Lie to Me (A Touched Trilogy) (16 page)

“Girl, you dragged us all on this date and we’re going to
the bitter end so you learn your lesson.” Tonya’s voice came from behind
Nathan, and I looked over his shoulder to see her and Trevor staring.

“My lesson?” Had she figured out I’d been trying to get dirt
on Trevor?

“That the things we thought were cool seven years ago are
actually extremely lame.”

If my laugh was louder and longer than the others, it came
from the relief that she was totally unaware of my plotting. We started walking
to the entrance and I had to make a final decision. Either I continued to doubt
Trevor, or I could trust that Tonya knew what she was doing. By the time we hit
the doors, I decided I would go with Tonya. Not because of anything Trevor did,
but with the knowledge that she’d be pissed if I admitted I didn’t believe in
her.

Both Trevor and Nathan groaned when Tonya reminded them
about the romantic comedy we were going to see. Nathan even shot me a dirty
look. He knew that if it hadn’t been a double, we’d have been going to see the
new action flick. The romantic comedy had been Tonya’s price for this date and
we were all paying for it.

After getting our tickets, we joined the endless line at the
concession. Nathan headed to the restroom and Tonya followed a moment later. I
smiled at Trevor, trying my best to look friendly. When he smiled back, it was
hard not to be taken in. He was gorgeous, with a kind of Corbin Bleu thing
going on. It was even harder to picture him hurting Tonya.

“So,” I said for the sake of filling the dead air between
us. “You’re going to UCSD in the fall?”

“Yeah, but I’m not sure what for anymore.”

I clearly remembered him saying law before, a lie. Was he
covering his tracks?
Stop it, Phoebe.

“What were you going to do?”

“Law, but my dad is really pushing me to become an
accountant.”

“Your dad wants you to be an accountant rather than a
lawyer? My dad would be doing the happy dance until he died if I said I wanted
to be a lawyer.” It had been an idea that a year ago I’d contemplated for about
a minute before realizing that law school was really competitive and you pretty
much had to have kick ass grades to make it in. Dad thought I was capable. I
thought I didn’t want to spend the next ten years of my life in school.

“Both my parents are accountants and they want me to be part
of the family business. I know it doesn’t sound that exciting, but I guess I
wouldn’t mind it. Math was always my strong subject. Besides, it will mean a
lot less students loans than law school.”

“Have your parents met Tonya yet?”

“Yeah. They love her. I keep trying to get her to introduce
me to her grandma, but she freaks at the idea.”

“Mrs. Robinson can be pretty scary. None of the guys Tonya
has dated ever lasted past the first meeting.”

We made it up to the counter and I bought a pack of Junior
Mints for Nathan. Trevor bought a soda and then a giant tub of popcorn and had
them load it with the Cheddar powder Tonya was obsessed with.

We moved over to the side and chatted about school a bit
more, but when Nathan came back, I lapsed into silence, letting my mind run
through what I’d learned about Trevor. What I was seeing didn’t mesh with
anything I’d seen before. At the party, he’d been rude and he’d shown his
violent side when he’d fought Dylan. This was a completely different Trevor. He
was obviously educated and wanted to be a boring accountant. He sounded exactly
like what Tonya’s gran wanted for her.

Nothing he said were lies. So, why was my gut telling me he
was still wrong?

Tonya came rushing up, her eyes opened wide, and grabbed my
arm to pull me to the side.

“Oh my God, you’ll never guess who’s here.” She paused. I
didn’t bother asking, since a heartbeat later she told me. “Vivian and her
posse.”

“Great.” My gaze flicked over Tonya’s shoulder, but I didn’t
see Vivian. “Hopefully she’s going to a different movie, or better yet, maybe
she’s leaving.”

“Uh, no such luck. She’s heading this way.”

I turned and sure enough, there was Vivian flanked by four
friends, smiling at Nathan. She came up to us, her eyes completely focused on
him. Double date night just got far worse than I’d anticipated.

“Nathan, can I talk to you? Alone?”

“Um... I’m on a date.” His hands twitched in a lame gesture
to me as I moved to his side.

“Don’t you think you’re taking this a bit too far?” she
asked, giving him a pitying looking.

“Taking what too far?”

