“Hayley,” he continued. “Would you go to prom with me?”
I slowly pulled my hand free of his grasp and frowned at him. “I’m going to prom with your brother.”
“Still? After what he did tonight?”
Owen’s words made me feel sick to my stomach. Was that what tonight was? Had Ethan finally put an end to our fake relationship? Kissing Laurie made it seem pretty final.
“I don’t know,” I murmured.
“Hayley, you deserve so much better than someone who would cheat on you. Please, let me take you to prom.”
This was the moment I’d been waiting for. It was the whole reason why I’d started the plan with Ethan to begin with. It didn’t make me the least bit happy though.
“So…” he prompted.
“I need to think about it.”
A hint of disappointment flickered across his eyes. “Of course, you do. Why don’t you sleep on it tonight and let me know tomorrow?”
I nodded and finally moved to get out of the car. He wound down the passenger window once the door was closed behind me. “I really hope you’ll go with me,” he said before he backed the car out the driveway and tore off down the street.
He didn’t even wait to see if I got to my front door before returning to the party.
19
Ethan
Laurie’s fingernails had been digging into my T-shirt, but the moment she lifted them to caress my neck, I quickly pushed her away. “What are you doing?” I growled.
A sly smile lit her lips as she gazed up at me through her long lashes. “Well, I told you I wanted to tell you a secret, and I was just going to whisper it in your ear…”
“You don’t need to put yours arms around me to do that,” I replied. She’d cornered me just outside the bathroom about ten minutes ago, and I’d been struggling to get free of her ever since. She was what Hayley would like to term “handsy,” and she kept on touching me, which was making me really uncomfortable.
I wasn’t nervous around girls like Colin was, but I wasn’t particularly confident either. I had no idea how to politely ask Laurie to remove her claws from my clothing without being rude, but the moment she’d started wrapping her hands around my neck I’d snapped.
“Look, I don’t understand why you’re even talking to me,” I said. “You never once noticed me before I started dating Hayley, and I’d love to know what’s changed to have you talking to me now…”
“Well, Hayley’s been saying such amazing things about you to all the girls on the squad,” she replied. “How could I not want to talk to you?”
I had the sudden urge to slap myself across the face. I never should have told Hayley the girl I liked was a cheerleader. She’d taken that side of the plan far too seriously this week, and I suspected she’d been working hard to make certain every cheerleader at Lincoln High knew how great I was. Apparently, she’d done too good of a job.
“And I haven’t even told you my secret yet…” She started to move in close to me once more, but I caught her by the wrists before she managed to wrap her arms around my neck again.
“I don’t think I need to hear your secret,” I replied, gently releasing her hands. “And I should really get going. My girlfriend will want to know where I am…”
Laurie shrugged and gave me a knowing smile. “Well, don’t let little old me stop you…”
She stepped back, and my eyes narrowed as I watched her. She’d seemed extremely intent on keeping me here, and her sudden change in mind felt suspicious. I decided not to question her though. I wanted to take the chance to escape her clutches while it was still there.
“Have a good night, Laurie,” I said before turning to leave.
“You too, Ethan,” she called after me.
I glanced over my shoulder at her, and she waved her fingers in my direction. I did not trust that girl one bit.
I hurried back to the kitchen, relieved to find Colin was still hiding out in there. Isla was standing at his side too, but Hayley was nowhere to be seen.
“Hey, have you guys seen Hayley anywhere?” I asked them.
“She didn’t find you?” Colin asked. “I told her you’d gone to the bathroom, and she went looking for you.”
I shook my head. “I didn’t see her. This place probably has a million bathrooms though, so maybe she went to the wrong one.”
“Maybe,” Colin agreed. “What took you so long anyway?”
“Laurie cornered me by the bathroom and wouldn’t stop talking.”
Isla’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. “What did she want?”
“Beats me, but it felt like she was coming on to me.” As I said the words out loud, I knew that couldn’t be right. I wasn’t even close to Laurie’s type.
“I thought she was dating Jake,” Colin said.
“No, that relationship lasted like three seconds. They were fighting all the time,” Isla said, earning surprised looks from both Colin and me. “What? It’s not a crime to keep up with the gossip in our school.”
“No, but it’s weird. You don’t even like half the kids at school,” Colin replied.
“Which only makes the gossip more exciting. Some of the things I hear are so juicy it’s better than watching an episode of Days of Our Lives.”
“I didn’t know you liked soap operas,” I said.
“Love them,” she replied before giving me a smug smile. “Speaking of juicy gossip, Hayley really seems to like you.”
I couldn’t stop the frown from forming on my face. I quickly smothered it when I remembered that Isla believed Hayley was my girlfriend. “That’s hardly gossip, and I should hope so,” I said. “I am her boyfriend after all.”
Colin rolled his eyes, but thankfully, Isla didn’t catch his expression.
“Does she know how much you like her too?” Isla continued. “Because you should tell her.”
I couldn’t control my frown this time. “What exactly have the two of you been talking about?”
