his arm around my shoulder in our booth. “Two stinkers in one week are enough to make me take up bowling.”
Jamie ignores him, studying his menu while flicking his blond hair off his shoulder, and I ignore Melanie, who’s desperately trying to catch my eye. I know, I know; she’s dying to show the guys the notes. But I still object, on the grounds I laid out in the school parking lot. I get that this is her call. Fine. Whatever. But I’m going to prolong my drama-free evening as long as possible.
“And what was with those special effects?” Blake says. “Geez, I could’ve done better with my Deluxe Whiz Kid chemistry set. I’ve seen bigger explosions in science class.”
Jamie interrupts his menu-reading just long enough to briefly scowl at him.
Jesus! If Blake has decided a break from movies is a good idea, I’m close to suggesting that a break from double dates is a downright stellar idea. Whatever tension is festering between Blake and Jamie is clearly not a fleeting thing.
The waitress returns with Blake’s filled glass, and he offers her a dimpled grin and a wink. Now Jamie is glaring at him. Blake’s eyes flicker in his direction, then quickly look away.
“Hey,” Blake says, “I’ve heard the cheesecake here is really—”
“I’ve got something to show you.”
Melanie exhales through puffed-up cheeks as all eyes fall on her. “There. I said it.”
The guys look at her quizzically. I cringe.
“What is it?” Jamie asks her.
Melanie scans our faces, then reaches into her purse and puts the notes on the table, smoothing them with the heel of her hand. Blake and Jamie lean in closer, squinting at the pieces of paper.
“This was the first one,” she says, pointing to the pithier of the two. “It was in the mailbox when I got home from our date last Saturday.”
The guys’ lips move subtly as they read it, Blake tilting his head for a better angle.
“Then, this one was in my locker yesterday.”
Just as the guys’ eyes rest on note number two, Melanie plucks it up and reads it aloud. As she somberly reads the last line—Please listen this time so both of us can get back to our lives and I can stop freaking you out—I notice that Jamie’s face has turned ashen.
“I wasn’t sure when I got the first one whether it was really meant for me,” Melanie says in a slow, deliberate cadence. “But the second one mentions Jamie and me by name. Jamie is the one I should stay away from. My life supposedly depends on it.”
She purses her lips and folds her hands on the table.
“I gotta … I gotta … ” Jamie bolts from the table and runs to the restroom, his chalky face now tinged with gray.
“Oh my gosh,” Melanie says, craning her neck to follow his path. “Blake, should you go after—”
“Why would you show him that crap?” Blake asks her bitterly, a vein in his neck bulging.
Melanie blushes. “What do you mean? Why wouldn’t I—”
“Don’t you know we’ve been inundated with that kind of bullshit since Cara died?” he says, spitting out every word.
“I … I … ” Melanie stammers.
“Brilliant move,” he tells her, his acrid sarcasm sending a shiver up my spine. “Jamie had just started to relax, just started to cut himself a little slack, and now … ”
“Now what ?” I ask in a tight voice. “All Melanie did was show him a couple of notes that mentioned him by name. She didn’t do anything wrong.”
Melanie bites a lip to steady her quivering chin as her eyes fill with tears.
Blake’s dart from her face to mine, then back again. “I’m sorry,” he says softly. “I didn’t mean to upset you, Melanie.”
A tense moment hangs in the air, then he faces me to repeat, “I’m sorry.” I try to hold his gaze, my head cocked defiantly, but his eyes fall.
Melanie twists her fingers together on the table for a moment, then she bolts, too, heading for the women’s restroom. I watch her wipe tears from her eyes en route.
My eyes narrow. “Why did you talk to her like that?”
Blake tosses a hand in the air. “I’m sorry.”
“You sounded like a bully,” I say.
He finally looks me in the eye. “I am so sorry, babe. Really, I am. It’s just … I’m just really protective of Jamie, that’s all. You see how he reacted.”
“Yeah, well, those notes shook Melanie up too. What was she supposed to do with them?”
He nods earnestly. “You’re right, you’re