Page 44 of Next to Everything We Wanted

“Wait,” Emma said. “Do you think Celia knows? What if she’s not okay with it?”

My spirits dimmed as I looked at Celia on the stage. She was talking to Everett about something, her hands moving every which way. Both of their gazes went to me, and my stomach dropped.

“Do you think I should accept his number when he has a girlfriend?” I asked my friends. “I don’t want Celia to yell at him for talking to another girl.”

Raina frowned. “Maybe you can ask him if she’d be okay with it. Or you could ask her.”

I shivered at the thought. “Then it might seem like Iwanthim.”

“Don’t you?” Adam asked.

My cheeks betrayed me by flushing. “Not like that.” I sighed. “I just want to follow girl code.” That was following girl code, right? I never had to be concerned about it because I’d never liked a guy my friends liked.

“I think you should be careful,” Hayden said, folding his hands together. “I don’t want to relive the whole Caleb-Gracelynn-Rory love triangle that happened last year.”

“But Rory had Caleb’s permission to date Gracelynn,” I said, remembering the roller-coaster of a time.

“Which is why Caleb should never be the lead decision maker.”

“Unless it involves snacks,” Raina said.

I snorted. “Seriously, I’m not sure about this. Ivan went from running from me to just giving me his number like that.”

“Wait,” Hayden said, raising an eyebrow. “What do you mean he ran from you? What am I missing?”

Dallas held up his hands. “I know even less than you do.”

“Same,” Raina said, her icy gaze traveling to me. Oh, right, she was still mad at me for snapping at her. She hadn’t mentioned it since Monday, so I thought she’d forgotten about it. “Does this have to do with him running off the stage?”

My stomach tightened as their eyes beat down on me. I looked at the twins, who were both watching the stage like the performance was still happening. I hadn’t told them about my conversation with Gavin. I hadn’t told anyone.

I took a sip of my latte, even though there wasn’t anything left to sip. “Remember when it rained last week?”

Hayden smiled. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.”

“It was.” I played with the straw in my cup. “So was the fact that Ivan found Bailey when we lost her.”

“I thought we weren’t supposed to tell anyone,” Emma hissed in my ear. “We’re going to break his trust.”

I held my finger to her mouth, but she pushed it down and glared at me.

“So . . .” Hayden’s brows furrowed. “You two just started talking from then? What does that have to do with what happened on Monday?”

“Things kind of went wrong, so he left,” I said. “And then . . . Monday just sort of happened.” I inwardly groaned. Why couldn’t I come up with a lie off the top of my head?

Hayden faced Dallas again. “Is this making sense to you?”

Dallas shook his head. “I’m still stuck on the fact that it actually rained.”

“What really happened, Sienna?” Raina asked, narrowing her eyes at me.

I drew in a sharp breath, feeling the heat of everyone’s eyes on me. “I can’t . . .” I swallowed. “I can’t share it. I don’t want to break his trust.” I looked at Emma, who gave me a thumbs-up from under the table.

“I understand,” Hayden said. “But whatever happened, he doesn’t seem too phased by it anymore.” He grinned. “I hope things go well with him.”

“Me too,” Dallas said with a smile.

“Thank you.” I faced Raina. “I’m sorry that I snapped at you last week. I was just shaken up.” I leaned into her and whispered, “I wish I could tell you more, but not right now.”