Chapter Thirty-Two

Matt

I woke up on Friday in a good mood. Lisa hadn’t officially answered me when I asked her to be my girlfriend, but she hadn’t said no, either. Things were moving in the right direction. I just couldn’t mess up again like I had when I’d lied to her about talking to Jane. No more keeping the truth from her. Not that I made a habit of it, but little white lies seemed to be better than hurting someone’s feelings. Especially if the truth wouldn’t change anything.

After breakfast I checked the time on my cell. I could pick Lisa up for school if she wanted a ride. Would that be weird? West gave Nina a ride to school every day. As Lisa would say, it was a couple-y thing to do, so I called her.

“Hey,” she said. “I was just about to get into my car. What’s up?”

“That’s why I’m calling. Do you want me to come get you? We could ride to school together.”

“Oh…”

She hesitated a little too long. My neck muscles tensed up. “Never mind,” I said. “I’ll see you there.”

“No. Wait. Nina and I were heading to the bookstore after school, so that will work. I just need to text my mom, so she doesn’t wonder why my car is still here.”

“Cool. I’ll be there in a few minutes.” And I could relax again.

I drove across town, wondering what West and I would do while Nina and Lisa did their book thing. We’d figure something out. Lisa was smiling when I picked her up.

“Good morning,” I said.

“Morning.” She climbed in and buckled up. “Do you know what today is?”

“Friday?” I hoped she wasn’t going to bring up our deal because as far as I was concerned we weren’t playing that game anymore.

“Well yes, but it’s also buy-a-book-from-the-clearance-section-and-get-one-free day.”

“Do we need to fix up your bookshelf so it can hold more weight?” I asked.

“Maybe.” She grinned. “I like that you don’t judge me for my book habit.”

“As long as you don’t expect me to read them, too, we’re good.”

“You know…Nina and West read together.”

“I hope that’s not a deal breaker,” I said, “because it’s not happening.”

“That’s okay. People need to have separate interests.”

“We should meet up after the bookstore like before when you ran into us at The Slicery.”

“That sounds good.”

I hit every green light on the drive to school. I decided to take that as a good sign. The school parking lot was crowded, but I found a spot up front because someone was pulling out. Another good omen.

“You seem happier than usual today,” Lisa said as we walked across the parking lot, holding hands.

“Things seem to be falling into place.” I squeezed her hand but didn’t say anything else at the risk of freaking her out.

When we reached the lockers, Nina and West were there like normal. Not so normal was the addition of Jane pacing in front of my locker with a worried expression on her face.

“Hey, Matt. I hoped I could talk to you before school,” Jane said.

I dropped Lisa’s hand and moved closer to Jane. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes. It’s just that I have this plan and it’s a good plan but no one else seems to agree.” She reached out and grabbed my hand. “And I was hoping I could count on you.”

“Sure.” I liked that she thought she could count on me. “Whatever you need.”

Someone cleared her throat behind me. I turned to see Lisa looking less than pleased.

Crap. I pulled my hand away from Jane’s.

“Did I suddenly become invisible?” Lisa asked.

“What? No. I could tell Jane needed help with something.”

“Sorry,” Jane said. “Do you mind if I steal your boyfriend for a few minutes?”

“I might mind.” Lisa crossed her arms over her chest. “What did you need to talk to him about and why don’t you want me to hear it?”

“Oh.” Jane blushed. “No, it’s not that I didn’t want you to know. I didn’t really think about you…and now this is awkward, isn’t it? Anyway, I want to throw a surprise party for Haley next weekend, and I need Matt’s help to make it work. I can pay you in cupcakes.”

I looked at Lisa. “Jane makes amazing cupcakes. Want to help me help Jane throw a party for my sister?”

“What’s the party for?” Lisa asked.

“Her birthday is next month, but I know she’ll be expecting a party then so I wanted to surprise her,” Jane said, like that made total sense.

“So it’s a surprise-because-it’s-not-your-birthday surprise party?” Lisa said.

“Yes.” Jane bounced.

“Please don’t encourage her.” Nathan, Jane’s perfect boyfriend, came walking toward us.

“You don’t know what I’m doing,” Jane said.

