Page 49

“It’s true what they say,” Paige says. “There are two sides to every story.”

“Well,” I snap, “it doesn’t matter to me.” I look at Nash and give him my most devilish grin. “He got you good, didn’t he?”

Nash sets his mug down, gets up, and walks out of the diner.

“Okay,” Koda says, changing the subject.

I watch the back of Nash disappear outside.

The girls start talking about what they’re doing later, and my phone buzzes face up on the table. It’s Evan. It rings, and I stand to take it.

Kenzie gives me a particular look that I ignore.

Nash is on the curb when I step out, sitting on the edge of the sidewalk in front of the diner with his forearms on his knees and a wad of bloody napkins in one hand. He looks up when the door closes behind me. The phone is still ringing. I walk out toward the parking lot and answer.

“Hi.”

“Hey.” Evan’s voice. “Hey. You picked up.”

“Yeah.”

“I know you said—I know what you said. I just—” He stops. “I thought I could do it, and I can’t. I can’t do the not-talking-to-you thing, Kylie.”

I stop walking and close my eyes. There’s traffic on Beall, and it’s cold, so I start pacing the sidewalk. Behind me, through the glass, Koda says something loud enough to hear through the wall, and all the girls laugh.

“Where are you?” Evan asks. “It’s loud.”

“Out.”

“Out where?”

“A diner.”

“With who?”

I don’t want to tell him. The honest answer is stupid. I don’t want to explain that a girl used my name to get a phone number on Tuesday, and then told everybody my business. Evan would have an opinion on that. He’d make an entire thing out of it. I don’t want to lie, but I don’t think I owe him the answer either.

“Some people from Corvin,” I say, which isn’t a whole lie.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t sound fine.”

“Why are you calling, Evan?”

“Right.” A breath. “Right. I’m sorry.”

Then neither of us says anything. I stand on the sidewalk with the phone against my ear listening to him not say anything, and it’s the loneliest I have ever felt.

“I have to go,” I finally say.

“Kylie—”

“Please don’t call me. I asked you not to fucking call,” I snap.

“Okay.”