No, I think. Please not now.
Slowly, Darren’s lips curve into a smile, revealing the dimple in his left cheek. He straightens up as though he’s about to walk straight over to me and I quickly put my guard up, preparing myself. Darren is the last person I want to see right now. Even at the best of times, he is a douchebag whenever his friends are around, so I definitely can’t handle him right now—not here in the middle of Cane’s while I’m with Jaden Hunter.
Will begins to move and I stick to him like glue, following so close behind him that I almost trip over his feet, desperate to scramble away from Darren. Holden has found us an empty booth at the opposite side of the restaurant, which I couldn’t be more relieved about. He’s already sitting down, leaning against the window and counting the bills in his wallet as the four of us approach.
Will slides in next to him and, in my rush to avoid Darren, I quickly slide into the booth opposite them. Dani and then Jaden follow in behind me, the three of us perfectly aligned opposite Holden and Will, and at this point, all nerves about being around the Hunters disappear. All I care about is Darren. I lean back and steal a glance past Dani, my eyes roaming the bustling restaurant in search of him. When I realize that he hasn’t moved from his spot against the booth divider, I relax only a little. He’s not looking at me anymore; instead he’s chuckling as his group of friends explode into laughter. I exhale and turn back to face my own company.
“Should we just get a tray to share?” Will suggests, and we all agree on a tray of twenty-five and each toss some cash onto the table, which Will pools together as he stands, offering to get the food. I can see in Holden’s face that he wishes he had offered instead.
“Is it just me or are Kailee Tucker and Jess Lopez staring at us?” Dani asks, speaking up for the first time. She keeps her voice low and her eyes on me, and she doesn’t look too happy. I look past her, over Jaden, and find their table again. Sure enough, their curious gazes are boring straight into our booth, but the second my eyes meet theirs, they look away, embarrassed.
“I think they’re just surprised to see you out again,” I admit, looking back at Dani. I’m not going to lie, because it’s not a cruel truth. They are surprised to see her. People are surprised in a good way. What I don’t add is that they’re probably more surprised to see them out with me.
“You know you live in a small town when people are surprised to see you outside of your house,” Dani murmurs, pulling the long sleeves of her black T-shirt over her hands and then folding her arms across her chest, sighing.
“Dani,” Jaden says, gently nudging her with his elbow. He frowns at her and there’s something in his blue eyes as he looks at her that I can’t quite understand, something unspoken between them, almost like a warning.
“I just wish people would get over it already,” she adds quietly, her expression sad as she leans back against the padded booth. “You expect us to move on and live our lives as normal and yet you don’t make us feel normal.”
Jaden glances between Holden and me with an apologetic sort of smile, sorry that Dani has made the conversation an impossible one. Now we’re back at square one again, where neither Holden nor I have a clue how to respond.
“As you can imagine,” Jaden says, forcing a laugh as he attempts to lighten the mood, “we can’t wait to graduate.”
Holden’s expression is blank as he studies the twins, trying to figure them out, and with piqued interest he asks, “Why? Are you leaving Windsor?”
“Hopefully,” Jaden says, nodding, though Dani rolls her eyes at him, seemingly annoyed. But I get it; I can understand why they would want to leave. Next year, when they start college elsewhere, no one is going to know their history; no one is going to know about “the Hunter tragedy”; no one is going to tiptoe around them like the way us folks in Windsor do.
At that exact moment, before anything more can be said, someone quickly slides into the booth next to Holden. It’s Darren. Holden immediately exchanges a concerned look with me, and I part my lips, prepared to tell Darren that now isn’t the time and to leave us alone. The guy I left him for is sitting right next to me.
“Hello, kids,” he says with that annoyingly arrogant tone of his. There’s a patronizing smirk on his face as he rests his elbows on the table and leans forward. If it were just the two of us here, he would be his happy, sweet, gentle self. But when he has an audience, he changes. “So where have you guys been tonight?” he asks, glancing sideways at Holden.
“We had a game,” Holden says, keeping his answer short. He doesn’t ask anything in return, and instead pulls out his phone again and returns to fake texting. He’s not Darren’s biggest fan, and the last thing he wants to talk about right now is the game.
Darren’s dark eyes flicker to meet mine and he smirks. “Were you there too, Kenz?”
There’s irritation rising in my chest at the mere sight of his cocky expression. It is so frustrating watching his personality change so drastically depending on who he is surrounded by. I know that he is a nice person, really, but to everyone else, he is nothing more than Darren Sullivan the Asshole. I can’t deal with this ridiculous act that he puts on.
