“Wow, Echo, that sucks.” He sits back and slouches in his seat. “Sorry to hear that.”
“Um, thanks?” My eyes turn to tiny slits, trying to figure out if his words were sincere or not. They were as cold as my untouched glass of water with a hint of sarcasm. I could tell from his expression he couldn’t care less about my situation or how I was mentally handling all of this. I decided right then, and there I was done sharing with him. He wasn’t genuinely concerned about me, which makes me question our whole relationship. “Why am I wasting my time with you?” I mutter to myself.
“What’s that?” He leans in closer with his elbows on the table, and his ear turned my direction.
“Nothing,” I say because it wasn’t worth repeating.
He leans back as the waitress sets our food on the table. His eyes glistening as he eyes his sizzling steak and shrimp.
“Thanks, Jess,” he says as he gives the waitress a wink. Clearly, her name tag says Jessica, but he shortens it like he knows her.
“Thanks… uh, I mean, you're welcome.” From where I sit, I can see her shaking and her voice quivers. Sickening. “You know my name?” She smiles way too hard at my boyfriend as if I’m not sitting right here across from him. I point slowly at her name tag, and she scowls at me. I roll my eyes as I fake quiver.
“Of course,” Jesse says. “I’ve seen you around school.” Immediately Jesse dives into his plate, cutting a huge chunk of steak and stuffing it into his mouth. His spectator is still standing there, spectating. It’s almost laughable.
“How is it?” She asks him as if she was the chef herself. “Good?” Jesse nods as he continues to chew and gives her a thumbs up. “Great!” The corners of her lips reach her temples as she smiles way too hard.
“Don’t you want to know how mines taste, Jess?” I say with each of my words dripping with sarcasm. I emphasize her nickname since she got a kick out of Jesse saying it.
“Oh my gosh!” Jessica exclaims, ignoring me altogether. “I just realized how similar our names were. Jess and Jesse!”
“Mmm,” Jesse laughs in his glass as he sips his water to wash his food down. He glances at me with a raised brow. “Freaking wow!” He chuckles, and she giggles, thinking he’s on her level of funniness. She doesn’t realize that right now, he’s making fun of her. It’s truly sad. I shake my head in utter disgust.
“Listen… uh… Jessica. If you want a tip… leave.” I’ve had enough of her, and my eggplant was getting cold. Everyone knows that eating cold eggplant is like eating rubber itself.
“See ya, Jess,” Jesse says, dismissing her.
“Oh, right!” She finally bounces back into reality. “If you need anything, just let me know. Enjoy your meal.”
“It’s as if I’m not even here,” I say like I’m bothered, but I couldn’t care less. Jesse chuckles, stuffing his face with more food.
“I’m still listening, Echo.” His smile diminishes from his face, and his voice takes on a serious tone.
“I’m done thinking about that troll,” I say, waving my hand in the direction the waitress took off.
“I’m not referring to her,” he says sternly. “The conversation. You were saying?”
“That’s pretty much it, Jesse.” Again, I wasn’t about to go there with him because he acts as if he’s listening, but he really isn’t. “My dad left, and now he’s punishing me for some reason, messing with my funds.” I shrug like it doesn’t bother me.
“That’s it?” Jesse holds a smug expression on his face. “That’s what you wanted to talk to me about?”
“Yeah,” I say, plucking a dainty size portion of eggplant into my mouth.
“Nothing else?”
“No, Jesse. Nothing else.” I slide the slice of lemon from my glass and squeeze it into my glass of water and take a sip from the straw. I cringe as I push my lips from the straw, wondering if it was regular faucet water. Restaurants can’t do that, can they? Shouldn’t that be like illegal or something? I’m not sure if I trust it. I guess I should have asked for bottled water and poured it in my glass myself. That way, I would know for sure.
“Echo!?” Jesse yells my name, and I’m jerked back into our conversation I didn’t even realize I’d left.
