Holly kept texting him all night from what was allegedly her own number, but Danny ignored the texts. After the first one, he didn’t even bother reading them. He’d turned off his phone so he didn’t have to hear another word from the Page girls.
The next morning, he dragged himself to his team’s basketball game out at the Countryside tournament. Or, really, he didn’t drag himself. Brian dragged him. Given a choice, Danny would’ve stayed far away from that place. The North Pole High basketball team was so far from his reality right now, and, frankly, he wanted nothing to do with it. He didn’t want to see Phil Waterston in his seat on the bench, or Kevin taking Danny’s spot on the floor, or Star cheering the team on from the sidelines. It was all part of a world Danny no longer belonged to.
But he kind of did want to get out of North Pole for a while, so he went, leaving his phone at home.
Brian dropped him off at Santabucks after the game, around one. Danny had promised his mom he’d work the afternoon shift until the third round of the gingerbread contest started at four. Brian had offered to bring Danny’s showstopper over to the town hall, so all Danny had to do was show up on time…where he would come face to face with the Page girls, whom he’d been avoiding all day.
He was on edge during his whole shift. Every time the bell above the door rang, Danny startled, worried that it’d be either Holly or Elda or both. He’d have to face them sooner or later, and he was banking on later. After today, he planned on hiding for the next week, until they left town. He’d stay in his house and play video games or something. It’d be fine.
But then the Santabucks bell rang, and in walked Elda with Dinesh. It wasn’t fine. She was glaring right at Danny. Dinesh had to stop her from lunging at him.
“So, you’re here,” Elda said. “You’re alive.”
Danny walked over to the register and leaned on his crutches. Elda was a customer, nothing more. And that’s how he’d treat her. He didn’t owe her anything. Not one stinking thing. “What can I get you?”
“Nothing,” she said. “Did your phone die or something? Did you drop it in the toilet?”
“We have a special today on eggnog lattes,” he said.
“I’ll try one of those,” Dinesh said.
Danny grabbed a cup and went over to the espresso machine.
Elda muttered to Dinesh, “We’re not ordering anything.”
“But I want one. He owes me. I let him into laser tag with his broken leg.”
“I’m on it, Dinesh.” Danny started making the latte. At least it was something to keep him busy, something to focus on instead of Elda’s angry eyes.
“Holly stayed up texting you all night.” Elda stood behind the espresso machine, peering around it to see Danny better. He still refused to look up. “She was trying to apologize, trying to tell you her side of the story.”
“You want whipped on this, Dinesh?” Danny knew Holly’s side of the story. She and her cousin had spent the past week or so pranking Danny, not even caring what it did to him.
“I know you think you’re the victim here, but you’re no less to blame than Holly.”
Danny glared at her as he placed Dinesh’s drink on the counter. How dare she? How dare she stand there with her hands on her hips like Danny wasn’t the one who’d had his heart trampled on. “Oh, really?”
Elda rested her hands on the counter. She and Danny were almost nose to nose. Her dagger-like fingernails were pointing right at him. “Yeah. Really.”
“How am I even remotely to blame for this situation?”
“Because you were never genuinely interested in me. You wanted her the whole time.”
Danny staggered backward a bit. He blamed his crutches. “You have a lot of nerve, Elda.” He focused on putting a lid on Dinesh’s cup.
“I could tell you were vibing on her right from the start. I only went along with Holly’s plan because you were cute, I needed to shake up my romantic life, and Holly insisted she wasn’t into you. I bought her lie because she’s an evil genius, but I saw right through you. You were looking at her dog tattoo the day we spoke at the dance.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Yeah. I noticed a tattoo. As people do.”
“Oh, but it was more than that. You never had two words to say to me. You were always checking her out when we were together. She’s the one who made you laugh.”
Danny shrugged. None of that meant anything, because it didn’t erase the fact that they had sold him a bill of goods posing as his dream girl.
“Instead of being honest with her—or me, for that matter—that Holly was the one you wanted, you kept up this charade that you had a thing for me when you most certainly did not.”
Well, she had him there.
“Frankly, I should be the one who’s pissed off. You could’ve broken my heart,” Elda said. “Or I could’ve kept pursuing this thing with you and missed out on meeting Dinesh.” She wrapped an arm around Dinesh’s shoulders.
She had a point, but she was leaving out a key piece of information. “Elda. You never liked me, either.”
“True.” She rested her head against Dinesh’s shoulder.
“So, we’re all to blame. We all screwed this up,” Danny said.
“Not me. I’m blameless.” Dinesh pointed to the pastry display. “So, I’ll take a cinnamon crunch muffin with my latte.”
Danny reached for the tongs.
“Yup. We’re all to blame,” Elda agreed. “But blame is a waste of time, my friend. Holly and I are only going to be here for one more week, then we’re gone. You could stand here blaming her, or you could go to her, forgive her, and spend the next week making out with a girl you’re totally attracted to.”
Between “make out with Holly” or “not make out with Holly,” the former definitely sounded a lot more fun. “I’ve already tried the whole dating a girl who treats me like garbage thing. Not recommended.” He handed Dinesh his muffin in a bag.
Elda reached across the counter and squeezed Danny’s hand. “Yeah, Holly was texting you under someone else’s name, but that was the only thing fake about it. She showed you who she was. She opened up to you more in the past week than she’s ever opened up to anyone.”
Danny glanced out the window. People were filing past, heading to the town hall for the gingerbread contest. He checked the Rudolph clock on the wall. They still had a little time, today and until Holly left North Pole for good. Frankly, they’d wasted enough time. “Where is she?”
“Home.” Elda raised her eyebrows. “She felt so bad about hurting you that she’s forfeiting the gingerbread contest.”
His heart sped up. “What? No. She worked so hard—for herself and your grandma. She can’t just give up.”
“That’s what I told her, but she wouldn’t listen to me.”
Danny glanced at the clock. It was three-thirty. The competition was due to start in a half hour. His mom should be here at any minute to take over his shift, but Danny had to do something. Now. He couldn’t just let Holly give up. “Okay. Anybody have a car? Dinesh?”
He shook his head. “Sorry, man.”