The Backup Girlfriend (Grove Valley High #2) - Emma Doherty Page 0,93
who am I to say no?
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Let’s go.”
We pack up in silence and I follow him out the door, into the parking lot and over to his car, climbing into the front seat and letting him peel out of the drive and leave this school and my studying stresses behind, at least for now.
He drives for nearly forty minutes, taking us out of town and to the coast a couple of towns away. We don’t talk much on the way there, just roll the windows down, feeling the air stream through the windows. My phone is linked up to the stereo, blasting out music I know Brett doesn’t appreciate, but he doesn’t comment on it because he’s clearly all about trying to make me feel better in this moment. If that means me listening to old-school pop music, that’s the way it’s going to be.
He eventually pulls over on the side of the road by a Mexican food truck. It looks like I’ll catch salmonella by just standing near it, but Brett completely ignores my protests and instead puts an order in while I hover in the background.
A minute later, he’s walking over to the cheap plastic table and chairs that are set up just past the truck and putting a selection of tacos down in front of us as well as a couple of sodas that are so full of sugar I wouldn’t normally go near them.
“I shouldn’t drink that stuff,” I tell him half-heartedly. “Or eat the tacos.”
“You can eat and drink whatever you want, Abigail.”
“I’ll put on weight.”
“I’ve told you before—it’s not possible for you to look bad.”
He has told me before, and it’s even more confusing to me now as it was to me then.
Why is he so hard to read?
He nudges the plate of tacos toward me. “Try them.”
Two minutes later, I’m completely eating my words, because I’ve already wolfed down my share of the fish tacos and I’m going back to order us another round, as well as the chips and guac they’re selling.
I look up after I’ve just stuffed another taco in my mouth to find him watching me with a small smile on his face, and I suddenly feel shy. This is the sort of place I would never usually eat at, would turn my nose up at, and yet he’s shown me a different way of doing things, made me see things differently, and not for the first time.
It’s another item on the growing list of things I like about him.
He nods toward the last taco in front of us and tells me it’s all mine.
Usually I’d never eat this much in front of a guy due to years of my mom telling me it’s unattractive to be hungry and greedy in front of them, telling me it’s off-putting and unappealing, but I don’t feel like that with Brett. Watching him watch me eat all this food almost makes me think he’s proud of me.
“What are you going to do next year, Abigail?”
The questions startles me out of my thoughts.
I shrug. I’ve been avoiding this question myself.
“Come on, you must have thought of something. What are you thinking?”
I look down at the empty plate in front of me. “Maybe I’ll run away to Mexico and eat tacos all day.”
He doesn’t respond, just sits silently, waiting for me to give him a real answer.
Eventually, I let out a sigh. “I don’t know. I’m not good at anything.”
“That’s not true.”
I laugh bitterly. “Yes, it is. I’m about to fail out of high school.”
“That’s not going to happen.” He sounds so sure of it at this moment that I want to hug him.
“Well even if it doesn’t, it’ll be due to you tutoring me and my ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend helping me raise money.”
“Stop it.” He sounds irritated, the first time he’s sounded that way around me in a long time. “Stop putting yourself down all the time. We’ve helped, but you’re the one who’s done it.”
I shrug my shoulders, feeling self-conscious.
“Don’t do that. Don’t belittle yourself just because you’re so used to being belittled by your parents.”
My eyes lock with his, those blue eyes I want to melt into, and I’ve never wanted to touch someone so much in my life.
“You’re better than that, and you’re way, way better than you give yourself credit for.”
I have to look away before I do something really stupid like jump him.
“Come on,” he coaxes. “If you could do anything at all, what would it be?”