“He’s not a douche, Blaire, and I’m not about to stand here-”
“Oh, you’re gonna stand there, or you would’ve been gone already.” She turned and looked at me with venom in her eyes. “Admit it, you want to know all I know about Brody because the truth is, you barely know him yourself.”
I stood frozen, like an animal in her crosshairs, but I felt stronger this time. Maybe I couldn’t get my legs to move, but my mouth certainly could.
“You know what, Blaire? I think it’s you who doesn’t know Brody.”
She tossed her head of thick blonde hair back and laughed. “Did he tell you all about Kendall?”
I put my hand on my hip and cocked it to the side. “As a matter of fact, he did.”
“Oh really?” She straightened up and smirked at me. “Did he tell you he saw her last weekend?”
Bile rose up in my already uneasy stomach. Breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth, I did my best to keep my dinner down, not wanting her to know she was getting to me … again.
Is she lying? She has to be lying. He wouldn’t have seen her again, right? Not after we…
“I don’t believe a damn word you say, Blaire.”
“Okay,” she said, as she whipped her phone out and thumbed something onto the buttons. “I’ll prove it to you, Princess.”
“I don’t have time for your bullshit. My date is waiting for me.” I turned to leave the bathroom, but that didn’t stop her.
“Go ahead, live it up while you can, it’s only a matter of time before he throws you away too,” she cooed.
God, this obnoxious woman knows how to push my buttons.
“You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” I spat as I turned around.
“Of course I do, Kacie. I’ve seen it a hundred times with him. He likes a girl and brings her around constantly for a few weeks. As soon as he gets sick of her, he tosses her aside and goes onto the next.” She faced the mirror and tousled her hair.
I’d had enough. Nothing I could say would get through her stone exterior, I was just wasting my breath arguing. I stomped toward the bathroom door and almost fell through it when it was pulled open from the other side.
“Sorry,” I muttered, trying to regain my balance.
“No problem.” The girl with beautiful dark waves and bright bluish-purple eyes said to me.
Bluish. Purple. Eyes.
“You must be Kacie? Blaire has told me so much about you.” She smiled with rows and rows of perfect white teeth. “I’m Kendall.”
I whipped around to face Blaire who’d walked up behind me. “What the hell?”
“She texted me and asked me to come meet you,” Kendall answered for her. “She said you had some questions about Brody and last weekend.”
“I don’t have any questions.” Anger grew in me and seeped out of my pores as I glared back and forth between the two of them. “You two are insane.”
“Calm down, drama queen. I just wanted her to confirm that she did see him last weekend. Didn’t you, Kendall?”
“Mm-hmm,” she purred. “He’s such a sweetie and a great kisser too.”
“Face it, girl. You’re nothing but a summer fling,” Blaire hissed into my ear. “The only thing he’ll ever really love is hockey. Once the season starts, you’ll be in the rearview mirror crying in your fake designer purse. He’ll move on … and you can focus all your efforts on making cupcakes with your kids.”
I rushed past both of them and headed straight for an emergency exit opposite the ballroom. I needed space. Once outside, I sucked in the cool, crisp air as fast as I could, begging my pulse to slow to a normal rate.
What am I supposed to do now?
I could go flying into the ballroom and start screaming and yelling at Brody like a lunatic, embarrassing both him and myself and making Blaire and Kendall squeal with delight in the process. Or … I could tuck my tail between my legs and wait. Wait until we were alone. Wait until I had time to think about the things Blaire had said. Wait until I could distance myself from him enough emotionally so that all of this wouldn’t hurt so much.
That’s what I would do. Wait.
“Everything okay?” I stood as Kacie came back to the table. “You were gone a long time.”
“I’m … fine,” she stammered, delivering the fakest smile I’d ever seen on her perfect face.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“I went looking for you and ran into Blaire. She said you two were chatting in the bathroom. What did she say?”
“Nothing. I just needed air for a minute. I’m fine.”
“Okay.” I reached for her hand, but the second I touched her she tensed up.
There was that damn word again. Fine.