“Yes, Darren, I was there,” I say very slowly and very firmly, emphasizing my annoyance that he thought it would be okay to come over here. I sense Jaden shift uncomfortably at the end of the booth. He knows that Darren and I were together; however, Darren doesn’t know that Jaden is the person I still had feelings for. And I do not want him to find out.
“Have you thought anymore about what we talked about?” Darren asks. I don’t like the way he words this, as though it was a willing, casual conversation on my part when he ambushed me at work on Monday. It certainly wasn’t.
Holden narrows his eyes suspiciously at me. I haven’t told him and Will that I spoke to Darren on Monday, because I didn’t think it was even important. Run-ins with Darren are a regular occurrence. He appears out of nowhere, claims he misses me, and then tries to get back together. I don’t know how long he’s going to keep trying until it finally hits him that it’s never going to happen.
“No, I haven’t,” I answer, looking him straight in the eye. I am silently pleading with him to leave, and I can only hope my cold tone is enough to convince him that although we are friends, I don’t want to be around him right now.
He cocks his head to one side as he reads my expression, that silly smirk still on his face as he studies me intensely, the gears in his mind shifting while he considers what to say next.
But he doesn’t get the chance to say anything at all, because suddenly Will is back, apprehensive as he pushes the tray of chicken onto the table. His eyebrows are furrowed as he glances down to see who’s stolen his spot in the booth, and the second he realizes it’s Darren he fires me the same look of concern that Holden did.
“What are you doing here?” Will asks, defensive on my behalf. He’s never really liked Darren either.
“I just came over to catch up with my old buddies,” Darren says, grinning wide as he gets to his feet. He places his hand on Will’s shoulder and, in the most patronizing manner possible, asks, “Anything new with you, Water Valley kid? Dad paid your way into Harvard already? Got a boyfriend yet?”
“Hilarious,” Will deadpans, shrugging Darren’s hand off him and stepping back. He stuffs his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and continues to hold Darren’s taunting gaze, never looking away, never looking down. Darren is being more of a jerk than he usually is, and I’m pretty sure he’s only acting this way because I shut him down on Monday. He’s retaliating by putting up a front and hitting my friends with snide remarks, which he never would have done months ago.
“Darren,” I say, shaking my head at him. He’s not even worth the effort of grinding my teeth over, so I briskly wave him away with my hand. “C’mon. Go back to your own friends.”
Darren’s eyes flicker back over to meet mine. “But you haven’t introduced me to your new friends yet.”
I glance sideways at Dani and Jaden. They’re both silent. Dani looks more uncomfortable than ever, her eyes on the table, expression blank, trying her best to not get involved. Jaden, however, is looking up at Darren with narrowed, curious eyes. I can already place a bet on what he’s thinking. He’s trying to figure out why I ever dated Darren. I sometimes find myself asking the same thing.
“Jaden Hunter,” he says, then gently nudges his shoulder against Dani’s as he motions toward her. “And this is my sister, Danielle.”
Darren’s expression softens for a split second as realization dawns on him. He looks at me again, but this time it seems he’s searching for an answer. “Hunter?” he repeats, and I give him the smallest of nods to confirm his thoughts.
“Yep,” Jaden says, plastering a smile across his face. Immediately, I can tell it’s fake. It’s not his real smile, the one he gives me, the one that’s crooked.
“Right,” Darren murmurs. He’s lost his ego now and he awkwardly scratches the back of his neck, unsure of what to say next. Quickly, he glances over his shoulder, back to his friends, who are still the loudest booth in the joint. “I should go.”
I don’t even look at him again. Instead, I pull the tray of chicken fingers toward me and pay more attention to scouring the pile for the juiciest piece than I do to Darren. “Yeah,” I say with a shrug. “See you.”
No one says anything more as Darren turns on his heels and scuffles back across the restaurant to the safety of his friendship circle, who—for the record—are all pretty much morons. I used to think they were cool, but they’re really not.
“No offense, MacKenzie,” Dani says, finally looking up, her voice stronger than it was before, “but if I’m not wrong in figuring out that that’s your ex, then you dated a douchebag.”
“You got that right,” Will says, nodding in agreement.
Jaden stays silent, but he catches my gaze. The warmth in his expression contrasts with the cool, ice blue of his eyes, and I wonder just what exactly, in that moment, he thinks of me. Maybe he thinks I’m an idiot for dating Darren. Maybe he thinks I’m smart for getting myself out of that relationship. Maybe he’s glad that I did.