I’d gone through several moods over the past week. Anger had been yesterday, and today I was just numb. Whatever. I was a silly girl who thought more of a date than she should have.
The bell over the door jingled, and I lifted my gaze to see Brett walking inside. I hadn’t seen him since he left my house angry. If he was here to get his movies, the boys were going to be disappointed. They had become fans.
“Hey,” I said, giving him a smile I didn’t feel. If he was here to be mean, I wasn’t in the mood.
“Hey,” he replied, and stopped on the other side of the counter. “How’ve you been?”
I shrugged. I hadn’t been good, and I wasn’t going to lie. A shrug would do.
He gave a small nod as if he expected as much. “Yeah, I heard about the July Fourth party and Asa being with that redhead again. Figured you might be hurt,” he said.
I was hurt, but now I was in severe pain. I hadn’t known he was with someone else. Masking that was difficult, but I would not show that to Brett of all people. I managed another nod. Why had he come in here? Why? I was doing fine. Now I was gutted. Ugh.
“Sorry, Ezi.” He sounded sincere. I would’ve appreciated that if I didn’t want to curl up in a ball and cry. Maybe after I cried, I could appreciate his sympathy. Why wasn’t he gloating? He had every right to gloat.
“No need to be sorry,” I said with a smile. “Asa is a player—everyone knows that.” I tried to sound blasé. I doubted it was working.
Brett didn’t seem to buy it either. I’d spent too much time with him. He wasn’t fooled by my fakeness.
“Go to a movie with me tonight,” he said.
I shook my head no. I had plans with self-pity tonight, and I wasn’t about to use him to make me feel better.
“As friends. Come on, Ezi. We can be friends. You need one right now,” he urged, and his gentle voice made my eyes prickle with unshed tears. Dangit. I did not want to cry in front of him. “I miss you. You can cry on my shoulder all you want. I’ll listen.”
Why? Why did I have to like the boy who wanted no commitment, and the guy who was sweet and liked me wasn’t the one I wanted? Was this a disease that all teenage girls suffered from? Would we outgrow this?
“Please, Ezi,” he said. “I’ll take you to eat greasy pizza and not complain once.”
I smiled then. My chest still hurt like a sledgehammer had just made contact, but I smiled. He was right. I did need a friend. Staying in this house wasn’t helping. Standing behind this counter and watching for Asa’s truck wasn’t helping either.
“Okay,” I agreed. “Thank you.”
He gave me his bright white smile. Perfect teeth, smooth shaved skin, styled hair, and all-American good looks made him nice to look at. He could date any single girl in this town, but he wanted to take me out as friends. I was so dumb.
If only admitting my stupidity made me want Asa less.
* * *
The rest of the day went by slowly, and when I told Momma that I was going to dinner and a movie with Brett, she frowned. She preferred Asa. Well, so did I, Momma, but that did us no good.
Brett arrived ten minutes early and he brought flowers. Yellow roses because he said they were a symbol of friendship. Momma appeared pleased and gave me a vase to put them in. Her date-night lecture was skipped tonight, and I wondered if she had noticed my mood this week. Maybe this was her easing up on me because she knew I had been hurt.
“You’re picking the movie,” Brett said. “Look up what’s showing.” The only place we could see a movie was the drive-in, thanks to Covid. I wasn’t ready to go back there. I didn’t want to tell Brett that, though. I needed to face it, suffer through it, and move on.
“Okay,” I agreed, and pulled up the website on my phone.
“Screen one is showing Elf and then Christmas Vacation,” I told him.
“Ah, the Christmas in July thing. I forgot about that. I hate when they do that. Who wants to watch Christmas movies in freaking July?”
I agreed with him. Not the season for it. “Screen two is showing Carrie, then Dawn of the Dead,” I told him. I hated scary movies, but it was better than romance. I was not in the mood for romance.
He glanced at me. “You good with a horror flick?”
I nodded. “Sure. Might be just what I need.”
He gave me a crooked grin. “Want to get the greasy pizza to go and eat it at the picnic tables at the drive-in? We can get a good parking spot in case we need to leave before it’s over.”