I stand in the doorway watching her. Taking in her smile and how happy she is. At least I was able to give her a party before…

“Hey, Becca, come over here,” Tori says, waving two fingers around the cup in her hand. Her eyes fall on the box in my hands, and she jumps up. “Hold this, please.” She hands Ryder her cup and runs over to me. “Gimme, gimme!” She can be such a little kid sometimes. It would be annoying on anyone else, but on her, it’s endearing.

“Aren’t you at least going to pretend you don’t know what it is?”

“Hmm, let me think about it.” She pauses for a whole two seconds. “Nope. I can’t. Give me my boots!” She kicks off her shoes and tears open the box. Even though she knows what to expect, she squeals when she pulls out the boots. She slips them on her feet and does a little spin. “How do they look?”

“Amazing. Happy birthday.” I hold my arms out to hug her, and she squeezes me tight.

“You’re the best friend I could ever ask for, Becca. I mean, this party, the boots, putting up with Toby to plan everything. I love you. You know that, right?”

I inhale a shaky breath and squeeze her tighter. “I love you too.” I don’t want to let go. I want us to stay best friends forever. I want her to understand I never meant to hurt her. But everything about this hug feels like a good-bye.

Chapter Twenty-Three

My eyes start to water, so I blink back the tears and pull away quickly. “Um, I need to go check on the cake and some other things. Catch up with you in a bit?”

She nods and prances around the den, showing off her new boots.

I rush out of the room and head to the kitchen. Like every other room downstairs, it’s packed. There are cups everywhere, and a bottle of soda is tipped over, spilling all across the counter and down the cabinet. I run for it and stand it up, grabbing a dishtowel to mop up the mess. I want to scream at the handfuls of idiots who are too self-absorbed to notice—that or they’re taking the “not my house, not my problem” attitude.

“Looks like you’re always on clean-up duty, huh, Becca?”

I turn around, wondering why on earth Meredith would show her face at this party. After the way she slammed Toby in front of half the school, I thought she’d avoid him at all costs. But looking around, this is apparently the party to be at, and Meredith, being obsessed with social standing, couldn’t miss.

“I don’t remember inviting you.”

“You didn’t. Toby did. Had you sent out the invites, no one would’ve shown up.” She smirks and reaches for a beer on the center island. No doubt Jeff provided those.

“Tori doesn’t like you. If she sees you at her party, she’s going to freak. And in case you haven’t noticed, she’s got some influence at school now. I don’t think you want that kind of negative attention brought on yourself.”

“So what, is this like a friendly warning? You’re looking out for my best interest?” Her words are laced with sarcasm.

“Not at all. I’m looking out for my best friend.”

“Best friend?” She scoffs again. I’ve never seen anyone scoff as much as she does. “I doubt she’ll be your best friend for long. Not after she finds out about—”

I lunge for her, shoving the wet dishtowel in her mouth. She struggles to get away, but I drag her out of the kitchen and up the stairs. She trips on the bottom step and falls forward. I let go because about twenty people are staring at us. Staring at me like I’m assaulting their queen, which I sort of am.

She spits the dishtowel out on the stairs. “Ugh! You disgusting little bitch!” She turns to face the crowd. “You all saw that, right? She attacked me!” Two guys reach for Meredith’s arms and pull her to her feet.

I push past them and run through the kitchen, wanting to keep going straight out the door, but I see a girl opening up the bag the cupcake is in. Toby’s cupcake. “Give me that!” I grab it from her and run right into Jeff. The cupcake is crushed between us. “No.” My voice is small, just like I feel. This party is turning out to be a disaster.

Jeff steps back and motions to the bag. “Sorry. What’s in there anyway?”

“Forget it.” I turn and head back through the kitchen. I have no idea what I’m doing or where I’m going.

“Hey,” Toby says, rounding the stairs. “I heard you attacked Meredith. What the hell happened?”

“I…” I can’t explain it here with all these eyes on us. I rush past Toby and upstairs, fully intending to lock myself in the bathroom until everyone leaves. But before I know what I’m doing, I’m in Toby’s room. I sit down on his bed and open the bag. The cupcake is a mess of icing and crumbled bits of cake. Ruined. Just like everything else is going to be.

“Mind if I come in?”

I look up at Toby, standing in the doorway. “It’s your room.”

He steps in and shuts the door behind him. “I know, but if you want to be alone, I’ll go.”

I don’t want to be alone, but I’m afraid I’m going to end up that way anyway. I hand him the bag. “This was supposed to be for you. Well, and me. Mr. Kwan made it for us.”

He looks inside the bag, his forehead lined with confusion. “Mr. Kwan made us a cupcake?”

I shrug. “He saw us in your doorway. The same day Meredith did.”

Toby puts the bag down on the bed and sits next to me. “Crap. It was so stupid of me to kiss you while I was opening the front door. I’m so sorry, Becca.”

“It’s okay. Mr. Kwan is rooting for us. That’s what this is about.” I point to the smashed cupcake.

Toby laughs. “I hope we end up better than the cupcake.”

I know he’s trying to lighten the mood, but his comment does exactly the opposite. “Meredith is here.”

“I know. Remember? I heard all about the incident.” He makes air quotes around incident and smiles at the same time.

“I shoved a wet dishtowel in her mouth and tried to drag her upstairs.”

He stifles a laugh. “Can I ask why?”

“She was talking about how Tori is going to hate me when she finds out about us. I didn’t want her to out us in front of everyone in the kitchen, and all I had in my hands to stop her was the dishtowel I’d just used to clean up the spilled soda.”

He wraps his arms around me. “They’re all going to find out soon enough, and to be honest, I don’t think she would’ve come out and said we were dating. It would make her look bad.”

He’s right. She was probably just going to leave her comment hanging, but I attacked her anyway. “What’s happening to me? This isn’t me.”

He leans back and looks into my eyes. “You’re scared. You don’t want to lose Tori, and it’s making you a little crazy.”

“You think I’m crazy?”

“No. I think you’re acting like anyone would in your situation.”

“You’re not. You seem fine.”

“I’m her brother. And she already doesn’t like me.”

“She likes you.”

He shakes his head. “It’s okay. I know I’m not her favorite person.”

“Yeah, well, I might be joining you very soon.”

He pulls me back in for another hug, and I rest my head on his shoulder. “You want to hide in here for a while? I doubt anyone would notice if we were missing.”

It’s sad that my own best friend probably doesn’t notice I’m gone, but Tori is busy having the time of her life. Everything is going well for her. She has the guy of her dreams, the party of the school year, and the perfect boots to accessorize with, thanks to me. “Yeah, just for a little while.”

“Good, because it’s my birthday too, and I want to spend some time with my girlfriend.”

I love the sound of that word on his lips. I tilt my head up and kiss him. “Have I said happy birthday yet?”

“A few times.”

“Oh, well, how about some birthday cake then?” I reach for the bag. “It’s a little unrecognizable, but I’m sure it still tastes good.”