The Consequences of Forever (1) (30 page)

“I’ll change your mind,” he promised, brushing his lips across the top of my head. “I always do.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

             
Maggie and Nolan began dating in the middle of January.

             
No one was expecting it. They’d always flirted at school, but it seemed innocent, if flirting could ever really be considered innocent. But then one day there they were, walking down the hallway hand in hand, Maggie smiling from ear to ear.

             
Adam was the one who broke the news to me, although he didn’t seem any more pleased by the situation than I was. Maggie and Nolan dating meant she was going to be around a lot more, and if there was anything I knew for sure when it came to Adam and Maggie, it was that he genuinely didn’t like her.

             
It was my instinct to try and shield Hannah from the news, but that proved futile. When I got to the cafeteria the afternoon they became official, I could see from the look on her face that she’d already been alerted.

             
“He isn’t worth it, Hannah,” I said immediately as I sat down. “He isn’t good enough for you.”

             
“I’m going to have to agree with Lainey on this one,” Adam agreed. “Nolan’s an ass.”

             
Scott joined us soon after, and an awkward exchange of eye contact happened between him and Adam. It had been two weeks since Scott’s half-attempt at reconciliation, and although things had remained friendly between us, it still felt awkward sometimes.

             
“Don’t say a word,” Hannah warned him.

             
Scott raised his eyebrows. “Okay?”

             
“She doesn’t want you to tell her that you told her so about Nolan,” I advised him, receiving a warning glance of my own.

             
“Nolan?” Scott repeated. “What did he do now?”

             
“He’s dating that witch Maggie.” Hannah said angrily. “As in, actually dating, weeks after he told Lainey he didn’t want anything serious.”

             
“Well if you don’t want anything serious, Maggie seems like the perfect girl to date,” Scott remarked. “No offense,” he added, glancing at Adam.

             
“None taken,” Adam muttered.

             
“She’s not even that pretty,” Hannah complained. “Seriously. And she’s such a bitch.”

             
“We all know, Hannah,” I said sympathetically. “But maybe this will help you realize that Nolan isn’t all that great, either.” It wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but it was what she needed to hear.

             
“Maybe you should try to focus on someone else,” Adam suggested. “There’s this guy I used to talk to a lot on my track team, Eric. He’s pretty cool.”

             
Hannah made a face at him. “I don’t want to date an Eric, Adam. That just sounds like he’s some kind of a preppy track runner. Not my type.”

             
Adam looked at her, perplexed. “What the hell do you think Nolan is?”

             
Hannah glanced in Nolan’s direction, a look of wistfulness on her face. “A Greek god,” she admitted. “He has perfect features, and a perfect body, and ugh. Why can’t anyone ever just pick me?”

             
“He probably knows you’re out of his league,” I reassured her, but it fell on deaf ears. She started pouting, and I knew it would be a while until she stopped.

             
I took a fry off of her untouched tray and popped it into my mouth. “If it makes you feel better, your contest with Adam officially ends next week.”

             
“Contest?” Scott asked.

             
I grinned. “Yeah, Hannah and Adam are competing to see who is right about the baby’s gender. We’re supposed to be able to find out next week.”

             
“Wow. Already? How far are you?”

             
“Nineteen weeks this Friday.”

             
“I thought you were getting fatter,” Hannah remarked.

             
I raised my eyebrows at her. “Wow, Hannah.”

             
She sighed. “Sorry, Lainey. I didn’t mean anything by it. You are showing more, though.”

I put a hand over my stomach self-consciously. I’d thought so too, but I wasn’t sure if anyone else had noticed. Adam wrapped his arm around my shoulders.

              “That’s a good thing,” he said. “It means our little boy is growing big and strong.” He winked at Hannah, who rolled her eyes at him.

             
“It’s going to be a girl, Adam, and she’ll probably grow up big and strong enough to kick your ass.”

             
Adam raised his hands in self-defense. “Hey, what did I do?”

             
“You’re friends with that creep!”

             
“If it makes you feel any better, I won’t hang out with him when she’s around.”

             
“Wow, what a sacrifice.”

             
Almost as if on cue, Nolan appeared at the table, Maggie leeched onto his arm. “Hey, Adam. Are we still on for this weekend?” I noticed he was carefully avoiding looking at Hannah.

             
“This weekend?” Adam repeated, purposely ignoring Maggie, who appeared to be trying really hard to get his attention. She held onto Nolan even tighter, forcing herself into Adam’s view.

             
“Yeah, my parents are going away again so I thought we were talking about doing a double date or something.”