“Oh, this and that. But you should make sure she knows how much you like her. Girls deserve to be told things like that all the time.”
“They do, do they?”
“Yup. You should hit us over the head with a sledgehammer of your love at least once a day, and even then, it still might not be clear how much you like us.”
I chuckled. “Thanks for the visual. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Any time,” Isla replied.
I glanced around the kitchen once more, hoping to catch sight of Hayley. We were supposed to spend tonight making Owen jealous, but I’d barely seen her since we arrived.
“I should probably try to find Hayley,” I said.
Isla’s eyes flashed with a satisfied look. “You do that, lover boy. I think Colin and I will go spike the punch.”
“I have a feeling it’s already spiked.” I laughed.
“I guess I’ll probably have a drink of it then. Come on, Colin.” Isla grabbed his hand and dragged him to the other side of the kitchen where a group of kids from school surrounded a large bowl of red punch. Colin looked immensely uncomfortable as he joined the group, but Isla made herself quite at home as she struck up a conversation with the people there. My two friends couldn’t have been more different, but that didn’t make them any less awesome.
Drawing in a long breath, I returned to the living room. I’d thought it was hectic earlier, but now, it was heaving with people dancing, and it was almost impossible to move through. I had to push and shove at my classmates to make any headway, and the lights were turned down so low that spotting Hayley was like searching for a needle in a haystack with a blindfold on.
Still, I searched the crowded dance floor from one side to the other with no luck. I’d sent her a text but still hadn’t gotten a response. Maybe it was too loud for her to hear her phone.
“Ethan.” I glanced up from my phone to find Madi smiling at me. She was dressed in a simple top and jeans, but Madi was the kind of girl who didn’t need to dress up to loo
k stunning. She was a lot like Hayley in that way. Hayley could have rocked up tonight in a pajama onesie with a facemask on, and I would have thought she was the most beautiful girl in the room.
“Hey, Madi,” I replied with a warm smile. Madi and I weren’t friends exactly, but we’d been bio partners last year, and I felt like I was getting to know her a little better since I’d started eating my lunch with Hayley. She was standing near the front door, so I assumed she hadn’t been here long. “Did you just arrive?”
“Yeah, I got stuck at a family dinner. I thought my dad was never going to let me leave,” she said. “How’s the party been? Is Hayley with you?”
I shook my head. “I’ve been searching but can’t find her anywhere.”
Madi frowned before speaking in a low whisper. “I thought you guys were all about operation fake relationship tonight?”
“We were supposed to be, but we were dancing earlier, and then, she said she needed girl time, and I haven’t seen her since.”
Madi looked surprised. “That’s not like Hayley to just ditch you all night.”
“It’s not. But if things started looking up with my brother, then who knows.” The sound of disappointment was clear in my voice, but I couldn’t seem to avoid it.
Madi tilted her head as she stared at me, and her eyes narrowed like she was attempting to read my mind. “Would it bother you if things did look up with Owen?” she slowly asked.
“No, of course not!”
“Because, I’ve been watching you both pretty closely the last couple of weeks, and I’ve never seen you even look in another girl’s direction.”
“I’m just playing my part,” I quickly replied.
She shook her head though, her eyes filled with doubt. “No, it’s more than that. If I were a betting woman, I’d say there’s no mystery crush.”
Panic made my eyes widen, and Madi gasped as she saw my reaction. She’d hit the nail on the head with her guess and now she totally knew it.
“I’m right, aren’t I? There is no mystery crush.”
“Of course, there is!”
Madi didn’t seem to hear my reply though, and she kept talking like I hadn’t said a word. “You like Hayley, don’t you?”
Adrenaline raced through my body, and I wanted nothing more than to escape Madi’s penetrating gaze. I wasn’t ready to admit my feelings to anyone, let alone Hayley’s best friend.
“You’ve got it all wrong,” I said. “I like Hayley but not like that. I mean, she’s amazing, and any guy would be lucky to have her, but we’re just friends.” I was completely rambling, and Madi didn’t look like she believed me for one second.
“It’s okay to like her, you know…” Her voice was gentle, and there was a knowing look in her eyes, like she could easily see through my lies.
“Is it?” I asked. “Maybe you haven’t noticed, but she’s kind of into my brother.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Well, she’s only pretending to date me to get him to notice her, so I think her feelings are quite clear.”
Madi gave me a small smile. “I don’t think they’re as clear as you think they are.”
My heart leaped though I knew it was hopeless. I wanted Madi to be right more than anything.
“Look, you don’t have to tell me you like her,” Madi said. From the way she was looking at me though, she was already convinced. “But, I know my best friend,” she continued. “And I don’t believe Owen is the right guy for her. I think that you could be though.”
Her words felt like something out of a dream. Could Madi really believe that I was the guy for Hayley?
“Tell her how you feel,” she continued. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
I could imagine many bad things that might happen if I opened my heart to Hayley, but I was going to lose her anyway, so what was stopping me?