“This whole pretend break up. I know you were frustrated,
and I’ll change, okay? I’ll let you make some of the decisions.” Was she really
that oblivious to his red face or the awkwardness we all emanated as she stood
there telling him he should get back together with her? Apparently, because she
kept going. “You can even take me to that new horror movie.”

“Gee thanks, but Phoebe and I already went to see it.”

She faltered and her eyes flashed over to me. “Puh-leaze.
Are you really expecting me to believe that you’d rather date a Matlin freak
than me?”

“I could have sworn he wrote you a note to let you know,” I
said. Maybe it was a bit catty to get involved, but hey, she was insulting me.

And just as quickly as the words came from my mouth I was
covered with diet coke. Vivian’s empty cup hit my chest and the sticky sweet
liquid flowed down my face.

I jumped her. It was one of those instinctual,
uncontrollable things. I grabbed her hair and yanked as hard as I could. She
screamed, but whatever satisfaction I would have felt stalled when Nathan
grabbed me around the waist and pulled me off her.

Vivian scrambled back and I lunged against Nathan’s hold.

“That’s what you get for poaching,” she said and took off
with her sidekicks as I managed to get one arm free from Nathan’s hold.

“That’s right, run!” I called after her, my courage buoyed
by the sight of her quickly disappearing back. I stopped struggling against
Nathan’s hold and wiped my free hand across my face, flicking some of the soda
off to the side. The adrenaline rushing through me caused my entire body to
shake, even my fingers trembled and I curled them in, but it didn’t help.

“That is one crazy bitch,” Trevor said as we all watched
Vivian and her group huddle on the other side of the lobby. He nudged Nathan
with his elbow. “You really hooked up with her?”

“Please don’t go there right now,” I said before Nathan
could answer and then took in a deep breath, sucking in a drip of soda that
clung to my lower lip. I looked down at my dress. “Crap, Chloe’s going to kill
me.”

“Chloe?” Nathan asked, letting me go.

“It’s her dress. I borrowed it.” Running my hands down the
front, I tried to brush off the liquid before it stained the fabric. I glanced
up when I heard a snort. Tonya and Nathan both had their eyebrows arched high.
“Okay, so maybe she doesn’t know I borrowed it, but really, if it was that
important to her then she should have checked out my future.”

“Checked out your future?” Trevor asked, reminding me of his
presence.

“Oh, you know, the magic eight ball thing.” I gave a curt
smile and looked back at Nathan. “Do you mind if we go? I don’t really want to
sit around soaking wet.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” I said to Tonya, then turned to
Nathan. “Let me hit the restroom first.”

Ten minutes later, my face was soda and makeup free, and
water spots covered my chest. I held my jacket in front of me, trying to hide
the evidence of Vivian’s attack. Nathan was leaning on the wall next to the
women’s room door. Standing beside him was Dylan, decked out in his work clothes
and wearing a new black nametag with ‘assistant manager’ etched in white.

“Hey,” I said, nodding at Dylan. “What’s up?”

“He’s our personal escort,” Nathan said as Dylan shifted
uncomfortably from one foot to the other.

“What?” Was there anything else to add to my utter
humiliation? I wanted to kick Nathan when a chuckle burst from him.

“Apparently throwing a smack down is enough to get you
kicked out.”

“What about Vivian? She started it.” It felt like déjà vu.

“She’s already gone. We refunded your tickets and you guys
can come back another night, but...” Dylan shrugged.

“Whatever. We were leaving anyway.” I started walking,
letting them follow. I couldn’t believe that for the second time Vivian had
managed to attack me, yet I was the one getting in trouble. Where’s the
justice? I should get Dad to sue her or something, but that would require
admitting that this time I hit her back. That would be the first thing Dad
asked.
Did you walk away? Two wrongs don’t make a right.

I shoved the exit door open so hard it slammed into the
outer wall and then I stomped toward the parking lot.

“Hey, hey. Wait up!” Nathan jogged to catch up with me and I
stopped to watch him.

“Sorry, I’m just really getting sick of her crap. And I keep
getting in trouble.”

“You’re not in trouble, Phoebs.” He threw an arm over my
shoulder and hugged me to his side.

