“Bullshit.” Presley narrowed her eyes at me. “You never turn off your phone. The last time you turned off your phone was when you and Isaac broke up.”
I debated telling Presley about Ethan but quickly dismissed the idea. Much of the problem with Ethan had to do with how my friends would react, and though I loved her, Presley could be the worst of the bunch when it came to judging others. She defined everyone by who they were related to, who they hung out with, and who they were wearing.
“Didn’t you wear that dress here before?”
Right on cue.
“Yeah. Vanessa already gave me the lecture.” I rolled my eyes but was secretly glad the conversation had moved away from my lack of response last night. “We should have looked for something when we were shopping for my interview outfit, but I wasn’t thinking that far ahead.”
“You need to get your shit together,” Presley said. “Stop fussing about exams. You already have a job you don’t need.”
“Not all of us care to spend the rest of our lives on an island.”
“All the sane ones do. Turn your damn phone back on.”
“You better watch your mouth,” I said as I powered on my phone, “or I won’t be the only one getting a Vanessa lecture today.”
“She loves me.” Presley flashed her perfectly white teeth at me.
“That won’t stop her from
threatening you with a bar of soap.”
“When was the last time you even saw a bar of soap?”
I shook my head and turned my back to Presley. Dad appeared on the lawn and motioned me over to him. I had guests to greet and mingling to do.
My phone chirped repeatedly, but I turned it to silent mode and ignored it.
After lunch was served and eaten, and I endured seven comments about my repetitive outfit, I escaped the party and hid out in my old bedroom with Presley.
“Speaking of Isaac,” Presley said, “he asked about you at the club.”
“We weren’t speaking of him.”
“We did earlier.”
“Hardly.”
“I think he’s still into you.” Presley leaned back on my bed and kicked her shoes off. “He kept glancing at the entrance like he was waiting for you to walk in.”
“That ship sailed a long time ago.”
“Maybe not for him. He never stopped liking you. Did you know Isaac was ready to go beat the shit out of Cole when he found out he cheated on you? If you hadn’t dumped that asshole when you did, Isaac would have ended up in jail on assault charges.”
I cringed. I always knew Isaac hated Cole, but I figured it had more to do with my dating someone after him than anything else. Cole was a classic tall, dark, and handsome kind of guy who worked out a lot, whereas Isaac never grew out of being a skinny, teenaged boy.
“That wouldn’t have helped anything,” I said. “Isaac wouldn’t have had a chance against Cole. He would have been beaten to a pulp.”
“I don’t think that would have stopped Isaac from trying.”
“I don’t know why you were all so mad at Cole in the first place,” I said. “It’s not like he did anything to the rest of you. He was always polite. Even my dad liked him.”
“Your dad liked his father’s chain of pet food stores,” Presley said. “He was an up-and-coming businessman who was about to hit his first million. Your dad wanted his business, and Cole only treated you like shit when he thought no one else was looking.”
I knew she was right on that one.
“It’s not like he beat me or anything,” I muttered. I rubbed my tongue over the tiny scar on my lip as the bitter, brief memory flashed through my mind.