and I almost choke on my water as I struggle to take a sip. I push the glass aside and lean even farther forward.
“Zack, what the hell is going on?” He lets out a string of frustrated curses, and then sits back suddenly in the chair, running his palm over his short, dark hair. He looks like he wants to throw something. His teeth are clenched tight, his right hand is gripping the table for dear life, and I swear there’s a bead of sweat that forms on his temple and runs down the side of his face. “You’re scaring me.”
He looks at me for a long moment, and then sighs.
“I can’t lie to you, but I can’t tell you the whole truth either. For that, you’ll have to talk to your dad.” He leans back in his chair and just looks at me, this dark, broody asshole thing going on that I shouldn’t like, but sort of do anyway. He’s as bad as the rest of them, I remind myself, worse maybe. “You know your parents are having an affair, right?”
I just stare at him unblinking for several seconds.
“Come again?”
“Charlie and Jennifer are seeing each other behind Adam Carmichael’s back.” He smiles tightly, but there’s no warmth there. Sympathy, maybe, but that’s it. My mouth opens, closes, opens again. No words come out though. How the hell does Zack know that? Why would my dad confide something like that in him?
I decide to ask.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but … how do you know that?” I lean forward, putting my forearms on the table. Zack watches me carefully, like he’s trying to absorb my every movement. The attention makes me feel fidgety, and I wiggle in my seat, refusing to think about that time I wiggled in Creed’s lap … Ahem. “I mean, why would my dad tell something like that to a high school student?”
“He didn’t.” Zack shrugs his massive shoulders. That seems to be his go-to response to everything. “I came over once to help him fix a leak in the roof and walked in on them …”
He trails off, and I add with a dry note to my voice, “kissing?”
Zack raises his dark brows at me, but then smiles a little.
“Something like that. Anyway, he said they were in love and they’d been seeing each other.” Zack looks down at his empty plate as the waiter comes back to deliver my food and take his dessert order. Then, of course, he clams up and leans back in his seat, like that’s all there is to say on the matter.
“So the news he received …?” Because even if Zack is telling the truth—which I’m not sure of—then what drove my dad to drink during Parents’ Week last year? Clearly, he would already be aware that he was having an affair with Jennifer, even though it’s news that would drive me to drink. “Maybe … she was going back to that Carmichael guy?” Zack just stares at me, and I groan in frustration.
“That’s all you’re going to tell me, isn’t it?”
He smiles, and it’s a much prettier smile, so much so that I feel a bead of sweat run down my spine. Yikes. I’m not entirely sure he’s ever smiled at me like that before.
“Are you excited for your first game?” he asks me, and I narrow my eyes. Coach Hannah has been working us hard for the last week, and I expect that even though this is Parents’ Week, she’s going to be working us just as hard, if not harder. Newbies weren’t allowed to cheer at Friday’s game, but Parents’ Week culminates with the final game of the season for Burberry Prep’s new all-star football team. Just adding Zack to varsity has shaken up the entire school; it’s like we actually have some pride in sports now. Of course, the cheerleading team is so green there is no JV/varsity distinction at this point, but that’s not why I joined. I don’t actually care for sports at all.
“Mm.” I make a non-committal noise and Zack chuckles, picking up his fork to poke at his tiramisu. What spoiled brats this school breeds. The only time I've ever had tiramisu was when Dad worked two weekend jobs to save up to take me out to a fancy Italian dinner to celebrate making the honor roll in middle school. So yeah, it's been years. I decide the next time the waiter pops over, I'll order some, too.
Because not only