“You really don’t think this is going to get back to my dad?
Are you kidding me? I’m so dead when he finds out.”

“It’s not like you started it. Besides he can’t kill you if
Chloe gets to you first.” He lifted his hand and let a finger flick over an
exposed soda spot.

“Gee, you really know how to cheer me up.”

“I try.” He dropped a quick kiss on the tip of my nose.
“Come on, let’s go. You’re getting a little sticky.”

We got in the car, and I turned the stereo on, letting the
music fill the comfortable silence. When we pulled up to the house, only Lily’s
light was on. Chloe probably had a date with her flavor of the month and Dad
must have been working late, not an uncommon event even for a Saturday. I
unlocked the front door and Nathan trailed me inside.

“Did you want to try and go back? We could make the late
showing,” I said, looking over my shoulder as we went down the hall. He gave a
shrug, which I wasn’t sure how to take. “Or we could just watch a movie here.
Dad’s finally got us hooked up with an online subscription.”

“That sounds good. I don’t think Dylan would let us back in
anyways.”

“Yeah. Having my sister’s boyfriend working at the theater
should give me some perks, but with Dylan, I think we’ll be lucky if he ever
lets us go back. And even then he’ll only do it to keep Lily happy.”

“You know, he’s not all that bad,” Nathan said and I
remembered that they were pretty good friends. Or at least they had been until
Dylan entered his asshole phase a few months back.

We went down the stairs and when we reached the bottom, I
pointed through the doorway to our left. “TV’s in there. I’m gonna go change.”

“Need any help?” he asked, eyebrows wiggling up and down.

“Ha-ha. I don’t think so.”

“Just checking. I’m really good with zippers.”

“I’m pretty sure I can handle it.”

I rolled my eyes and gave him a shove in the direction of
the rec room, then went to my room, making sure the door shut behind me. I
pulled the dress off and flung it across my bed then tugged on a fresh pair of
jeans and a shirt. I took a glance in the mirror, wondering if I should bother
with makeup, but a lipstick note distorted my image.

Wash it now or I will kill you! C

A growl escaped my throat and I wished for the millionth
time that my private life were actually private. I snatched the dress from my
bed and went down to the laundry room. The washing machine lid stood open, a
pre-poured amount of detergent sitting on the edge. Obviously, Chloe wasn’t
going to take any excuse for it not being cleaned. I dumped everything in and
then went to join Nathan.

He was searching through the DVDs stacked on a floating wall
shelf. Normally Lily or Chloe kept the discs organized, but sometimes they
surrendered to my chaos until it drove them nuts.

“I couldn’t figure out how the TV worked, so I thought we’d
go old school. Any preference?” he asked.

“Zombies.” I said, sidling up to him. I pulled out a case
and flashed him the cover.

“What’s that?”

“Just the best television show ever made! I can’t believe
you’ve never heard of it.”

I stuck the DVD in, while Nathan sat down on the couch. When
I turned back around, I hesitated, wondering where to sit. It would have been
so much easier at the movie theater, but here... Was I supposed to sit right
beside him? Leave a bit of space?

I chickened out. “Can you get the lights?” I asked.

I waited until he stood up and had made it to the switch
before I dove for the couch. I curled my legs up to my chest and gave myself a
little smile, proud of my sneaky avoidance of...well, whatever it was I was
avoiding.

Nathan sat down right next to me, pressing against my side
and then draped an arm behind me, along the back of the couch. It was a heady
experience being alone and so close to him, and I loved how warm he was. I kept
waiting for him to make another move, because necking on the couch was a heck
of a lot easier than in the movie theater, but the move didn’t come and by the
start of the second episode his arm was still across my shoulders and I had given
up any pretense of being cool. Each ear was semi-plugged with a finger and my
eyes were squinted. The show wasn’t as scary as maybe a zombie movie would be,
but knowing when everything would happen made it even tenser.

The scary part passed and I relaxed enough to drop my hands,
letting one rest on my knee. I snuggled a bit closer, hoping that he’d take a
hint and move in for a kiss, but he didn’t, and I eventually leaned back a bit
and tried to focus on the serious dialogue the characters on the screen were
having.

“Did you hear something?” Nathan asked, glancing behind us.

“Ha-ha.”