Let Me Live

Chapter Seventeen

I fold my arms across my chest. "What's up with your face?" I immediately snap in reply. He grins. Beck knows how good-looking he is. Asshole.

Nico, stuck between the two of us, waves his hand in a circular motion. "I'm sensing some tension," he begins, "and I'm going to ignore it." He turns his full attention to me. "Are you ghosting Levi?" he asks outright.

My head rears back at his outburst. Beck's eyebrows lift in intrigue, a smirk playing on the corners of his lips as some hair falls across his forehead. He's so pretty, I want to hit him in the face.

Before I can reply, Nico holds a hand to his chest. "Because I have to live with the guy and if I have to hear about what he thinks he did wrong one more time, I'm going to push him out the sixth-floor window."

I grimace. He's been talking about me? Guilt surpasses any other emotion. He thinks he's at fault. Oh no. I genuinely didn't expect him to care, we're not even friends. I don't even know his middle name or his favorite color.

Beck grabs Nico's shoulder as they look down at me. "Wait a minute, Perrie is the girl that Saints is hung up on?" He asks softly, as if I'm not here, within listening distance.

I nearly burst out laughing. Levi Saints. Hung up on me? Sure. Okay.

Nico's eyes dart to me pointedly. "I can neither confirm nor deny those feelings, I just know he feels bad," he explains vaguely, a disarming smile on his face. You could melt tungsten with that smile. The fact that I even know what that is, astounds me.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, most likely my friends wondering what is taking me so long if Danny is already there. I clap my hands together awkwardly. They both tower over me, watching closely as I take a step backward. "You can let him know he's got nothing to feel bad about."

Nico narrows his eyes in playful curiosity. "Why can't you?"

I purse my lips into a duck pout. "Well," I begin and then blank, unable to string an answer together. Not one I'm willing to speak out loud. Hi Levi, sorry for trauma dumping on you when I was drunk with a concussion and you had to drive me home. Yeah, no.

Beck's eyes shift to look over my shoulder. His face turns impassive but I can see emotion building in his eyes from where I stand. He swallows, frozen in his spot.

I twist my head around. Nova stands there. Her eyes are glaring daggers straight into Beck. She's wearing a simple pair of jeans and a crop top with an unbuttoned cream cardigan over it. Her natural curls are tied back with a ribbon. She takes a sip of the cocktail she's brought outside with her, eyes unmoving.

They watch each other as if there's no one else in the world. In this moment, no one and nothing could break their concentration.

Nico glances back and forth between them. I shake my head and take another step back. "I better go before..." I trail off, jerking a thumb in Nova's direction. "Bye," I wave hastily and speedwalk to Nova. Without stopping, I grab her wrist and yank her along. "Let's go."

She doesn't put up a fight as we move along the sidewalk. Not even a snarky or sarcastic word comes out of her mouth.

Charlie and Jonah stand outside the bar, seemingly unbothered but as soon as we get near them, they're following closely behind. Callum and Hallie wait inside, his arm wrapped around her shoulder. Danny waits with Anya and Vivian at our usual booth.

I sit Nova down, ignoring the questioning looks from everyone at Nova's blank expression. Tipping her cocktail glass to her lips, I murmur softly, "Drink."

At this point, I'm not sure when she last saw Beck in the flesh. They have differing majors, she's constantly studying and he's the captain of the baseball team. It was pure luck that made them cross paths in freshman year in the first place.