She nodded, knowing he was right and felt suddenly embarrassed to look him in the eyes because she knew how stupid he must be thinking she was. How could she let herself get so caught up in this so quickly? There were still so many unanswered questions. She knew all this. It was the first thing she’d thought. This could very well be one big lie, but a part of her was hopeful that it wasn’t.
“Hey,” he said, lifting her chin so she was forced to look into his eyes again. “It’s okay to be curious. I am too.”
She took a deep breath and shrugged. “Maybe I could do what Sydney suggested. Feel him out via email for a little bit before I decide if I wanna meet him. I could ask him to send me photos. That way my mom can confirm whether or not it’s really him, and Sydney can confirm if it’s the guy who showed up at his place. At least then we’d know it’s actually him. It still wouldn’t mean we can trust him, but at least we could rule out if he’s an imposter.”
“Now you’re talking.” Angel smiled, kissing her, then took her by the hand around the counter and toward the sofa. Without turning around, he asked. “So how late were you up with Syd last night?”
It was casual, but Sarah knew him too well. It was probably something he’d had every intention of asking her from the moment she’d mentioned she was up late.
He sat down, and she plopped down next to him, flipping the television on. “I’m not sure. One maybe? I just know it was late, and then this morning we were up early, and after that conversation with my mom, I was done. The nap felt real good.”
Angel peered at her. “Anything new with Syd?”
“Actually,” she said, knowing this was going to change the mood, so she chose her words carefully. “He and Carina had been having problems for some time now, and they finally broke up.”
Over the years, Angel had gotten pretty good at hiding his displeasure when it had to do with Sydney even when she told him things she knew he wouldn’t exactly be thrilled about. But being with him for this long, Sarah was also good at picking up on the telltale signs that something had hit a nerve, like last semester when she’d switched her classes around a few weeks into the semester. By the time she was settled in her new Marketing Principles class, the only person left to partner up for the project they’d already started was Dae, the guy Angel couldn’t stand on her track team. Dae had asked her out more than once, knowing she was in a relationship with Angel.
When she had to break the news to him about who she’d be spending time working on their project, he’d played it off as if he were okay with it like he was now. But Sarah could see it in his eyes just by the way he looked at her. He’d been anything but okay with it.
“Did they? How long ago was this?”
“Few weeks ago,” Sarah said. “It’s why he decided to come home for the rest of the summer.” Seeing his reaction to that almost made her want to keep what else he decided to do to herself, but she knew it was just a matter of time before she had to tell him, so she figured she may as well do it now. “He’s transferring to East Side U. too.”
That launched the brows. “He is? When?”
“This year. He put in all his paperwork before he came home, and, of course, he’s already been accepted.” She leaned into him, feeling how tense he’d suddenly gotten. She rubbed his arm. “Remember way back I told you U.C.L.A. had always been where he’d talked about going when we were in high school? ESU was the other big one he’d always wanted to go to. Now he’s decided to finish school there.”
She wouldn’t mention that the only reason he changed his mind back then was because Carina had gotten a scholarship to Columbia and that now that they’d broken up he was transferring to a school just two hours away from Sarah. Regardless of how bad it sounded or looked, Sarah knew it had nothing to do with wanting to be near her. He just wanted to be closer to home, and he said staying at Columbia, where he’d see Carina every day, would be awkward. There were other academic reasons for it that made sense. He also said he was over the cold weather and being in Southern California would be a welcome change—the change he’d need to get over Carina.
“So it’s over, over?” Angel asked, still looking a little stunned over the whole thing. “After all that time with her, he’s really walking away? Weren’t they together as long as you and I have been?”
“Yeah,” she nodded, still a bit saddened over it. “They started going out the year I moved out here. But this isn’t the first time they’ve broken up. They’ve had issues for a long time.”
Angel eyed her weirdly. “What kind of issues?”
Sarah straightened out, feeling a little uncomfortable. If she didn’t know any better, Angel was already coming to conclusions of his own—conclusions he was partly right about. Just like Angel, Carina had had the same reservations about Sarah and Sydney’s friendship all along, but she’d never told him. Still, Sarah knew the whole truth. No matter what, she wouldn’t let him make accusations.
“He said she was very clingy and needy—that she always had been—but he’d thought she would outgrow it.”
He was still peering at her in that strange way that made her so uncomfortable. She’d never been good at lying, and she’d vowed long ago to never keep anything from Angel again. She’d learned her lesson. Not even half-truths would be acceptable.