I vaguely remembered Adam mentioning that, but we’d assumed the double date would mean including Hannah, not her arch-enemy. Maggie’s eyes directed on me and she smiled sweetly. I’ve never seen someone look so evil when trying to appear so nice.

              “I don’t think so,” Adam said, shaking his head.

             
Nolan frowned. “Why not?”

             
“Are you really going to make me answer that?” Adam replied, shooting a quick glance at Maggie. She beamed.

             
“Seriously, man?”

             
“Yeah, seriously.”

             
Nolan clenched his teeth and looked like he was preparing to say something, but then changed his mind. “Whatever,” he said, tugging his arm free of Maggie. He turned around and headed out of the cafeteria. Maggie watched him go and then turned back to us, making tsk tsk noises with her teeth.

             
“I know it’s probably strange for you, seeing your best friend with your ex-girlfriend and everything, but you had your chance, Adam. You shouldn’t take it out on Nolan.”

             
“Is that what you think this is?” Adam laughed, and for the briefest of moments, a flicker of something almost vulnerable crossed Maggie’s face. “It has nothing to do with you, Maggie. It’s about loyalty.”

             
“Loyalty?” She repeated, as though he’d spoken in a foreign language.

             
“Yeah, loyalty.” He smiled over at Hannah and she smiled back, looking relieved.

             
She turned to Maggie, her jade green eyes made of ice. “I think you should probably go now?”

             
“I’ll stay if I want to stay,” Maggie retorted, crossing her arms over her chest. They stared at each other, and I could almost feel Hannah getting ready to explode.

             
“Maggie, leave,” Adam demanded. His voice was low, but stern. “No one wants you here. You do not impress anyone but yourself. Leave.”

             
If Maggie were surprised, she didn’t show it. She smiled and reached over to squeeze Adam’s hand. “If that’s how you want to play this,” she said flirtatiously. She turned around one last time before exiting the cafeteria and blew Adam a kiss. He rolled his eyes.

             
“Is she legitimately crazy?” Scott wanted to know.

             
“She’s about to be legitimately dead if she keeps messing with me,” Hannah threatened, staring at the door Maggie had disappeared into. Her face softened slightly and she turned to Adam. “You don’t have to not hang out with your best friend because of me.”

             
“It’s not a problem,” Adam reassured her. “You’re family now. That’s more important than friends who make bad decisions on an almost daily basis.”

             
“Well this is turning into an afterschool special pretty fast,” Scott remarked. Everyone laughed.

             
“Maybe we can do something this weekend?” I asked, almost hopefully. “The four of us?”

             
“Like what?” Hannah asked, wrinkling her nose.

             
“I don’t know, but we could probably think of something. I haven’t been to the movies in forever.”

             
“That sounds good,” Adam agreed. He hugged me close to him and kissed my temple.

             
I glanced over at Scott. “What do you think, Scott? Do you want to try and waste some time with us this weekend?”

His eyes met mine, and the expression within them was unreadable. He glanced at Adam briefly then back at me. A small smile spread over his lips.

              “Yeah,” he said. “That might be fun.”

             
I reached across the table for his hand. “Shake on it?” I asked, feeling goofy but needing the confirmation that maybe Scott wasn’t holding onto the conversation we’d had two weeks ago.

             
He accepted my hand and gave it a quick shake. “Who’s driving?”

             
“Not you,” Hannah spoke up, and we all burst into laughter.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

              “Is this a double date?” Julia asked, coming into the living room just as we were preparing to leave Saturday night. Adam and I exchanged a glance.

             
“Not exactly,” I said.

             
“Well, whatever it is, I’m glad Nolan isn’t involved. Hannah is a sweet girl; she needs someone who can appreciate her.”

             
“I don’t think she wants Scott to appreciate her,” I remarked, laughing a little. I tried to imagine them as a couple, their occasional bickering becoming constant, Hannah trying to convince Scott to dress up a little more, trade in his truck. It would be a disaster.

             
“Scott is Lainey’s ex-boyfriend,” Adam spoke up, flashing me a mischievous grin. “He tried to win her back just two weeks ago.”

             
Julia’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? In your… condition?”

             
I nudged Adam with my elbow. “He didn’t try to get me back,” I replied. “He was just being nice to me when Adam and I were in the middle of an argument.”

             
“He told you to call him if we broke up!” Adam laughed.

             
“You kids today,” Julia said, shaking her head. “I swear, I did not have this much drama and romantic entanglements when I was your age.”

             
“I thought you said you never left your house when you were our age because Paul wouldn’t let you date anyone without threatening them?” Adam asked, grinning.

             
Julia chuckled, recalling the memory. “You’re right, honey. That could very well have been the reason.”

