Out of My League - Sarah Sutton Page 0,29

left field.”

Zach laughed genuinely at that, causing Celia to shift against his frame. “Baseball pun, nice. He’s already converting you.”

Ew, I had done a baseball pun. Cringe.

“That’s the thing I don’t get,” Scott piped in. “I mean, Sophia, you were talking to him while we were together? And Zach, you’re his best friend. Did he tell you that?”

Before I could call out Scott for being a hypocrite, I felt the air whoosh from my lungs in one harsh exhale. Had Walsh talked to Zach about this just as I talked to Edith about it? Surely Walsh told Zach the truth so he could vouch for us. Right?

Wrong. Apparently Walsh had kept his mouth shut, because the amusement melted slowly from Zach’s face as he tried to think. “Ah, no. He never said anything to me.”

Crap.

Seriously, Walsh?

“Then again,” Zach went on, expression clearing as he settled back in his seat. “Walsh and I don’t spend too much time talking about our love lives.”

“Good thing, because that’d be awkward,” Celia chuckled, reaching over and running her fingers through his short hair. He jumped a little at the touch. “What kinds of things would you say, anyway?”

Zach’s gaze immediately went to mine. Oh, he might have more to say than you think, I thought to her, fighting the urge to lift a challenging eyebrow at the boy Edith was crushing on.

Even though I didn’t give him a look, he seemed to have caught onto my thoughts, because his cheeks pinked.

“We’d talk about our feelings, of course.” Walsh’s voice was smooth as he walked back into the room, but I didn’t miss the edge to it. He stopped just in front of me, hand stretched out. “Come with me.”

I tentatively wrapped my fingers around his as I rose to my feet. “Where?”

“Outside. Let’s get some fresh air.”

Walsh lifted our hands up to his mouth, pressing a kiss against my knuckles. Too much, too much, I wanted to tell him, but the only way I could convey it was by squeezing his palm. The hand on mine was a big flag of look at our lie!

“Ugh, you two are gross,” Ryan said from where he sat, watching us, but I didn’t miss his teasing smirk.

“You’re just jealous,” Walsh replied, not missing a beat, leading me away.

The night air was clear as I stepped out into it, drawing in a deep breath. Crickets chirped somewhere in the night, and from here, I could see where Walsh’s car was parked at the curb. The way one of the street lamps hit the metal illuminated a dent on the hood, another sign of how old it was. For some reason now, knowing Walsh drove a normal car was almost endearing. He wasn’t stuck up enough to need a shiny convertible. He was just as fine driving a dented SUV.

I reached down and slipped my fingers into my purse. My writer’s notebook wasn’t there, long gone now, but I’d stashed a paperback in there before I left. Even though I couldn’t see it, I slid my fingers along the pages, wishing the rotten feeling in my chest would start to ebb away.

“You ready to head out?” Walsh asked from behind me, voice quiet.

“What?” I glanced over my shoulder, frowning a little. “Why? Are you?”

“It’s getting crowded.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and turned back around, looking down the empty street. “Scott’s so infuriating. Pointing fingers at me for talking to someone else before we even broke up. Um, hello, he was talking to that random girl in there before he dumped me! He’s such a hypocrite.”

Walsh wrapped his arms around my waist quickly and quietly, a light pressure, as if he were unsure whether or not I’d push him away. He still put on a show, nose brushing along the whispers of my hair. “Don’t let him get to you,” he murmured. “He’s just trying to rile you up.”

Yeah, I knew he was. He was trying to get me to expose our fake relationship because he knew. To him, it was obvious. He knew me, knew how completely opposite Walsh and I were from each other.

That thought, that Scott knew the truth, made me feel like I’d been coated in mud.

Walsh shifted behind me, his chin a soft nudge against my shoulder.

“You’re having fun, aren’t you?” I baited, staring at the dark road. “Being all lovey-dovey in front of everybody.”

“You’re not?”

“I’d rather pull the book out of my purse and read.” I turned in his embrace, looking up