All Chapters of Filling in the Boyfriend spot: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

Tom kept talking. His voice made me remember how easy our relationship had been. Uncomplicated. There weren’t ex-girlfriends to contend with or feelings to decipher or roles to be played. We had just been together.Silence took over the line and I realized he was waiting for me to respond to something I hadn’t heard. “I’m sorry. What?”“I want to see you again.”“You do?”“Yes.”Hayden and the way he’d been standing so close to Eve, laughing with her, flashed through my mind. “Can I ask you a question?”“Of course.”“What did you like about me?” I was feeling very unlikable.“You’re fun. We had a lot of good times together.” That was all he said. Then he stopped like that was profound and should be enough to send me running back to him. Not that I was judging him. I was pretty sure that would’ve been my answer if he had

“I want to hear your side,” Hayden said. “I want to understand what happened.”“My side? What about your side?”“My side is pretty simple. I went to use the bathroom. My ex-girlfriend pulled me into a conversation with an old friend. Then when I came back with a surprise chocolate chip cookie for you, you were gone.”“That’s a pretty good side, but the side I was referring to was how exactly you explained us to Spencer.”He looked up like he was thinking. “Oh. After Eve’s graduation party I told him how I’d met you and how you returned the favor.”“Well, he got the wrong impression.”“What do you mean? Does this have to do with the confusing hooker text you sent me?”“I’m sure Spencer told you what happened.”“Spencer told me that you saw me talking to Eve, got really mad, said a few choice words, then left.”

“For the record, I may be a lot of things—selfish, shallow, snobby—but prom night with you was the first time I’d ever lied to my friends. And when I wanted to tell them the truth that night, you kept it going. Not that I’ve been anxious to tell them since. And as for Spencer, he was such a huge jerk to Laney, but I hardly knew him. You liked him so I thought I’d give him the benefit of the doubt instead of tattling on him to you. My point is that I’m not a liar.” I gave a humorless laugh. “I guess I can’t even say that anymore after prom night, can I? I’ll just add it to the list. I’m a selfish, shallow, snobby liar with a strong need for validation.” Who had gotten extremely good at feeling sorry for herself lately.“tia, stop. You’re not any of those things. I’m just confused because one of my best friends is telling me one thing and you’re telling me the complete opposite. Can you understand why I might be a little conflicted?”

“What’s wrong?” she asked immediately. That morning on the car ride over I’d done a pretty good job of hiding my sadness. But somehow talking to Bec made everything worse. Her believing me made it even more sad that Hayden hadn’t. Made me realize even more that he should’ve.“Bad day.”“You want to talk about it?”“Not really.”“Is it Drew? Are you guys still fighting?”“Yes—wait, how did you know Drew and I were fighting?” I hadn’t told anyone else because that would require them having to watch the most embarrassing video ever.“mea said she saw some video online or something.”“She did? How?”“I don’t know. Maybe your brother linked it on his Facebook page. Anyway, she said you were mad at Drew. I thought you told her that. I was surprised you hadn’t told me.”“No, I didn’t tell her.” I couldn’t proc

Why did that news send dread into my heart? “I thought you hated the internet.”He smiled like it was a joke.“Help with what?”“You’ll see.”“How did you know I was here?” I asked him.“Mom and Dad have a GPS in your phone. Tell me you knew that.”“I know. I just don’t know why they insist on giving that information out to everyone.”“Because I brought you a surprise. A make-up gift. Something your friend assured me you’d be happy about.” With that he smiled at mea and the dread in my heart turned to ice.“A make-up gift?”“A present to make up for my extremely horrible behavior.”I smiled nervously. If Jmea was involved, this couldn’t be good . . . or maybe Claire had been giving her the “try harder” speech too. Maybe she really was trying harder. Maybe she’d watched that video Drew m

Claire stood. “Glad to know how you feel.” With that she left. Laney paused for one brief moment and then went with her.I looked at Drew, but he just shook his head in disgust. He was now probably very pleased with himself for making a video about how much I needed validation. “Really, tia?”“Please don’t judge me right now.” My voice wobbled when I spoke so I didn’t say anything else.He tapped Tom ’s arm and jerked his head toward the door and they both walked away. Why didn’t I have a brother who would defend me even if I stole a Popsicle? I leaned my forehead on the table and decided I wasn’t moving until someone made me.Someone clearing her throat made me look up. How had I not noticed that mea hadn’t left with the others?“What?”“I’ve been to six high schools in four years. Claire was the only person who ever made me feel like I belonged.”

 Drew stumbled into the kitchen after me and read the note over my shoulder. “You broke Mom.” I clenched my teeth. “You broke Mom.” I pushed past him, grabbed the keys off the hook in the laundry room, and left the house. Drew was right. I’d broken everything, but today I was going to fix it. So when I pulled into the lot, I parked in the section where Claire always did. Her car wasn’t there. I waited with no luck until the bell rang. The second bell didn’t magically produce her either. My eyes drifted to Laney’s car, parked a few rows over. Had they driven together? I knew I needed to fix things with Laney and mea as well, but I wanted to start with Claire. I sighed and climbed out of my car. As I headed to class, an idea took over. I was student body president. I usually didn’t abuse that title, but today I was going to make it work for me. I changed my

“Here’s the thing—”“Please, I don’t want to talk about it.”“Just hear me out and then I’ll shut up.”“Fine.”She nodded once. “Thank you. So here’s the thing,” she said again with a smirk in my direction. “He didn’t want to be Ryan. He didn’t want to choose a girl over a friend. He had just been on the wrong end of that and knew how it felt and he didn’t want to do it to someone else. To the only friend he had left after everything with Eve blew up. He needed to believe Spencer. But it doesn’t matter anymore because he confronted him. Like, really confronted him and the truth about you came out. And he’s a mess, tia.”“He hasn’t tried to call or text or anything.”“Because he screwed up and he knows it. He doesn’t think he deserves a second chance. So please, you have to talk to him.”“I shouldn’t have to be the one to initiate this.”

I pulled my arm back and threw the ball with all my might. It hit the door with a loud clank then bounced off and rolled across the ground. The ding it left in the rusted door was hardly noticeable and only heightened my need to do damage. Real damage. I picked up another ball and hurled it. Then another.Soon it wasn’t just Hayden I was trying to crush but mea and my parents, Drew and myself. I reached down for another ball and felt nothing but dirt. I had thrown them all. My heart rate was high and my cheeks were wet with sweat and maybe a few tears.I started to gather the balls when behind me I heard, “Do you want to throw a few at the actual person those are intended for or is the car satisfying enough?”I whirled around. Hayden held out his arms like he was really giving me permission to pelt him. It was tempting.My shoulders rose and fell several times. After the week I’d had, I

I nodded, our faces still very close together.“My preference is simple—you.”“That was not a yes-or-no answer. You just broke the ru—”He cut me off by pressing his lips to mine. They were so warm that my whole body seemed to melt against him. He slipped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer, deepening the kiss as he did. My hands found his hair, not needing an excuse to touch him this time, knowing I could do this whenever I wanted.A shiver went through me and he smiled against my lips. “So, not a disappointment?”I didn’t answer, just kissed him more.We sat on the ground, our backs pressed up against the Camaro, our shoulders pressed together, tossing a baseball back and forth between his right hand and my left.“Thank you,” he said after we’d completed several catches each.“For what?”