             
Adam walked over and hugged his mom. “Oh well, I still love you, Mom. But we’d better get going if we’re going to make our movie. Don’t wait up.”

             
Julia shook her head at him. “Don’t stay out too late. Lainey’s halfway through her pregnancy; she’s going to start needing her rest more than ever. God knows she won’t get any of it after the baby is born.”

I hugged her, smiling to myself. She really cared. Maybe it shouldn’t be so surprising, but it still felt amazing to know someone was going to be waiting for me to come home, and not just to make sure I minded curfew.

              It was raining again as Adam and I hurried into the car. I couldn’t remember a rainier January in all my life, and wondered if it were some kind of a sign. Then I almost laughed at myself. Since when did I believe in signs?

             
Hannah was already at Scott’s house. She ran from the front door and nearly threw herself into the backseat. “Why is it always raining?” She demanded, as if one of us would have the answer.

             
Scott climbed in beside her, looking less than amused. “Do you want a real scientific answer, or are you just complaining?” He asked.

             
She stuck her tongue out at him. “I swear, every time I try to get dressed up and look nice, something has to ruin it,” she complained. She smoothed her long hair out, frowning as if it had been messed up, when in all honesty she still looked great.

             
“Why are you getting all dressed up?” I asked as Adam pulled the car out into the street and began heading towards the movie theater.

             
“You never know who you might meet,” she replied. “Now that I’m officially on the market again.”

             
“You were never off the market,” Scott pointed out.

             
She glared at him. “Maybe you should stop picking on me for five seconds, and concentrating on finding someone for yourself,” she retorted. “It might be a little easier if you weren’t so grumpy all the time.”

             
I was worried about an awkward silence following her remark, but it never came. Instead, Scott just looked at her, seeming genuinely surprised.

             
“
I’m
the one who’s grumpy all the time?” He asked, incredulous.

             
I tried to hold back a laugh, but it didn’t work. Hannah glared at me, then seemed to think better of it, and a smile broke through her frown. “Okay, so I haven’t been the most pleasant person ever lately,” she admitted. “But can you blame me?”

             
“Yes,” all three of us chorused, before bursting into laughter. Even Hannah was grinning by the time we got to the movie theater.

             
“I don’t have any umbrellas, so I guess we either get soaked or make a run for it,” Adam announced when he parked the car. There was only one movie theater in town, and the parking lot was pretty small, so it was always close to full capacity on a Saturday night. He’d parked as close to the entrance as possible, but it was still a good few yards away.

             
We all got out and ran towards the building as quickly as possible, but we ended up getting soaked anyway. Despite the fact that it was mid-January, the air conditioning was on full blast, chilling us to the bone almost the instant we stepped through the doors. Adam and Scott headed over to the ticket booth to buy the tickets, and Hannah and I huddled together to try and restore some warmth.

             
“Scott’s buying your ticket for you?” I asked, wiggling my eyebrows suggestively.

             
“Yeah, jealous?” Hannah grinned. “I don’t have any allowance left, so he said he’d pay my way tonight.”

             
“Didn’t you just get your allowance yesterday?”

             
“Nope, yesterday’s allowance was advanced weeks ago.”

I shook my head, but I wasn’t surprised. Hannah was the worst when it came to money.

              Once the tickets were purchased, we made our way into the refreshment line. I froze when I saw who was standing just in front of us. “Oh, God,” I mumbled. Hannah looked confused and then followed my gaze, her own eyes widening.

             
“What the hell!” She exclaimed. Scott turned to her in surprise. Adam didn’t react; he’d seen them first.

             
“Adam!” Nolan said, looking happy. “I didn’t know you were coming to the movies tonight.” Beside him, Maggie smirked and in that moment I knew she’d known all about our plans, somehow. This was a set up.

             
“Yeah, well, there’s not that much else to do around here,” Adam admitted, clearing his throat. “What movie are you here to see?” He avoided looking at Maggie, but for once she seemed unaffected by this.

             
Nolan named the same movie we had purchased tickets for. Of course. I silently willed Adam not to admit this, but he didn’t get my telepathic message.

             
“Oh, we need to sit together then!” Maggie exclaimed, as if we were all old friends that had just run into each other for the first time in years. “It’ll be fun; a triple date!” She shot a smug look over at Hannah, who appeared rigid with anger. I grabbed her arm instinctively.

             
“Okay,” Adam agreed, and shot me an apologetic look. I nodded once at him, knowing he didn’t want this any more than I did, but there was no nice way of saying no to them. And even though Nolan was one of my least favorite people in the world right now, he was still Adam’s best friend and that still counted for something. I held onto Hannah’s arm as we ordered our popcorn and drinks and then headed into the dark theater.

