French Girls
For nearly a week, Zac ignored me entirely. OSU’s campus was big enough that if you wanted to avoid someone, even someone who was supposed to be your best friend, you really didn’t have to try very hard to keep from crossing paths with them. Zac was clearly taking the not speaking to each other thing more seriously than I was.
I knew I had given him plenty of reason to be upset with me, but I had still believed that he would want to know how much of a manipulative liar his girlfriend was. Sure, I had lied to him, too, but my lies had been designed to protect him and spare his feelings. Bella’s lies and manipulations, as far as I could see, were designed to hurt him and to hurt me.
Yet Zac didn’t care. All he wanted was to be angry with me and be… well… with Bella.
And so even when I scoured the campus for him, he eluded me. Finally, after what felt like ages without even a brief glimpse of him, I spotted him walking through a crowd in the student center. I sped up to catch him and—
“Hey, Red. Five bucks for a caricature.”
“What?” I asked, blinking at the huge, musclebound figure that had just appeared in front of me.
It took me a moment to recognize the Kappa Kappa Gamma logo on his shirt, and a moment more to remember that all the fraternities and sororities had to raise money—in the most creative way possible–for some charity during their rush. I assumed the cost of the caricature would go toward some dudebro cause, based on the artist’s looks.
“No thanks,” I finally replied.
“It’s for a good cause,” he said, smirking. “Don’t you want to help cure testicular cancer?”
I scrunched up my nose in disgust. I hadn’t been too far off.
“Hey,” a voice which I immediately recognized as Taylor said. “Why don’t you draw me, huh?”
“Me and Red here were talking,” the guy said.
“Aww, come on,” Taylor whined. “Draw me like one of your French girls!”
Taylor was still cackling as I drug him away from Mr. Kappa Kappa Gamma, but I wasn’t so amused. Once we were free of his harassment, I said, “You know, if you keep up that kind of shit, people really will think we’re a couple.”
“Oh, Georgie,” Taylor chuckled. “What would you do without me to constantly rescue you from the frat rats?”
“Well, without you, I would probably still be friends with Zac. Just for starters.”
“Don’t try to pin that on me,” Taylor replied, finally yanking his arm free of my grasp. “You made your own choices, and you’re the one Zac is mad at. Well, you’re mostly the one he’s mad at. I did have to listen to this big rant about how I had taken advantage of his innocent little Georgina.”
“I am more than one hundred percent positive that he did not phrase it that way,” I said.
Taylor waved a hand dismissively. “Well, whatever. The sentiment was the same. The real point is, I pissed him off, but you betrayed his trust.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not the only one,” I replied.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Taylor asked.
“Bella set us up. I don’t know how, but I definitely think she looked at your text, because I was dumb enough to leave my phone in the room with her. And she probably deleted the one I swear I never got from you. She told me—and Zac—that she thought she left her pledge badge at your apartment, but I swear she was wearing it while we were studying. And then Molly found it stuffed down in our couch cushions like she was trying to hide it. Of course, none of that evidence is good enough for Zac.”
“Of course it isn’t,” Taylor replied. “It’s hard to think rationally when all the blood that should be in your head is, well… you know. Farther south.”
“Eww.” I scrunched up my nose.
“Oh, whatever,” Taylor said. “You wouldn’t complain if it were you, not Bella, he was getting it on with. Anyway, he’s right over there.”
I felt a sudden urge to hide behind Taylor, but I had a feeling that wouldn’t work out very well. He just chuckled and fiddled around in his pocket until he pulled out his phone.
“Come on,” he said, waving his phone in the air. “I can prove you’re right.”
I wasn’t sure exactly what Taylor was getting at, but I followed him anyway. He shouted out Zac’s name once we were within a few feet, and then there was no choice. I had to face him, even if we weren’t speaking.
“Hey,” Taylor said, wrapping an arm around my waist and pulling me closer. “Georgie said you didn’t believe her that your little Texas cowgirl is a lying little bitch.”
“Those may not have been my exact words,” I mumbled.
“Potato, tomato.” Taylor shrugged, then held out his phone to Zac. “See that? Text message, delivered to Georgie. See how that says delivered? Yet… no reply. Not to brag or anything, but nobody—not even your precious little Georgie—can refuse the kind of offer I made her. And anyone with half a brain would find it suspicious that the other time she left her phone alone with Bella, the two of you somehow ended up at my apartment just in time for the show.”
Zac ignored Taylor completely and turned to face me. “I can’t believe you’ve got him fighting your battles now. And you didn’t even hear the way he talked about Bella after we met her.”
“Isn’t that even more reason to believe him?” I asked. “I mean, you said you didn’t believe me because I was just biased against her. Last time I checked, Taylor wasn’t—she is a girl, after all. Taylor’s type. So unless he really thought she did set us up, why would he ‘fight my battle?’”
