“He spent half the night with his friends,” she said. “Then there was this girl.”
“Did he cheat on you?”
“No. At least, I don’t think so. He was flirting with her. I asked him about it, and he said she was nobody.”
“Then what happened?”
“I asked why he’d brought me if he wanted to spend the whole night with everyone except me.”
“He told me I was making a big deal out of nothing. So I asked why he asked me in the first place.”
Her eyes filled.
“He said his parents kept telling him he should.”
“His parents?”
“He said they’d been telling him for weeks to ask me because our families know each other and I didn’t have a date.”
“Maddie…”
“And because they knew I’d say yes.”
She gave a small, bitter laugh.
“Apparently everybody knew I’d say yes.”
“What did you say?”
“I asked if he would’ve asked me if his parents hadn’t said anything.”
“And?”
“He didn’t answer.”
That was an answer.
“I walked away,” she said.
“That’s when Eli found you?”
“Later.”
“What happened before that?”
“Nothing. I sat outside.”
“By yourself?”
“Yes.”
“And Tyler?”
Her mouth tightened.
“I thought he’d come after me.”