             
Somehow, once we entered the theater itself, things got jumbled and when I went to sit down, it was in between Hannah and Nolan. I glanced down the aisle, and spotted Adam all the way at the end, two seats away from me. Maggie was the only person seated next to him.

             
I was angry. First, she set this up so that we’d run into her and Nolan and hurt Hannah’s feelings, and now she was making sure to be seated next to Adam. The conspiracy wasn’t lost on him; I could see from his set jaw and facial expression that he was far from happy, but the movie was already beginning to start, and there would be no way to trade seats with Nolan without causing a small scene. Beside me, Nolan looked even more uncomfortable.

             
It felt like forever before the movie ended. I tortured myself by glancing down the row at Adam every chance I got. When a scary scene happened, I could hear Maggie let out a small squeal and glimpsed down to find her leaning into Adam. By the end, as we were walking down the hallway to the exits, she had both arms wrapped around one of his.

             
“I don’t know what you see in her,” I whispered to Nolan, who was walking just ahead of me. He responded, but his voice was low and I couldn’t quite hear him, but it sounded like he admitted he didn’t understand what he saw in her, either.

             
We made our way back into the lobby, all of us quiet and none of us looking particular happy, except for Maggie. Adam attempted to remove his arm from her grasp, but she held on strong, and he surrendered, shooting me another apologetic look. This time I just glanced away. I wasn’t in any sort of mood to be another pawn in one of her games.

             
“Pizza next?” Maggie suggested, and before anyone could respond, she was tugging Adam towards the parking lot. He shot me a desperate look, but allowed himself to be led away. “Scott, you can ride with us. Nolan can drive the girls over. See you there!”

Scott shot me a questioning look and I just shrugged in response. He seemed hesitant about whether or not he should really follow her, but then did. I turned to Nolan.

              “She didn’t say what pizza place she was going to,” I pointed out.

             
He sighed. “I know.”

             
“So what are we going to do?”

             
He shrugged. “I guess drive around to all of them until we find out which one she meant. There can’t be that many, right?”

             
Wrong. Twenty minutes later, Adam’s car was nowhere to be seen, and neither of them were answering their cell phones. I started to feel a little anxious.

             
“This sucks,” Hannah complained from the backseat. I glanced behind me at her, offering a sympathetic look.

             
“I know,” I commiserated.

             
“It could be worse,” Nolan replied. “At least it’s not raining anymore.”

             
“Yeah, because I was totally talking about the weather,” Hannah’s voice dripped with sarcasm, but Nolan didn’t react. Silence fell over us, and then inspiration struck.

             
“Nolan, do you know that one pizza place that’s been around forever but no one really goes there? It isn’t really in Haven, technically, it’s right outside.”

             
Nolan considered this for a moment, and then nodded. “Yeah, it has that weird Italian name I can’t pronounce?”

             
I smiled. “Yeah, that’s the one. Let’s try there.”

Nolan looked doubtful, but headed in that direction, and sure enough; Adam’s car was one of the few in the parking lot. I felt relieved, but not too much. Who knows what Maggie might have attempted in the nearly half-hour she had Adam to herself.

              Hannah hopped out of the car as soon as it was parked and stormed into the restaurant. I started to follow her, but Nolan grabbed my hand, keeping me in the car with him. Something that felt close to an electric shock pulsed through my veins, and I yanked my hand away. “What?” I demanded, my voice unsteady.

             
“I know you probably think I’m the biggest ass in the world right now,” he said.

             
I raised my eyebrows. “What gave you that idea?”

             
He sighed, staring straight ahead out the window. “I know you don’t like me that much, Lainey. I might not be the smartest guy around, but that isn’t lost on me. I just want you to know that I get it, I get why. And I know the way I treated Hannah isn’t right and it wasn’t fair, but in a way, maybe I did her a favor.”

             
“Breaking someone’s heart doesn’t constitute a favor, Nolan. No matter how you look at it.”

             
“I didn’t break her heart,” he argued. Then something in his face softened for just the briefest of seconds. “Did I?”

             
“Yeah,” I replied. “You did. And it isn’t just because you didn’t choose her. It’s because you picked Maggie. Do you have any idea how evil that girl is?”

             
“Yeah, I’m starting to get a pretty clear picture of it.”

We sat there silently for a few more minutes, and finally I reached for the car door again. This time Nolan didn’t try to stop me.

              “Well, then I suggest you do something about it. Hannah deserves a lot better than you, but for whatever reason, you’re the one she always seems to want.”