Zac stared at me for a moment, then at Taylor. He opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it again. It was clear he had no good response for that, and he couldn’t pretend otherwise. Finally, he rolled his eyes and said, “Whatever. He’s probably just jealous that I got her instead of him. First time that’s happened, isn’t it?”
“I realize you both think I have no standards at all,” Taylor said. “But I do, believe it or not. And I’d rather not sleep with the entire football team, but I might as well if I got anywhere near Bella. She might be hot, but I wouldn’t touch that with a ten and a half foot pole. And by pole, I mean–”
“Yeah, we get the picture,” I cut him off.
Taylor ignored me and plowed on. “Look, the point is, it doesn’t matter whether or not I wanted Bella, too. I can’t believe I’m having to actually explain to you that your friendship with Georgie should mean way more to you than some tail. I don’t care how good she is. You really think someone like that is gonna stick around forever?”
“I think it’s none of your business,” Zac replied. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to go eat lunch. With my girlfriend. Not my slutty brother or my two-faced best friend.”
As we watched him walk away, Taylor remarked, “At least he still called you his best friend.”
“Out of everything that juts happened, that’s your takeaway?”
Taylor just shrugged. “It could have gone worse.”
“Give me one example of how,” I shot back.
“I can’t be expected to think that much until I’ve eaten lunch,” Taylor said. “Come on. I’m buying.”
As I followed him on into the food court, I didn’t bother pointing out that neither of us was buying, since we would be using our student meal plans. When Zac was still being such an asshole to me, that point hardly even seemed worth arguing.
The rest of the student center was just as crammed with students as the entryway where I had encountered the Kappa Kappa Gamma guy. All sorts of charity endeavors were set up, each one more ridiculous than the last. At times, I really felt sorry for all these pledges being forced to do stupid things and embarrass themselves, but then I remembered that they had volunteered for it. They wanted to do those things. And then I felt no sympathy whatsoever… much like how I felt about Zac right then.
The biggest crowd seemed to be gathered around some sort of booth. I was too short to see the sign, but Taylor craned his neck and let out a whistle. Just as he did, the crowd came to a complete stop and I realized that we were somehow, right next to Zac again.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Kissing booth,” Zac said, still sounding annoyed with me.
“Speaking of French girls…” Taylor mumbled.
“But would you actually want to french any of them?” I asked.
Zac crossed his arms and scowled. “It’s the Tri Delta booth. They’re raising money for autism awareness.”
“And you are the most trusting boyfriend ever,” Taylor said. “And by trusting, I mean a total fucking idiot.”
“Will you lay off?” Zac scowled. “I think you’ve both established that you don’t trust Bella, but I do. She hasn’t given me any reason not to, and your attempts to convince me that she’s lying aren’t working, so until she actually gives me any reason not to take her at her word, I’m—“
Zac didn’t get to finish his sentence, because right at that moment the crowd around us parted and revealed the kissing booth. Behind all the pink and glitter was none other than Bella. It was hard to tell with her glossy brown curls in the way, but it didn’t look like she was kissing the guy’s cheek. The way she touched his arm and giggled looked like the same sort of flirtation she directed toward Zac. I wasn’t sure if that meant she was being genuine with this random guy or fake with Zac, but either way, it didn’t look good for my so-called best friend.
Zac didn’t look good, either. His face had turned bright red and his mouth was set in a tight line. I knew he still had too much pride to go back on what he had just said, but it was obvious that even if he didn’t say it, how he felt about Bella had just changed in a big way.
“Save it,” he said, holding a hand up.
“I didn’t say a word,” Taylor replied, then turned to me. “Did you say a word, Georgie?”
I shook my head. “Not a damn word.”
“Well, keep it that way,” Zac said, then stormed off.
I had suspected—almost hoped—that he would go over and confront Bella, but he didn’t. Instead, he walked the other way, right back out of the student center, and I watched him go, somewhat disappointed that I didn’t get to watch his relationship explode in his face.
That was awful of me. I knew that was awful of me. Yet it was how I felt.
“Wipe that shit eating grin off your face,” Taylor said. “He hasn’t left the bitch yet.”
“Do you think he will?” I asked, sounding a little more hopeful than I intended.
Taylor shrugged. “If he can stop thinking with his dick, he might. But honestly, that dumbass who just walked out of here? I don’t know that guy. I don’t know what he’s thinking.”
“Neither I do,” I said. Softly, I added, “I just want my Zac back. And I know he wasn’t mine, but you know what I mean.”
“Yeah, I know,” Tay said, then pulled me closer to him. “He’ll come back… eventually.”
As I leaned against Taylor, I could only hope that he was right.