She nodded. He was right. She knew that. He was probably a lot nicer now, but he could never be her hero. She couldn’t trust him with her body or her heart. She didn’t even know why he’d ask such a thing. Boys were stupid, just as Gabe had said.
“Thank you for the apology. And the drink.” She’d barely touched it and she felt satisfied with that. “I know this wasn’t what you were expecting tonight. My dad really wanted me to meet with you because of that development deal. You and he are in agreement that this isn’t high school anymore, so in that spirit, I hope you won’t let my bad memories ruin any deal with my father.”
“No, of course not, but—”
“Thanks, Dillon. I appreciate the effort, but I just can’t let those memories go. But it was good to catch up.”
Even in the midst of walking away, she wanted to go back and apologize. Maybe he hadn’t deserved that. He wasn’t Jason. He hadn’t meant to be cruel. And she really didn’t want to make him feel bad. But she straightened her spine and kept walking toward her friends’ table.
“Have a little fucking confidence,” she whispered to herself.
Ask your friends for help, her brain fired back, but she ignored it and smiled at Lauren and Isabelle. Gabe was gone. There was no help for that.
“If that was a date,” Lauren said, “it doesn’t look like it went well.”
“It definitely wasn’t a date,” Veronica said, taking the empty chair that Lauren patted.
Jake glared at the table Veronica had come from. “I thought you were dating Gabe.”
“I thought you didn’t like that,” Veronica countered. Lauren had filled her in on Jake’s reaction.
“I like Gabe a lot more than I like the looks of that guy.”
“It wasn’t a date,” Veronica repeated.
“Good,” he muttered.
“Shut up, Jake,” Lauren said, though she kissed his cheek when she said it. “Whoever Veronica says is good enough for her is good enough for her.”
He didn’t look the least bit convinced by that, but he shrugged. “Gabe is okay.”
She didn’t want to talk about Gabe. She couldn’t. To her horror, she felt tears welling in her eyes again. Lauren snapped into action. “Jake, could you go somewhere else for a minute? I think we need some girl talk.”
He jumped up as if he was relieved. “I’ve got to be at the station in thirty. I’ll just head over early.”
“Thanks, sweetie,” Lauren said. She let him give her a kiss on the cheek then turned his head for a kiss on the mouth, as well. “Be safe. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Veronica wiped her tears away and glanced around to see if anyone was watching.
“What’s really going on?” Lauren pressed.
Veronica shrugged. Everything inside her was telling her to keep quiet, but she was tired of keeping quiet. Tired of handling all her stresses and sorrows alone. Gabe was gone, and now her friends were all she had. She didn’t want to be alone anymore.
Veronica swallowed back the urge to cry. “Did you know he only had a one-year contract?”
“Gabe?” Lauren asked. “No, I didn’t hear anything about that. It’s unusual, but maybe Jean-Marie wasn’t sure he’d work out. Why?”
“He has a one-year contract because he’s moving to New York in a year.”
“Oh,” Lauren said.
“And he didn’t tell me.”
Isabelle cleared her throat. “Maybe he was going to.”
“He says he was, but he didn’t and it looks like he’s not coming back.”
“Shit,” Lauren said. “I’m sorry.”