“You bounced. It’s a dead giveaway.” Nathan came up and put his arm around her. “We discussed this. Bryce wants to throw her a surprise party.”

“Yes,” Jane said. “On her actual birthday. This one is early so it’s not the same. Right?” She looked at me to back her up.

“Umm,” Lisa said. “I’m not sure your logic makes sense.”

I laughed. “It’s Jane logic so in Jane’s universe it makes perfect sense.”

“Exactly,” Jane said.

Lisa backed up a step. “So what you’re saying is the universe revolves around Jane.”

Shit. “No.”

At the same time, Nathan said, “Yes.”

Jane beamed at Nathan. “If that’s true then shouldn’t you agree to help me?”

“I walked right into that one, didn’t I?” Nathan said. “Come on. You can tell me what you want to do and I’ll pretend it’s a great idea.”

“Thank you.” Jane bounced and then grinned at me. “See you guys later.”

“See you,” I said.

Once they were far enough away that they couldn’t hear us, I turned to Lisa. “So, that was kind of funny.”

“Not the word I’d use to describe it,” she said.

“Oh come on, you can’t be mad that she asked me to help her plan a party for my sister.”

“Do you remember when we were walking down the hall holding hands, you were all happy about maybe being my boyfriend and then you spotted her and dropped my hand like it was covered in slime?”

“Okay…maybe that’s how it felt but that’s not how I meant it. I could tell she needed me.”

“You practically glowed when she said that crap about knowing she could count on you.”

“What’s wrong with that? I’m happy she thinks I’m a dependable guy.”

“Because that makes you seem more datable?” Lisa arched an eyebrow at me.

“No.” How do I reel this situation back in?

“You know what? Maybe your universe does still revolve around her.”

“No, it doesn’t. Understanding her quirky logic doesn’t mean I want to be with her.”

“Please,” Lisa said. “If she’d come to tell you that she’d broken things off with Nathan, you would have welcomed her with open arms.”

“I appreciate the jealousy, but you don’t have anything to worry about.” How could she not understand?

“Jealous? You think I’m jealous?” Lisa grabbed my arm and dragged me toward a less crowded area of the hall. “I’m angry, you idiot. I’m angry because you lied. You said you wanted me. The only reason you want me is because she isn’t available. I deserve better than that. I deserve someone who picks me as their first choice.”

The bell sounded for homeroom and Lisa walked away muttering to herself. I stood there, trying to figure out how my life had gone to hell in the last fifteen minutes. Was I never supposed to talk to Jane again? That seemed unrealistic. She was my sister’s best friend. She was around all the time.

The weird thing was I enjoyed talking to Jane because she was different. She didn’t think like everyone else. On the way to first hour, I updated West on the situation. “What do you think?”

“You can’t avoid Jane for the rest of your life to make Lisa happy. She needs to get over it.”

“Any idea on how I can say that in a way that won’t piss her off?”

“No.” He clapped me on the arm. “Good luck with that.”

“Thanks.” I had until lunch to come up with what I wanted to say to Lisa. How could I fix this? I may have been a little too quick to rush to Jane’s aid, but that didn’t mean Lisa wasn’t overreacting. But…I probably shouldn’t lead with that.

Lisa sat at our lunch table staring at her phone. Did she plan to ignore me? I wasn’t going anywhere so she’d have to talk to me eventually. I pulled out a chair and sat down.

“If you think I’ll go away if you ignore me, you’re wrong.”

“Stalk much?” she muttered.

“Funny.” I took out my sandwich. “I see Jane as a friend. I see you as girlfriend material. Those are two different things.”

“We’re not doing this here,” Lisa said. Her voice broke, like she was trying not to cry.

Shit. I set my sandwich down and reached over to touch her hand. “I’m sorry this upset you. There’s no reason to be upset.”

“Do you feel inferior to Trey?” she asked out of nowhere.

“No. We’re two different kinds of people.”

“Jane and I are both funny and smart, but she’s blonde and quirky and I could bleach my hair but I’ll never do a cute little bounce thing when I’m excited. I’ll never be as cool as Jane.”

“You’re cool in your own quirky nerd-girl way. You make me laugh. I like you. Why isn’t that enough?”