Believe: (Intermix) (True Believers) Read Online Free PDF Page B

nails or getting a bikini wax or wearing anything other than saggy jean shorts and huge T-shirts anymore either.
    “Robin, that is not what I meant, Christ.” Tyler shook his head. “I meant you are way too nice of a girl to be getting involved with him. Phoenix, well, he has problems.”
    Didn’t we all.
    “What kind of problems?”
    “Big ones. He just . . . it’s just . . .” Tyler shook his head. “Just don’t go there with him, seriously. You’ll regret it.”
    “But he’s your cousin,” I said, my phone vibrating again to remind me I hadn’t answered Phoenix’s text. “And I’m not going anywhere. I was just asking about him.”
    “I care about Phoenix. I do. But he’s not easy to get close to.”
    “What do you think about his girlfriend? Angel?” I knew I should have dropped the subject, but I couldn’t seem to help it. I was morbidly curious.
    “I’d never even met her before tonight. But he usually picks head cases. Like his mother. Freud would have something to say about that.”
    “Freud was full of shit,” I said, because I was annoyed with the whole conversation. I didn’t want to be talked out of feeling a little twinge of pleasure at the fact that Phoenix had shown interest in me. Whether it was just to be friends, or something more, was irrelevant. I just wanted someone to look at me, in all my pale, non-drinking glory, and think I was someone they wanted to talk to. That’s all.
    “You know you’re going to have to move into the house you all rented,” Tyler said, totally changing the subject. “Unless you’re mad at Rory or Kylie, there is no reason you can’t. So either clear the air or drop the whole thing.”
    I bit my fingernail, and stared out the car window as we pulled into the driveway of the house we had rented for the school year. “I’m not mad at anyone.” Except myself.
    “Then why do you want to move out?” Tyler parked the car and stared at me. “Seriously.”
    “I don’t know,” I lied. It wasn’t even a lie of effort. It was just a lame shrug off.
    But Tyler didn’t let it go. “It’s because of Kylie, isn’t it?” he asked.
    Startled, I turned to him, my heart rate kicking up a notch. “What do you mean?”
    “Look, Robin, I saw you and Nathan making out at the Shit Shack at that party that night, the one where Riley got into it with the frat dude. You were in his car and you were kissing and I saw it.”
    Mortification caused a blush to stain my cheeks. I wasn’t sure what to say. “I don’t remember that,” I told him honestly. “I blacked out that night.”
    “But you know you did, don’t you?” Tyler held out his hand. “Look, I haven’t said anything to anyone, not even Rory, so just be honest with me.”
    “Please don’t,” I begged him, terrified he would tell the truth and Kylie would be devastated and everyone would hate me. “I would never do that sober, I would never hurt Kylie. I feel
awful
about it. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever done, and that’s why I can’t live there. I can’t even look at Kylie without thinking I am the worst sort of friend ever.”
    Tyler drummed his fingers on the wheel, taking one last drag of his cigarette before tossing it out the open window. “It was just that one time, right?” he asked.
    “Yes.” I nodded vehemently. “It was vodka, plain and simple. It will never happen ever again.”
    “And that’s why you haven’t been drinking.”
    “Exactly.” I looked at the house, tears welling up in my eyes. “I just can’t act like nothing happened . . .”
    “But you have to,” Tyler told me. “You have to try to be normal or it’s all going to come puking out and then Kylie will just be hurt. You know Jess. She’s like a dog with a freaking bone. She won’t let this go. So the best thing to do is to stay in the house like you planned. That way you won’t fuck Kylie over twice by sticking her with extra rent, too.”
    “I was going to pay the rent,” I