Finally, after a long, awkward moment, he let go of the girls and turned slowly to face me. His posture was stiff, and his eyes were so cold, they gave me a shiver. In a tight voice, he said, "Alright. Go ahead."
I swallowed. "What?"
"Go ahead," he repeated. "Tell me and be done with it."
I almost flinched. Where was the guy I loved? He had to be in there somewhere, right? I gave his companions a nervous glance. "Can't we talk alone?"
Bustier gave a snort of disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me." She looked to the other girl and said, "Can you believe this chick?"
If it weren't so pathetic, I might've laughed. It was, after all, the same exact same thing she'd said to me earlier about her new best friend.
Ignoring them, I inched forward, walking slowly until I was standing within arm's reach. I gave Joel a pleading look. "Just five minutes, okay?"
He watched me in stony silence, but said nothing.
I tried to smile. "Please? I drove all this way just to talk to you."
He gave a tight shrug. "Not my problem."
"Yeah," Bustier chimed in, "like he'd care."
I looked to Joel, waiting for him to contradict her.
He didn't.
The other girl snickered. She looked to me and said, "Sonow, you need to drive all the way home." She made a fake pouty face. "Bummer for you, huh?"
Yes.It was a bummer and then some, but I wasn't going anywhere yet. I returned my attention to Joel. The way it looked, hedidn'tcare. But thatcouldn'tbe true.
Somewhere, under that cold, hard façade was the guy I loved. I just needed to reach him. But how? I was still searching for the perfect thing to say when Bustier suddenly blurted out, "Oh, my God, you'reher."
I froze.Oh, crap.
