Page 37 of Level With Me
“What do you mean?” I hoped my voice was casual.
“There’s something weird,” Eli said. “Did she get mad at you for saving her or something?”
I laughed at that, surprised. “Yeah.”
“She has this thing about figuring stuff out for herself. I think it came from our dad, back when he was normal.”
I raised my brow. “Normal?”
“He taught us how to take care of ourselves. How to be self-sufficient and all that. Guess he had to, looking after all of us. Cassandra kind of idolized him. Always brought stuff to him when she figured it out. Looking for a pat on the back or something.”
My chest twinged as I thought of Cassandra as a little girl, bringing her carefully constructed stuff to her dad for his approval. Would he pat her on the back? Or was he like my dad, who would have laughed? He wouldn’t accept any attempt at anything that wasn’t perfect. But it made sense why Cassandra seemed so upset about her dad being gone. She wanted to show him how well she was doing. She wanted his approval.
I knew what that was like.
“Well, sorry about her,” Eli said. “Not everyone hits it off with Cass. But she’s a softie on the inside. Loves sappy movies and shit. She’ll never admit it, though.”
“We did okay on the island,” I said.
“What do you mean, did okay?”
I realized what I’d said and looked away, shoving a bite of food in my mouth to give me room to think.
What the hell do I say? I liked the way Cassandra got mad at me? That we’d nearly kissed? That she’d blinked and looked down when I called her attractive, like she didn’t believe it?
But Eli spoke before I could. “She’s really messed up, you know.”
Messed up? “What do you mean?”
“Her ex—Ned—he cheated on her, with one of their friends. Not just once, either. A long-time thing.”
Understanding hit me then, like a slow-moving gut punch. It was why she was so upset about what had happened—or almost happened on the island.
Fuck.
I couldn’t stop thinking about punchingNedin the fucking face. Several times. Then myself, for trying anything with her. Even though I didn’t know. It didn’t matter—I’d known it was wrong.
Eli was looking at me. I wanted him not to be.
I cleared my throat. “We had a messed-up introduction. But we didn’t fight as much as you and Jude.”
“Fucking Jude,” Eli said.
My red herring worked.
I looked back at the table, wanting to see Cassandra again.
But it was empty.
“They ditched us.” Eli stated the obvious, yawning as if he couldn’t care less.
What the hell time was it? I pulled out my phone.
There was another text from Lila, this one from only a few minutes ago.
LILA:I’m going home. Taking the car. Find your own way back.
Shit.
