Page 14 of I Would Stay Forever (Parkhurst Prep #2)

twelve

I tapped my nails against the table in front of me as I watched the takeout counter across the restaurant.

The order was supposed to be ready twenty minutes ago but apparently the kitchen was slammed tonight, so the hostess told me I could sit down and wait at a table that was reserved for a party in a half-hour.

At the rate we were going, I wasn’t sure I’d be out of here in time.

My phone sat face up on the table, open to our siblings’ group chat.

New messages were coming in every minute as Ainsley and Imogen debated what the best film to watch tonight was.

Technically, Sebastian was the one who got to decide since it was his breakup party we were having, but we all knew he would give in to the twins if they decided on a film first.

“Fancy running into you here.”

I jerked my head up at the familiar voice, almost ready to run, but I wasn’t quick enough.

Dean was already sliding into the booth, trapping me between him and the wall.

I slid away from him, pressing my back against the wall and pulled my phone toward me, hiding the messages from view as if there was anything on the screen that he would want to see anyway.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, a little bit of accusation slipping into my tone. It wasn’t like Dean wasn’t allowed to come to the same restaurant as me, but it did feel a little suspicious.

“I was at a store across the hall when I heard about the breakup,” Dean said. He tapped his fingers against the table like I’d been doing a minute ago. “I figured one of you would be here.”

It shouldn’t have been surprising that Dean would know our routines, given that he’d known Sebastian for as long as we lived here, but it threw me for a loop anyway.

This particular habit had started the first time Sebastian and Tiffany broke up.

To make him feel better, I had picked up food from this restaurant and gotten him a cake, then as a family we ate all of it while watching a film.

We’d lovingly called it a breakup party and what started as a seemingly one-night event turned into a tradition as Sebastian and Tiffany kept getting together and breaking up again.

The first one had included our parents too, but ever since then, it had become a siblings-only event.

Tonight, I was in charge of picking up the food while Ainsley and Imogen had gotten the cake.

Sebastian was still off breaking up with Tiffany, following me telling him what I’d seen in the storage room, but that had become such a common occurrence that we knew how long it would take and when he would be home.

“You can’t crash the party if that’s what you’re thinking,” I said.

“Don’t remember asking.”

He slouched back in the booth, resting one arm along the top of it.

I sat stiffly, waiting for him to say whatever it was he came here to say.

I would have preferred to just leave and avoid eye contact like I’d done in class this morning, but he was blocking my exit.

I was just grateful that I was actually well-dressed now—in jean shorts and a cropped tank top—so he knew that I didn’t spend all my hours outside of school in pajamas.

I tried to wait out his silence but eventually I couldn’t take it anymore. “What do you want?”

He lazily tilted his head toward me. “Who says I want anything?”

“It was heavily implied when you sat down next to me.”

He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Maybe I just thought you looked like good company.”

I kicked him under the table, the toe of my shoe colliding with his ankle bone, and he hissed.

“Still think so?” I asked brightly.

He leaned down to rub his leg under the table but kept his eyes on me. “You really are just like your brother, you know that?”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Good, it was meant to be one.” He grabbed one of the overturned wine glasses on the table and tipped it toward me. “Any reason you don’t have a drink? I’m parched.”

I snorted at his use of parched but didn’t comment on it. “I’m not actually using the table, I’m just waiting for the takeout.” I sighed and rested my chin on my hand. “Which is taking forever.”

Dean raked his eyes over the takeout counter, where a couple of large paper bags were sitting under the heat lamps, waiting to be picked up.

When I first came in, I was sure one of them must have been ours, but apparently, there were multiple people ahead of us who were late picking up their orders.

“Want me to talk to her?” Dean asked, nodding at the girl working the takeout counter. She noticed him do it and giggled while twirling a strand of hair around her finger. She was so distracted that she didn’t even notice when another patron came up to speak with her.

“Not sure it’ll do any good,” I said. “I already talked to her twice and she said she didn’t know how long the wait would be.”

