A cold flash shot between my shoulder blades. “You . . . You were . . .” I stammered. “Evie, you -”

“Yes,” she said softly.

I felt as if someone had socked me in the stomach. I took in a deep breath in an attempt to steady myself. “Eve, I don’t -”

“Y’know,” she began, cutting me off, “I was suspicious. That’s why me and Lynn asked you about it last night. I figured that when we asked, you’d tell us that you and Ike were . . . I dunno . . . a thing. But then you didn’t. You were like, ‘Oh, we’re friends’. And I believed you! I thought, ‘Well, maybe they are just friends and that’s why they hang out like they do’. But then there was what happened this morning. Just friends don’t kiss like that, Jaye.” She swallowed hard and looked straight into my eyes. “You lied to my face, Jaye. How could you do that?”

I couldn’t turn away from her gaze. “I . . . I didn’t mean to lie . . .” I began. “It’s just . . . I dunno. I really don’t know what’s going on between me and Isaac. We are friends -”

“There you go again!” Evie cried. “Can’t you see he’s coming between us, Jaye? Can’t you see that? We never had this problem before! Like, when I was going out with Dave? Remember? You asked me straight out if I was seeing him, and I told you the truth. We never had to lie to each other before. It’s his fault.”

I felt my eyes fill. “He’s only coming between us because you’re letting him,” I told her quietly. “I never let Dave get between us. Any of your boyfriends, for that matter! Can’t you just be happy for me? Once?”

“I can’t believe you’re defending him!” she yelled. “If he means that much to you, maybe you and I should call it quits.”

I gaped at her. “Break off our friendship?” I whispered.

“If that’s what you want,” she told me steadily.

“But it’s not - you know it’s not,” I insisted.

“Then prove it,” she said.

Numbly, I nodded. “Okay,” I agreed.

Evie nodded as well. “All right,” she said rigidly, “break it off with him.”

My jaw dropped. “Break it . . .” I couldn’t repeat her words. “You’re not serious . . .”

The look on Evie’s face said that she was. “Him or me, Jaye. One or the other. Not both. It just doesn’t work that way.”

I lost feeling in my body. Everything was numb. My brain seemed to have stopped functioning. All I could see was Evie.

“Choose, Jaye,” she prompted. “Now.”

“I’ll go break it off,” I whispered.

A smile broke across Eve’s face. She wrapped her arms around me. “I knew it!” she cried. “We really are best friends, aren’t we?” she whispered. After a few moments, she released me. Smile gone, she said, “You’d better go tell him.”

I nodded, climbing off the bed. I walked out of the room and closed the door behind me. “Best friends,” I whispered, starting for the kitchen.

chapter twenty-three
"ASW" Index