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I cringe, memories of that party coming back to me in fuzzy flashes.
Ugh! I so can’t do this right now.
“Don’t tell him I’m here,” I mouth, dashing into the bathroom.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I hope the sound of Lani opening our door masks the sound of me clicking the bathroom door shut.
“Ben, hey. How are you? I’m Lani.”
“Yeah, I remember. It’s nice to see you again.” His voice sounds like he’s smiling.
“So, you’re after Caroline, huh?”
“Yeah. Uh… sorry if I’m crossing a line here.” He lets out another awkward laugh. “I swear, I’m not a stalker, I just… can’t stop thinking about her, and I’m really keen to reconnect.”
My face scrunches as I bite back a whining whimper and rest my head against the wet tiled wall.
“Sorry, she’s not here right now. But I’ll definitely tell her you stopped by.”
“That would be awesome. Thank you.”
“Okay.”
“Uh, do you want my number? She could call?—”
“Why don’t you give it to her when you see her?”
“Yeah, all right. I’ll, um… I mean, do you know when she’ll be back?”
“Today? Probably late. Not sure. But I’ll definitely tell her you stopped by.”
Great. She’s repeating herself. It’s so obvious she’s lying.
Ben takes a minute to respond, and my stomach tenses as I wait for him to call her on it, but instead he sighs. “Okay, well, thanks. I just… I’d love to see her again, you know?”
“Yeah. I understand.” Lani’s voice goes soft, like she’s smiling, and I scowl at the towels hanging on the back of the bathroom door.
Why is she being so nice to him?
“Well, hopefully I’ll see you around.” He sounds so disappointed, and now I feel like total shit.
“Yeah.” Lani’s voice is too tight. “See ya, Ben.”
The door clicks shut, and I wait a beat to make sure he’s clear of our room before I walk back into it.
“He’s gone.” Leilani’s tone has lost all its sweetness, and I creep open the bathroom door to her unimpressed frown.
“What?” I flick my hand at her.
She crosses her arms with a reprimanding mama look. “You need to tell that guy there’s nothing going on between you two.”
I roll my eyes. “Has my serious ghosting not been enough for him? The guy just won’t quit.”
“Because you’re not being honest with him! I know you don’t want to hurt his feelings or anything, but you’re being rude and immature by ignoring him. Just tell him the truth.”
“I can’t.” My voice pitches. “He doesn’t want to hear that I’m not interested in him.” I let out a groan, fisting the top of my hair. “I never should have flirted with him at that party.”
She snorts. “Flirted. Yeah, that’s all you were doing.”
