The Unexpected Everything - Morgan Matson Page 0,152
shaking my head at her.
“Give me yours,” Toby said, grabbing for it, and I held it out of her reach.
“Wait a sec,” I said. “I’m texting Clark.”
Toby rolled her eyes at me and then reached for Bri’s. “Because you never talk to Clark,” she said, already scrolling through Bri’s apps.
“Okay,” Palmer said, coming back to join us. “Food’ll be ready in ten.”
“Did you get my French fries?” Toby asked.
“Did you want French fries?” Palmer asked, sounding extra confused. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“Palmer!” Toby said, then looked up to see Palmer’s expression. “Oh,” she said, smiling. “Gotcha. I just—” Bri’s phone dinged with a text update just as I finished writing my text to Clark. “Oh, Wyatt texted,” Toby said, squinting at the screen, and I looked up at her and felt my stomach plunge.
“Maybe you shouldn’t see that,” I said, quickly reaching for Bri’s phone, but Toby took a step away, still reading, her brow furrowing. “Tobes, just use mine,” I said, desperately trying to get in front of this, holding my phone out to her.
“I . . . ,” Toby said, and now I could see that she was scrolling up, reading Bri’s text messages, her hand shaking and her eyes filling with tears. “I don’t understand what . . .”
“What are you talking about?” Palmer asked, looking at me as my pulse started going double time. This was happening. It was happening right now.
And there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop it.
“Done!” Bri said triumphantly, emerging from the bathroom smiling at us. It faltered, then faded, when she saw Toby. “What’s going on?” she asked, and I saw her eyes dart from her phone to Toby’s face and then to mine. I gave my head a tiny shake.
“Why is Wyatt texting you?” Toby asked, her voice was trembling. “Why is he telling you that he misses you and it’s been too long and he needs to see you tonight?”
“Wait, what?” Palmer asked, her jaw dropping open. She looked at Bri. “Is this a joke?”
“I . . . ,” Bri said, looking at me, then back to Toby. “Okay, so . . .”
“You’ve been hooking up with Wyatt?” Toby asked, her voice rising. “My Wyatt?”
“He’s not yours,” Bri said softly, and I closed my eyes for a moment, wishing that we’d talked about how to handle this if Toby found out. How had we not had a contingency plan in place?
“What?” Toby asked, looking like she’d just been punched in the stomach.
“He’s not yours,” Bri said, and I could see she was blinking fast, the way she always did when she was starting to cry but was trying to fight it. “You guys made out once. It’s not like you two were even together—”
“Seriously?” Toby asked, shaking her head. “You’re seriously saying that?”
“Okay,” Palmer said, looking at me, clearly wanting backup. “Let’s—”
“Here’s the thing,” I said in my most soothing voice, taking a step forward. “I think we all just need to take a breath and focus here. If we just—”
“If there was nothing wrong with what you were doing with Wyatt, why didn’t you tell me?” Toby asked, still gripping Bri’s phone. “Why keep it a secret?”
“Because I knew you’d do this,” Bri said, her voice breaking. “I knew you wouldn’t get it.”
“So you’ve just been lying,” Toby said, and I could tell that she was still struggling, on some level, to understand what was happening. “You’ve been lying to all of us all summer.”
“It was for the best,” Bri said a little desperately, shooting a look my way. “And it was . . . for all of us. For our friendship . . .” She looked at me again, like she was waiting for me to jump in and fix this. “Andie, tell her.”
Toby whipped around to face me. “You knew about this?”
“I only just found out,” I said. “But—”
“You kept this from me?” Toby asked, her voice breaking. “You lied to me?”
“And me,” Palmer said, shaking her head. “How could you do that?”
“I was just . . . ,” I started. “It was the only thing that made sense. There was no reason for Toby to get hurt if it could be avoided.”
“Oh my god,” Palmer said, shaking her head in disgust. “Don’t try to spin this, Andie. Are you kidding me?”
“That was not your call to make,” Toby yelled at me, her face getting red.
“I just wanted us to stay friends,” I yelled back, and Toby let out a short mocking laugh.