I stare across the table at Zane. "Whoa. When did everybody leave?"
"I…" He flips his hair off his shoulders. "I don't know. I think we might have gotten a bit carried away."
"I agree. Should we call it a tie?"
He nods. "Yeah, okay."
We pack up the board in silence.
I feel terrible.
I'm an adult, not a bratty kid. I should be conducting myself way better. Why am I letting this guy get under my skin?
Things had been going well all night, largely because Buzz plonked himself between us. And then someone suggested we play a "quick game" of Monopoly, and something snapped in me. People went bankrupt and started dropping out, and when it came down to just me and Zane, no way in hell could I let him win.
I'm not a jerk, and I need to stop letting this guy trigger me into acting like one.
"Hey, I think it's really cool you came along tonight," Zane says as we head toward the front door.
"You do?"
"Yeah. I wasn't sure how you'd be after my last date with Buzz."
"Your chocolate-making class. It wasn't a date."
He smirks. "But it ended like one."
I should just flick the light switch off and end this conversation right now. Nothing good can come out of engaging with him.
But against my better judgment, I can't do that.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, didn't Buzz tell you? We kissed."
Have to give him credit, he's not just a liar, he's a bold-faced one, staring me square in the eye as he spouts his bullshit.
"That so?"
"Yep. Best kiss of my life. Buzz said the same thing, too."
I take a breath and collect my thoughts. I could put an end to his whole stupid, misguided show of bravado right this very second. But if I knock him down a peg or two like I would love to, I'll be putting Buzz in exactly the kind of position he hates being in.
So, out of loyalty to my best friend, I muster up a smile and say, "I'm so happy for you."
The second I cut the lights, my smile vanishes, and I have to hold myself back from strangling the fucker in the dark.
"Can you believe the nerve of the guy?" I vent to Lola the next day, perched on her counter even though I'm way too old—and probably too heavy—to be sitting here like this.
She looks up from the sauce she's been stirring while I've been going off about what that little prick said to me last night. "He's obviously threatened by you."
"I get that. But to lie? That's so not cool. I don't want Buzz being friends with someone like that."
"That's not your call to make," she says, calmly returning her focus to the sauce. "Buzz is an adult. He can make his own decisions. Did you tell him about what happened?"
"No. I wanted to," I say, my legs dangling over the edge.
"So why didn't you?"