“What?”
“I came by your house…” My eyes bounce back and forth. “Last night,” he finishes. My breath hitches, and then I lose it. “I know you were with him. That new kid. I saw his bike out front.” I glance up, and our eyes meet for a brief moment until he looks away. “I was sitting in your driveway, staring at his gotdamn bike as you deceived me into believing that you just weren’t feeling up to going to Luke’s party.”
Shit.
Fuck.
Dammit!
“It’s not what it seems, Jesse.” How was I going to explain this without sounding like a cheat and a liar? The words had already left my mouth were cookie-cutter, default excuses that a cheater would use. “I… uh… I didn’t cheat on you, Jesse.” He deadpans me with a raised eyebrow.
I should have just told him the truth last night. But why didn’t I? I search my mind for the truth, trying to be honest with myself first. If I’d told Jesse the truth last night, I didn’t think he would be level-headed enough to understand. Do I come clean now or lie?
“Did you not lie to me last night, Echo?” He’s not even eating anymore. Now, he wants to give me his undivided attention as he hangs on to my every word. Where the hell was that attention span when I was spilling my heart out?
“Technically, I never lied to you.” I close my eyes and tighten my lip. When did I become this massive liar?
“Wow!” Jesse couldn’t believe it either.
“I know… I’m sorry!” I cover my mouth with my hands. “Okay… okay… I’m just going to come clean with the truth.”
“Oh yeah, sure, thanks… Finally!” Jesse says sarcastically. “Not that I’d believe anything else that would probably come out of that deceitful hole in your face, Echo!”
Oh gosh… I hate this! I exhale, bringing the whole truth of what took place last night out in pretty much a single breath. “That’s it. That’s everything how it all happened.”
Jesse gawks at me for a moment in silence. I’m not sure if he was playing the scenario out in his head, trying to find loopholes in my truth or what. He tosses a shrimp into his mouth without taking his eyes off me.
“There are so many things wrong with that story, Echo.” He takes his eyes from me and goes back to eating. I, however, have lost my appetite.
“How? It’s the truth.”
“For your sake… let’s just say it is the truth.” He twirls his fork in circles and then points it at me. “For starters, your kid brother is an asshat for doing that. If that’s really what he did.” I roll my eyes for his not believing me. “Then… there’s you. Why lie to me, Echo? Why not just come clean? Better yet, why not call me to come to rescue you from that jerkwad?” I open my mouth to speak, but he continues on. “I’ll tell you why… you didn’t want to be rescued. You liked being with him. So much so that you’d rather be locked in a room with him than spending quality time at a party with me.”
“That’s… that’s…” Absurd?
“Save it! You are not the victim here,” he says sternly. “But… I forgive you.”
“What???” No way Jesse forgives that easily.
“Yeah. Just don’t ever lie to me again, Echo.” I nod in agreement. I won’t ever let myself get caught up in a situation like that again, especially with an asshole that can’t even reach out after sleeping in my bed. Nothing happened, of course, but I still feel like there should have been some type of courtesy text to see how I’m doing. But not one word or a phone call came from him at all today.
“I promise, Jesse. It won’t happen again.”
“Just know… I’m gonna kick his ass.”
My first thought, I wanted to say why? He didn’t do anything, but I think that would have just made things worse between Jesse and I.
Right now, I felt like kicking Artist’s ass myself.
I feel my side vibrate again as my purse leans up against it. Ashely has been blowing me up all day. I placed it on silent because it seemed to annoy Jesse that she keeps buzzing in on our date time. “I’m going to run to the girl’s room. Be right back.” He shrugs and pushes his plate away from him. Nothing was left on it.
“Should I get us dessert?”
