34

Bury Your Heart

Zoey interrupted something between Sawyer and Chey. Awkward silence followed her greeting, and Sawyer glared. Not his usual grumpy glare. This was a why-did-you-show-up-now glare.

Of course, Sawyer may not have wanted Zoey to show up at all. Which was why she had. When Chey asked if Zoey wanted to hang out with them, Zoey saw the chance to figure out what was going on between Sawyer and Chey. And between Zoey and Sawyer. And between Zoey and Chey. Could Zoey and Chey be friends? Especially if Chey and Sawyer had a thing?

Chey set the pace, walking across the grass, and cracked through the awkwardness. “Sawyer was telling me how many times he fell off the slide as a kid and landed on his head.”

“As a kid? He fell off several times last summer.” Zoey stuck a spoonful of flavored ice into her mouth, relaxing into the conversation. Even though they’d just met talking to Chey felt like talking to an old friend.

Like talking to Justin. Zoey wouldn’t think about him. Not today.

“Is he clumsy?” Chey asked pulling Zoey off the achy Justin path.

“Hey!” Sawyer waved his hands in front of their faces. “I’m right here.”

“Not clumsy,” Zoey answered as if he hadn’t spoken. They walked over to a picnic table. Zoey stepped onto the bench and sat on the tabletop. “He seemed to think he could walk on the poles surrounding the platforms. He couldn’t.”

“Does he do stuff like that often?” Chey sat next to her.

“He jumped off his roof last summer too.”

“Really?” Chey looked up at him. “You got a death wish?”

“No.” He crossed his arms, and the glare he gave now was probably meant to be threatening, but Zoey only wanted to laugh. “I’m going home.”

“Bye.” Chey sounded indifferent. His glare didn’t seem to bother her either. But was that the tone of a girl who liked a guy?

“Bye.” Sawyer marched off toward the chain-link fence.

“He was in a hurry to leave.” Chey’s tone was light, as if she didn’t care Sawyer had left. Maybe she didn’t. Maybe Chey was hanging out with Sawyer because she didn’t know anyone else.

“Yeah.” Zoey sipped her melting shaved ice. How could she find out what—if anything—was happening between Sawyer and Chey? And why did she care? Because she couldn’t get the kiss out of her head. Because if Sawyer had a thing for Chey, he didn’t like Zoey. Because if Chey had a thing for Sawyer, Zoey would have to choose between friendship with Chey or finding out if the kiss meant anything to Sawyer.

Zoey needed a friend more than a boyfriend. “You two been hanging out a lot?”

“Not really.” Chey shrugged and licked ice cream off the edges of her cone. “He asked me to look at keyboards with him.”

“Keyboards?” Zoey scrunched up her face. If Sawyer initiated a date, figured it would take place in a music store. “Why?”

“He thinks I should get one and play with him.”

“Are you going to?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” Chey’s indifference sounded faked, as if she was fighting not to feel something. “He was teaching me to play his drums today.”

Zoey coughed, splattering her hand with pink spit. She grabbed a napkin. “He did what?”

“Taught me some beats on his drums.”

“Taught, as in let you hold his sticks and hit his drums?” Zoey’s heart thrummed. Sawyer didn’t just have a thing for Chey. He was making a commitment. Shopping for a ring. Buying a tux—or at least one of those tuxedo-printed T-shirts. Did Chey have any idea how serious Sawyer was?

“Uh, yeah. How else would he teach me?”

“I don’t know. It’s just that Sawyer doesn’t let anyone touch his drums—not me, not Justin, not anyone.” Zoey swirled the straw in her raspberry slush. Sawyer had absolutely no interest in her whatsoever. That kiss really had meant nothing. To him. “Wow. He’s really into you. Do you like him?”

“I don’t know.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know if I trust him.” She looked Zoey right in the eye.

Zoey gulped, nearly choking again. Confessing to Chey had been a mistake. But Chey knew about the kiss now, so no point in hiding. “Because of what happened between us?”

“That, and Sunday, he’d invited over another girl too. Felicia?”

“Felicia? Oh, right.” Sawyer, who never seemed interested in any girl, had Felicia chasing him, had kissed Zoey, and was teaching Chey to play his drums. That guy had suddenly become all kinds of girl drama. Zoey would’ve laughed if she didn’t feel so confused.

“What do you know about Felicia?”

“She’s had a thing for him since the end of the school year, and I think they went to the movies once. But that was before he met you.”

“Yeah, well, apparently Sawyer did a lot of things with other girls in the week or so before we met.”

Heat rushed to Zoey’s face. She probably matched her red slush.

“I’m OK with being friends.” Chey sounded sincere, despite all the other clues she’d given about being into Sawyer. “Like I told you, I don’t want to get involved with a guy who doesn’t know what he wants.”

“I think it’s just really bad timing. Sawyer’s never shown interest in a girl before.”

“But I arrive when he develops an interest in every girl?” Chey arched an eyebrow. “No, thank you.”

“He’s not interested in me.” Zoey’s voice was firm but thick, the heaviness pressing against her lungs a surprise.

“I don’t want to get hurt again.” Chey’s stud jiggled. “The last guy I dated—the only guy I’ve dated—just wanted to make his ex-girlfriend jealous. I really thought he liked me and I…anyway, we dated about a month, and his plan worked. His ex-girlfriend broke up with the guy she was dating, and they got back together.”

“I’m sorry.” Zoey stared at her for a long moment. What was Chey’s story? Was she good enough for Sawyer? Silly question. Sawyer wasn’t some good guy who deserved the best girl. He wasn’t Justin. But Zoey felt protective of him anyway. Sawyer might act as bitter as a stalk of rhubarb, but even rhubarb was good in the right recipe. “But you know, I don’t think Sawyer’s that...smart or manipulative. Maybe you take it slow, but don’t write him off altogether.”

“I haven’t yet.”

“You gonna get that keyboard?”

Chey ducked her head. “If my dad says yes.”