“We made it back home for homecoming both my junior and senior year,” he continues, watching me carefully. “But prom just my junior year.”
He’s telling me something, something he doesn’t want to say with words.
My stomach drops when I realize why it was important he went back—it was because of his girlfriend.
“How long were you and Evie together?” I ask, moving my gaze to his shoulder when the eye contact becomes too uncomfortable.
“Three years.”
“Three years?”
He laughs, but it’s not a raw sound as I might expect. “We were next-door neighbors, grew up together.”
I want to groan—neighbors? Practically in love since they were children? How am I supposed to compete with that?
Wait—no.
There is no competition.This isn’t real.
Landon looks up at the sky. “We fought all the time. I always thought it was chemistry—you know,passion.” He rolls his eyes. “But in truth, it was nothing but exhausting.”
The passion part makes my skin crawl, even though he says the word in a scoffing voice, but I try to hide my revulsion for Landon’s sake.
“She ended up cheating on me before we broke up,” he says softly. “Gave me the “it’s me, not you”line when I found out.”
I meet his eyes, understanding completely. It’s a horrible thing to be cheated on, makes you feel like you’re meaningless. Trivial.
“Enough about Evie,” he says, rolling his shoulders, physically shaking off the somber mood. “The last thing I want to do is talk about the guy you dated, so I doubt you want to hear about her.”
Over his shoulder, Gia pulls someone into the center of the party. “Thomas.”
Landon nods. “Yeah.”
I stare at the boy standing next to Gia, and a cold, slimy feeling settles in my stomach. Hearing about Landon’s ex-girlfriend is bad, but it’s nothing compared to this.
“No,” I say, pulling my gaze from Gia to meet Landon’s eyes. Then I nod to the side, directing his attention to the table of refreshments that Misty provided. “He’shere.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Is that him?”Landon asks, almost as surprised as I am. Almost.
“Yeah,” I focus on Landon’s shirt though all I want to do is run back to the Suburban, beg him to take me home.
I knew I’d have to face him again, but I wasn’t ready. I don’t know if I’d ever be ready.
“What’s he doing?” I hiss at a whisper. “Has he spotted me? How does he look?”
“He looks short,” Landon says mildly, readjusting his hold on me.
“You know what I mean.” I give Landon a rueful look. “And besides, you’re at least six two. Most everyone is short compared to you.”
Landon’s lips quirk in a wicked half-smile. “Six-twoand a half.”
“And proud of it,” I tease, though my heart isn’t into the playful banter at the moment. I peek at Thomas, trying not to be obvious about it.
“Hey, Lacey?” Landon asks.
“Yeah?” I probably sound distracted because I’m searching for Thomas’s girlfriend. According to Paige, she’s supposed to be in Gray Jay too.
