinking it. It’s a stupid dance. It’s not like it means anything. Jerod’s a friend, and people go to dances all the time with friends. I do like him, though maybe not the way he likes me. At least, I think he likes me that way, despite the fact that he hasn’t even kissed me. And how screwed up is it that even though I don’t really like him that way I’m annoyed he hasn’t kissed me?
Ugh. I sit down on my bed and cradle my head in my arms. I’m definitely overthinking this whole thing. Chill, Lexi. Time to do this. I hit redial.
Jerod picks up on the first ring. “Hello, Lexi Malloy.”
“Hey.”
Jerod says nothing. Does he know what’s coming?
“So. Remember when you told me how much you love a good party?”
“Yes?”
“Well, there’s another one coming up next weekend, and I’m not sure how good it will be, but it’s kind of a … prom.”
“I see.”
“So?”
“So what?”
“Come on. Don’t play dumb.”
Jerod laughs. “Oh, no. I made it easy for you the first time. This time, you’re on your own. If you’re not going to hire a plane to write it out in the sky or post a video on YouTube or come to my house and hold up a charming hand-made poster outside my bedroom window, you’re at least going to have to say the words.”
Fair enough. I take a deep breath. “Why do people say you’re a player?”
Wait. What? Did I seriously just ask him that? I squeeze my eyes shut. I’ve been wondering about it all week, but this probably was not the best timing for that question.
“Jerod? Are you there?”
“Yeah. Sorry. I, uh, I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Of course not, and … I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put you on the spot, and if you prefer not to answer, that’s okay, but I actually kind of would like to—”
“It was this girl, Lisa.”
“Oh?”
“Man, I can’t believe this stupid rumor made it all the way to Grand View. Who told you I was a player?”
I hesitate. No way am I ratting out Chris. He was just looking out for me, after all. “I heard through the grapevine, I guess. I don’t think it’s all over the school or anything. So what about this Lisa chick?”
“She liked me last year, but I was … let’s just say, not that into her. She’s kind of loud, and she smells like smoke. I don’t know if that’s because she smokes or if someone in her family smokes, but either way, I’m kind of sensitive to it, so I can hardly stand to be around her. Sometimes my eyes start to water and—”
“I got it. She liked you. You didn’t like her, or the way she smelled. So?”
“So I was kind of dating this other girl, Maddie, and Lisa got jealous, I guess. She started telling everyone I was … you know.”
“A player?”
“No. I mean, yes, sort of. She started saying I was seeing her on the side. Cheating on Maddie. She came up with these elaborate stories, and everybody believed them.”
“But you weren’t.”
“Of course not. I was brought up to respect girls. Besides, what with the smoke smell and all …”
An image of Jerod fooling around with some girl while trying not to smell her pops into my mind, and I can’t help but laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. I’m sorry. It’s not funny. It’s terrible, and I’m sorry she did that to you, and I will do my best to make sure people at Grand View know it’s a vicious, untrue rumor.” Stupid as it may seem, knowing that Jerod is not a player makes me feel better about the fact that he hasn’t kissed me yet. He’s respecting me. That’s it. Maybe I’m not unkissable after all.
“Now that that’s cleared up,” Jerod says, “wasn’t there something else you wanted to ask me?”