Confessions of a Queen B*

Untitled Part 33

"I think I screwed up—badly." I stood in front of my two best friends like a convicted criminal at his sentencing and waited for them to pass judgment.

Instead, Richard passed me a waffle cup of mocha frozen yogurt topped with chocolate chips, brownie bits, and a dollop of marshmallow cream. "Sit down and tell us about it."

I chose to grab a couple bites of sugar-laden courage before I spilled my guts. "I've been a complete bitch."

"Tell us something we don't know," Morgan said dryly, cocking one brow up.

"No, this goes beyond my normal bitchiness."

"And something tells me it has to do with what you did with Mr. Quarterback after the game." Richard held his spoon up to the corner of his mouth, trying to look innocent while the intelligence in his eyes saw straight through me.

I checked the shop to make sure no one was around to overhear my confession. Then I took a deep breath. "It does."

Richard jumped up from his chair, pointing his spoon at me. "Ha, I told you so! Pay up, Morgan."

"Oh my God—you two were betting on me?"

"Unfortunately." Morgan reached into her wallet and tossed a twenty to Richard. "I didn't think you'd be caught dead with him outside of school, but I guess I was wrong."

"So, spill," Richard said as he tucked the money into his shirt pocket. "What did you two kids do after the game?"

"Argue." I ate a few more bites to let them stew as payback for betting on me like that. "He dumped the doll on me the rest of the night so he could go somewhere with Summer."

Morgan shook her head. "What an ass."

Richard nodded, licking the frozen yogurt off his spoon and shivering. "Yes, what an ass, but I think we're talking about two different things."

I rolled my eyes. "I thought this was an intervention, not a drool over Brett's behind get-together."

"Sorry, sweetie, but I have to get the visual out of my mind if you want me to get truly angry on your behalf." He posed like he was meditating in a yoga class for close to a minute before saying, "Okay, mind cleared. Back to your issues."

"So when I got upset for him dumping the project on me so he could bang his girlfriend, he said she wasn't his girlfriend and—"

"Hold on," Morgan interrupted. "Summer's not his girlfriend?"

She and Richard exchanged glances and said in unison, "Fuck buddies."

"That's what I thought, too, but when I went over to his house the next morning, I—"

"Wait." Now it was Richard's turn to interrupt me. "You went over to his house? Mind sharing those coordinates with me sometime so I can stalk him?"

I stabbed my fro-yo with my spoon. "Will you two please let me finish?"

"I'm sorry, Alexis, but this is the juiciest gossip I've heard in months." Richard leaned forward on the table, his chin in his hands. "Keep going—I'm listening."

"I only agreed to take the doll Friday night because he said he'd take it all weekend. I went to his house to drop it off and found him playing with his sisters, and it was so..."

My voice caught. I usually wasn't at a loss for words, but as I pictured the scene with him and the twins, a storm of emotions rolled through me. Envy. Amusement. Frustration. It reminded me of what my family had been like before my parents split, what I wished I could have again. It showed me a different side to the normally cool and collected Brett. And it made me wonder why I'd stayed afterward since it only ended up backfiring on me.