“I’ll think about it,” I said, making Madi smile. “But, right now, I should probably just keep looking for her.”
She couldn’t keep the grin from her lips as she looked at me. “I’ll leave you to it, but if I see her, I’ll tell her you’re searching for her.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem,” Madi said before moving past me and into the house. I considered following her, to search the living room again, but figured it was time to try giving Hayley a call instead. It was far too noisy in the house though, so I opened the front door and walked out onto the porch where it was quieter.
I regretted leaving the house the moment I closed the door behind me. My brother was right outside.
“Owen.” I gritted out his name.
He turned and rubbed his eyes dramatically when he caught sight of me like he couldn’t believe I was here. “Wow, I didn’t realize Tanner let losers like you into his parties,” he laughed. “I guess he’s more charitable than I gave him credit for.”
I huffed out a breath and went to walk around him, but Owen moved to block my way and I took a quick step back from him. “Do you need something?”
“Well, I did,” he snarled. “It was just a little bit of money. But you wouldn’t give that to me, would you?”
I couldn’t stop a groan erupting from my mouth. “Seriously? You want to talk about that now?”
Owen shrugged. “Not really. But, I figured I should probably let you know that when I said you’d regret that, I wasn’t joking around.”
“Yeah, okay, great.” I wasn’t in the mood for my brother’s games, so I pushed past him with more force this time.
Owen grabbed my arm though, stopping me in my tracks. “I decided your little girlfriend seemed like appropriate payment.”
My stomach pulled tight and anger radiated across my skin at his threat. “Leave Hayley out of this,” I growled, making Owen’s eyes dance with delight.
“Oh, you really do care about her,” he said. “It’s a shame she’s going to be breaking up with you after tonight.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Just that she was simply devastated when she saw how close you and Laurie were getting at the party, and her little heart seemed to break when I told her what happened with you two…”
“Nothing happened with Laurie.”
“Well, I know that, and you know that, but Hayley was quite easily persuaded.”
“I’ll tell her the truth.”
“And who’s she going to believe? The boyfriend who cheated on her or the guy who consoled her? Laurie’s a very good-looking girl, it wasn’t a hard thing to convince Hayley that she’s the cheerleader you’d rather be with.”
Fear gripped hold of me as I realized he had a point. Of course, Hayley would believe him. I’d stupidly told her I was crushing on a cheerleader. There had to be something I could do though.
“I’ll get Laurie to tell her the truth…”
Owen burst out laughing. “Laurie’s the one who helped me come up with the idea. She’d do just about anything to date me and was only too happy to bring Hayley Lawson down a peg or two. I think we certainly succeeded with that tonight. All I need to do now is take Hayley to prom and enjoy watching your little heart break.”
“I won’t let you do this.”
Owen’s lips curved in an unpleasant smile. “Then, give me the money I asked for.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“Then, you can only blame yourself for whatever happens next.”
I had never wanted to punch my brother so much in my life. I had no idea why he was so cruel to me or how he could justify going out of his way to hurt Hayley and me simply because I’d refused to lend him money. I was done with him.
I wrenched my arm free of his tight grasp and shoved him away before I started toward my car.
“She’s finished with you!” Owen called after me. “You’ve already lost her!”
I refused to acknowledge him though. I couldn’t lose something I never had, but I wasn’t about to let Hayley believe Owen’s lies. My own feelings aside, I c
ouldn’t let him use her just to hurt me. I only hoped it wasn’t already too late.
20
Hayley
“Mom, why do boys suck so much?” I moaned, as I sat at the kitchen counter and ate my body weight in ice cream.
She didn’t answer my question directly. “Are you going to tell me what happened tonight?” she asked instead.
“Probably not.” My answer was muffled by a mouthful of ice cream, and Mom shook her head at me. She was probably wondering whether or not I was truly her daughter right now. She had all the poise and refinement of the beauty queen she was. I, on the other hand, was a total mess.
I couldn’t stop thinking about how Ethan had kissed Laurie, and my mind kept trying to add visuals I didn’t want to see. After witnessing them in the corridor, it was far too easy to conjure a picture of them kissing. And that was definitely something I didn’t want to think about.
The whole thing just felt wrong though, and despite what I’d seen, it was hard to believe it was true. It was like my eyes were playing tricks on me, because I knew Ethan wasn’t the kind of guy who would cheat on a girl—fake relationship or not. We’d become friends over the past few weeks, and I didn’t think he’d end our arrangement without speaking to me first. I was probably totally wrong though, especially if Laurie was his dream girl. It seemed she’d finally noticed him, and he would have been stupid not to kiss her.
All this thinking was giving me a headache, and I felt justified in at least blaming my pulsing brain on Ethan. Between him and his brother, I was completely done with boys for the night.
My dad entered the kitchen, and I turned to him. “Dad? Why do boys suck so much?” Hopefully, he had the answer I was looking for. Mom was being useless.
His forehead creased. “Did some boy hurt you?”
“No, of course not.”
The Wrong Prom Date Page 19