Nora’s shoulders rise and fall with deep breaths and she doesn’t say anything. Everyone is looking at me now.
One glare.
One expectant look.
Two more glares.
Tessa is looking at her phone now; she’s no help.
Make that three glares . . .
. . . and an eye roll.
Dakota grabs her purse from the back of her chair and pushes past me. I try to reach for her shoulder, but she jerks away, nearly tripping over the chair next to me.
I watch her go. And when I turn around, I’m face-to-face with Nora.
“You’re the fucking guy. You’re the nerdy ex from Michigan.” Her voice is flat, unimpressed, with a splash of embarrassment. I stand up.
Nerdy ex?Is that what Dakota thinks of me?
Is that how Dakota refers to me? Is that how she describes me to the new friends she’s made in this city?
I look back toward the door and spot Dakota’s hair just as she pushes the door open and disappears.
I can’t imagine how she must feel. She thinks I’m dating Nora and I lied to her earlier about having to study.
This is exactly why I never lie. I don’t know why I thought it was a good idea to lie, I should have known it would backfire, nothing good ever comes from a lie. Aside from a few times when I pretended to know what she was talking about when really I didn’t, I never needed to lie to her.
A hand grabs my shoulder, spinning me. Face-to-face with Nora again, I can see she’s challenging me, making me choose. Her brow is raised above her sharp eyes, eyes that I thought I would be staring into all night. I thought I would be getting to know the woman with enough confidence to fill this bar, enough spark to light the city.
How can I choose? I barely know her.
Nora is completely silent and still; only her eyes speak to me. If I leave with Dakota, will she ever speak to me again?
Why does the idea of that bother me so much?
But I can’t let Dakota leave this place alone, this late at night. She’s upset and I get the feeling that I have no idea just how volatile she can be. Her self-destructiveness is her greatest enemy.
“I’m sorry,” is the only thing I have time to say to Nora before I follow Dakota out into the night.