Friends and Other Liars by Kaela Coble

Author:Kaela Coble [Coble, Kaela]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2017-11-28T05:00:00+00:00

13

RUBY

BACK THEN—SENIOR YEAR

“So, Murphy, have you talked to Taylor since…?” Ally asks Murphy.

My ears perk up in the middle of my conversation with Danny about how much he thinks he’ll make scalping his tickets to the Tragically Hip show in Burlington tomorrow night. It was less than twenty-four hours ago that I told Murphy I wished things could be different. He had hung up pretty quickly, and I had spent the night lying awake trying to interpret whether he was mad or just decisive about his next course of action.

I shoot Murphy a look, but he stares straight ahead and keeps walking. We’re on our way to the gym for the stupid end-of-year assembly, the one where they hand out awards for things none of us have—perfect attendance, school spirit, best hair… (Well, Ally’s in the running for that last one, but rumor is it’s going to Gwyneth Grant and her white-girl dreadlocks.)

“Hello? Murphy! Answer me!” Ally says, grabbing his elbow to slow him down.

“No, I haven’t,” he says.

“Well, is she doing okay?” Ally persists.

“I don’t know, Al. I just said I haven’t talked to her,” he says through his teeth. “It was just last night. I don’t even know how you know already.”

“What are you guys talking about?” I burst in. I don’t want to have this conversation here in the hallway outside the gym, with the entire student body milling around us, but I have to know. And more importantly, I need to know what Ally knows.

Ally just looks at me, then looks at Murphy, her entire face a question mark. “Murphy broke up with Taylor. Last night.” She looks back and forth between us again, searching. “How did you not know this? Emmett told me this morning.”

I feel my face turning bright red, and I know Ally is already starting to be suspicious, so I tell them I forgot something in my locker and make a break for it. It only takes about five seconds to get lost in the crowd. From time to time, I shoot a look over my shoulder to see if Murphy is following me. I hope he isn’t, because then Ally would definitely know something was up. But when I look back and don’t see him, I’m disappointed, because I want to pull him into a deserted classroom and talk. Or not talk.

• • •

For the second night in a row, I can’t sleep. Murphy is free. There’s nothing standing between us now. Well, there’s no one standing between us. Which means, of course, that I need to figure out what the hell to do. Murphy is still my best friend. I’m still feeling a little guilty Taylor got hurt. I’m still going to NYU, and Murphy is still staying here.

But suddenly all these barriers don’t mean as much as they did before. Now, all I can think about is being with him. Laughing with him, kissing him, making love to him. My heart is racing. I am so happy just at the thought of being with him that I feel like I’m going to burst.

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