“That’s what she told you ,” Dean said. “But with me, it might be different.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

“Well for starters, she’s not in love with you,” he said simply. I scoffed. “Now that’s not to say she wouldn’t if she swung that way, but as it is?—”

“You think she’s in love with you and will use that power to make the kitchen go faster?”

“You say that like it’s a ridiculous idea.”

“Mostly because it is.” Not that I was denying that she was probably in love with him—I was sure more than half the girls at our school were.

Even the girls from other schools probably swooned over him when they saw him on the football field.

But I didn’t see how that would help when the girl wasn’t even the one in charge of cooking the food.

Besides, I didn’t want to fuel Dean’s ego because it was clearly already too big as it was.

“Anyway, it’s fine. Sebastian’s still with Tiffany and will be there for at least another… ” I checked the time. “Ten minutes.”

“What was it this time?” Dean asked. “Did she say soccer was a useless sport again?”

I snorted. That had been the cause of their breakup last year when Sebastian’s soccer practices meant he couldn’t see her for a few days in a row.

In an argument, she’d said soccer was a useless sport and he’d broken up with her on the spot.

Of all their breakups, I’d found that one the most entertaining and the one that I thought they were the least likely to come back from, given how seriously Sebastian took his sport.

“Nah, I caught her making out with some guy in the storage room,” I said. “I think she said his name was Ashton?”

There hadn’t been much time for introductions, what with him yelling at us for not knocking, despite us having more right to be in there than they did, and Tiffany both scrambling to button her shirt back up and begging me not to tell my brother, as if that would ever happen, but she had hissed Ashton at him so I had to assume that was him.

“Ashton Sears?” Dean asked. I shrugged, but he nodded as if I’d confirmed it. “Figures.”

“Has it happened before?” I asked curiously. I knew Tiffany had made out with other guys a number of times, but I didn’t know most of their names.

“Not with her, but I’ve seen him make moves on other guys’ girlfriends loads of times,” Dean said.

His hand on the back of the booth dropped, brushing the bare skin on my back, and I shivered at the touch.

I wasn’t sure why, since his hands weren’t even particularly cold.

“I think he sees it as a game. Getting the off-limits girl and all that.”

Even though he was talking about cheating, the words reminded me of Zoey talking about Dean at volleyball practice earlier— even hotter because it’s forbidden.

I studied Dean’s profile as he looked around the restaurant again.

I wondered if he liked the idea of something forbidden.

Then I shook my head, trying to forcefully push the thoughts out of my mind.

That was something I shouldn’t have been thinking about, especially not in relation to Dean.

I was so distracted watching him that I didn’t even notice when the girl from the takeout counter appeared at the end of our table, bag in hand.

“For Novak?” she asked. Even though she must have known the order was for me, her eyes were trained on Dean. He gave her his usual smile and she looked like her knees started wobbling.

“Yes,” I said forcefully when Dean said nothing. I took the bag from her grip and let it go without so much as a glance at me.

“Thank you…” Dean studied her name tag. “Bella.”

I was honestly pretty sure she was going to throw herself at him when he said that, but I didn’t wait around to find out. I elbowed Dean hard in the back. “Excuse me, you’re blocking the only exit.”

Luckily, he listened immediately and slid out of the booth, allowing me to slide out as well.

I thought he would stick around to chat her up, but he surprised me by taking the bag out of my hands, flashing the girl one more smile, then turning and walking out ahead of me.

I thought Bella would be offended at his blatant dismissal of her, but she just sighed dreamily and wandered off.

I hurried to catch up with Dean since he had my food and hadn’t bothered waiting for me. His legs were longer than mine and I only caught up to him as he was nearing the mall exit. He barely spared me a glance as I reached him, like it hadn’t occurred to him that I might not catch up.

He pushed open the heavy glass door and stepped aside, holding it open for me. I mumbled a thank you as I stepped into the humid air outside. It was a shock to my system after the air conditioning inside, which was turned to such a low temperature that I felt like I might freeze.

“Where are you parked?” he asked as the door shut behind us. I slipped my sunglasses onto my face, then walked toward the far end of the lot where the bike racks were sitting on the grass between the parking lot and the sidewalk.

“My bike’s over there,” I said.