That wince again.
I decided to not dance around this anymore. “Are you in a fight with Emily?” I asked.
“Not exactly.” Macal an started digging through her bag. I knew that meant she was avoiding something.
“What’s going on, then? You’ve been acting weird. You’re both
acting weird.” I grabbed her bag so she would stop doing whatever it was she was doing and be forced to pay attention to me.
“I don’t want to be stuck in the middle between you two. Just talk to Emily,” she stated bluntly.
“I talk to Emily all the time,” I reminded her.
“MACALLAN!” Daniel e screamed from the track below. “COME
SAY HI!”
She groaned. “Look, Levi, I’m in a very awkward position between the two of you and I don’t want to have to lie anymore. So talk to Emily. Really talk to her.”
“What do you mean you don’t want to lie to me anymore? Have
you been lying?” I’d never thought Macal an was the lying type.
“Not exactly.” She grabbed my hand and leaned in. “I’m real y
sorry. Just talk to Emily.”
She hopped up and made her way down to Ian.
I didn’t know what bothered me more: the fact that my best friend had been keeping something from me or that she was currently
flirting with some guy.
100
I climbed the steps to Emily’s house slowly, feeling the weight of whatever revelation was on the other side of the door.
“Hey!” Emily greeted me with her usual kiss.
“Hey.” I tried to smile back at her, but I could tell something was wrong. Something was different. Maybe it had been there for a while, but now I was paying attention.
And so was Emily.
“Is everything okay?” she asked with a tilt of her head, like she was trying to size me up.
“Not real y,” I confessed. “I think we need to talk.”
“Oh.” Emily didn’t seem surprised. She led me to the couch in the living room. “What’s going on?”
“I think you need to tell me.”
She paused. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” But that
pause told me she knew exactly what I was talking about.
“I talked to Macal an today.”
At the mention of Macal an’s name, Emily’s smile vanished. “And what did Macal an have to say?” There was a sudden hardness in
her voice.
“She said you and I needed to talk. She wouldn’t say what it was, but it’s been pretty clear to me something’s been going on. I real y wish someone would just tell me. All I know is that it seems Macal an’s trying to be a good friend.”
“Yeah, some friend,” Emily said coldly.
What I wanted to do was stick up for Macal an, who had been
best friends with Emily since they were little. I hated that something was getting in the way of their friendship. And that something was me.
101
I started trying to piece everything together. “Why do I think this doesn’t have anything to do with something Macal an did, but something she knows?”
Emily didn’t have a response. Which was when I realized I was
right.
“Just tell me the truth,” I said flatly. I knew in that instant that Emily and I were over. There was no way this was going to involve some kind of misunderstanding that would make everything okay. If it was enough to make Macal an uncomfortable and deceive me, it must’ve been bad.
Emily studied me briefly before her bottom lip started to tremble.
My instincts told me to reach out to her. My head told me this was all an act. I remained stil .
“I’m so sorry.” She covered her face with her hands. “I’m so sorry.”
She then leaned into me. I didn’t move. I wasn’t going to wrap my arms around her and comfort her when she wasn’t doing the one
thing I’d asked her to do: Tell the truth.
“What happened?”
She straightened up and began wiping away her tears. “I . . .” For a second I thought she wasn’t going to tell me. That I would have to get Macal an to fess up.
Emily must’ve realized she wasn’t going to get any sympathy from me. “You know I’ve been hanging out with Troy. Things just sorta happened on New Year’s, but you weren’t there, so I didn’t think it was a big deal. Then I realized I wanted to see if what he and I had was real, you know? But I didn’t want to give up on us and
I guess I was confused and didn’t know what to do and it’s obvious you hate me now.”
102
She final y took a breath, which was enough time for me to understand what she had told me. Something had happened on New Year’s Eve. Even though Emily had already told me the opposite. And if I remembered correctly, that was the same time Macal an had
started acting different anytime Emily was brought up.
So Macal an knew something had happened and had kept it
from me.
I knew I should’ve been furious with my girlfriend of nearly eight months. But instead I was disappointed in Macal an. She had to
choose between Emily and me. And she’d chosen Emily, the liar.