“Sure, whatever you pick is fine.” I see Jessica couldn’t wait to saunter over as I left to use the restroom. After washing my hands, I call Ashleigh back to let her know to stop calling me and that I would call her back as soon as I got home. Especially I needed to gossip about myself on what all happened yesterday and today. “Ash, listen…”
“No! You listen!” She scolds me over the phone. I pull my cell away from my ear and peer at it. What the hell is her problem? “I have been trying to contact you all day! Has it ever occurred to you that it just may be an emergency?
“Why didn’t you just text me that it was an emergency, Ash?” I giggle a little because she could be so dramatic. “Let me guess you need to borrow a pair of shoes?” It was a brief silence on her end.
“Seriously, Echo? Who do you think you’re talking to? Nicole? If I have a shoe emergency, I’ll just go buy a pair.” That’s true. “Anyway,” she says, brushing off the last topic. “You sound okay, so I take it you haven’t spoken to Nicole?”
“No, I haven’t. I haven’t even had a chance to speak with you, Ash. So, can this hold until I get home? Jesse and I are having a date night.” She sighs hard over the phone. “What was that for?”
“Of course you’re having a fucking date night, Echo. That dickwad has probably tied you up all day. Amirite?”
“No, he hasn’t tied me up all day, Ash. We’ve actually been having a great time. He even took me on a shopping spree. Can you believe it?” I shriek.
“Oh, yeah. I can believe it. I also believe he hasn’t talked to you either, huh?”
“Of course, we’ve talked, duh!”
“Stop it, Echo!” The tone of her voice sends anxiety spikes all throughout my entire body. My fingers grip my cell tightly as I hold on to the sink for support. I have a terrible feeling I’m gonna need it. “I gave them both a timeframe to come clean with you.” Fear and anguish clutch my heart.
“Who?” My voice quivers as my best friend sighs.
“This is why you should have been at Luke’s last night—”
“Spit it out, Ash!”
“We were all drinking, Echo.” My legs began to wobble as my breath shortens, and my chest tightens. “They made a mistake—”
“Who the fuck is they, Ashleigh!” My heart beats uncontrollably inside my chest as tears threaten to breakthrough.
“Nicole. And. Jesse—”
“Ugh…” I try to swallow, but instead, I feel as though I’m choking. “Finish it, Ashleigh!” She didn’t have to say another word because I already felt it so deep inside my flesh that it burned.
“Echo… I’m so sorry. You’re my best friend, and I thought you should know… they slept together last night.”
I cover my mouth to try and keep my screams inside. “How do you know this?” It pained me to ask.
“They were in Luke’s room.” She gulps. “David and I walked in on them.”
“That bitch!” I try to blink the tears away and fight the feeling like I was about to pass out.
“She wasn’t by herself, Echo…” Her words stab me like a thousand arrows as she defends my now sworn nemesis.
“I know that, Ashleigh. She’s a bitch, and so is he! They’re both bitches!” I hang up the phone without saying goodbye.
I wheeze like I have asthma, trying to catch my breath because my body is starved of oxygen.
Air.
I need air.
I burst from the bathroom door, making my way out of the restaurant in a fury. I didn’t have the physical or mental compacity to confront that asshole I left sitting at the table. How dare he confront me the way he did, knowing he slept with my supposedly best friend last night.
Echo and Artist
She's a mean girl.
He's a bad boy.
Every school has at least one. Even Silver Valley High, but what happens when the two collide?
Almost legal age Echo embarks on her senior, but it turns out things aren't going as planned. Her parents leave her home alone to fend for herself, but you can't have house parties if your dad cuts you off, leaving you dead broke, and there's nothing to be happy about.
Artist is not your everyday bad boy cliché. He has a style all his own. Artist isn't just the bad boy, he's the new kid. He's a bad boy with a heart and manners, whose major purpose is to teach the mean girl some of her own.
Ever wonder why the mean girl is so mean and the bad boy so bad? Read on to find out.
*Teensy Teasers for Teens
The Mean Girl and the Bad Boy
The Mean Girl and the Bad Boy #2: Echo and Artist Page 5
