It's Not You, It's Me (Book Two) #Wattys2018

Beauty and the Underwear Model

Horacio and I were walking down the street, coming from the new Ice-Cream shop that opened last week, when we saw Ziggy with two other girls, walking in our direction, distracted, laughing.

I glance at Ace, slightly desperate. Ever since Ziggy found out about the... Avi incident, we haven't spoken.

We went from strangers to inseparable best friends in a blink of an eye, and now back to strangers again, in less than a month.

"Don't freak out. You'll be fine." Ace whispered.

We get closer and closer, by the second. I know we are bound to cross each other, but I try to avoid it as much as I can.

"Shit. Should I pretend I didn't see her?" I whisper back, nervously.

"I don't think that's an option anymore." He says.

Ziggy stops walking, right in front of us, and we do too. "Oh, uh, girls, this is Toby, and that's Ace." She says, introducing her friends to us. "Toby, Ace, these are Penelope and Sophia. Our parents have been friends since forever." We all awkwardly exchange hi's and hello's.

"You guys headed to the new ice-cream place?" Ace asks, being great at being adult and mature, as always.

"Oh, yeah, we heard it's good."

"It is." I reply, awkwardly.

An awkward silence grows.

Ziggy's phone starts ringing; she reaches inside her bag to answer it. "Excuse me, it's my brother. It'll only be a minute." She takes a step back and answers the phone.

"Do you know Elizabeth's brother, Theodore?" Penelope asks Ace and I. We exchange looks.

"Yeah." Ace says.

"I've heard he's a Calvin Klein underwear model." The girl adds, giggly, trying to make small-talk. "I don't know if that's true, but he sure has the looks for it. I mean, the guy's a god."

I exchange looks with Horacio once again; the both of us having an intense conversation just with our eyes.

"Penelope, stop objectifying Lizzie's brother." Sophia says, and then turns to us, humbled. "I'm sorry. Penelope came out of a Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants book. It's not her fault."

Ace laughs, I stay serious. After all, the girl was talking about my Theo.

"I've heard he has a girlfriend, anyway." Penelope sighs, having a hard time moving on. So I decide to step in.

"Oh, yes. I know her. You think he's good looking? The girl's a freaking Brazilian supermodel!" I tell her, with my eyes ridiculously widened.

Ace holds his laughter so hard that his cheeks fill with air.

"Ugh, no way!!" Penelope cries, feeding into the fake gossip. "I mean, girls like us would never manage to get a guy like that. Do you know what her name is?"

"Penelope, please stop talking. You're not gonna Instagram stalk the girl." Sophia says, rolling her eyes.

Ziggy comes back. "Alright, I'll catch you later." She says, to Theo on the phone, and then hangs up. "Kay, you guys ready to go?" She asks her friends, they nod. "Uh, Toby, I was actually wondering if you'd agree to talk to me this week. I really wanted to talk to you."

"Oh, yeah, definitely. I'd love that." I reply. She smiles slightly, not entire comfortable. The three of them start walking away, and then I turn around and add: "Hey, Ziggs! Tell Theo I said—"

"Yeah, yeah." She says, smirking and rolling her eyes.

I chuckle. And as Ace and I start going our own way, we hear Penelope whispering to her friend "What does she mean? Does she, like, actually talk to your brother? Why did she call him Theo?"

I try to act superior, but when Ace looks at me smiling, I giggle, and we both internally make fun of Ziggy's poor little friend.

"You're the meanest Brazilian supermodel I know." He mumbles, and that's all it takes for us to burst out laughing in the middle of the street.