Page 77 of The Breakup Artists

Ella looks immediately at August and then away like she’s embarrassed he was her first thought. She redirects her attention to Derek and even takes a step toward him. “God, Amber, I can’t kiss Justin’s best friend and your ex. It’s too weird.”

“Aw, come on, El, I need to redeem myskillsafter Amber’s lies about my kissing,” Derek says.

“Yeah, no. The way you just said ‘skills’ is a hard pass,” Ella says, and she turns once again to August.

As she walks up to him, I can tell she’s nervous. And so can everyone else. Justin is hard-core frowning. To make matters worse, Ella’s delaying. She just stares at August like she doesn’t know what to do, her hands fidgeting with her beer. And each second that ticks by, Justin looks more pissed.

“This is painful. Just kiss him already,” Amber says.

My stomach sinks in a bad way.

Ella gives August a fast peck on the lips. Completely harmless, except for the fact that she starts blushing. My eyes flit to Justin, who’s tense. It’s okay, I tell myself, we can still blow past this.Ella just needs to call truth or dare and distract everyone. Now.

“I definitely didn’t see any tongue,” Amber says, and my hope withers and dies.

“Moving on,” Justin says.

But Sharky’s on the hunt. “I mean, personally I’d love to, Justin, but she just didn’t complete the dare. Rules are rules.”

August and I exchange another look, this one an acknowledgment of danger.

“It’s just a game,” Leah says in an attempt to derail the tension.

“Drop it, Amber,” Ella says brusquely.

One of Amber’s eyebrows shoots up like it’s ready for battle. “Wow. Overreaction?” Amber replies with a sly smile. “I didn’t know kissing Holden was such a big deal.”

Justin shoots Ella an accusatory look.

“It’snota big deal,” Ella replies.

Amber shrugs. “I don’t know. I heard you werehanging outat the crêpe place.”

For a second, we’re all still. The tension rises about a thousand degrees, and everyone but Amber looks like they’d rather be anywhere but here.

“That’s not what I—” Leah starts but is cut off by Ella.

“Seriously, Amber? Are you justtryingto cause a fight? Justin knows I hung out with Holden.”

“Then why don’tIknow?” Amber says like she’s the innocent party. “Personally, I thought it had to be wrong because you’d never hang out with a guy I’m into without telling me. Unless you feltguiltyabout it.”

All eyes are on Ella, Amber’s twisted version of the truth hanging over her like a storm cloud. Justin looks like he’s gearing up to be mad.

“First of all, you don’t care about Holden,” Ella says, pissed. “You’re just playing a game with him because you still have a thing for Derek. Second, I didn’t tell you because you love to cause drama.” She gestures at the group. “Case in point.”

Amber’s eyes narrow. “Triggered much? Why go defensive over the suggestion that you like Holden... unless you actually do.”

“Eff this. I’m not doing this with you,” Ella says, turning from the group and storming off.

But she only makes it outside the kitchen doorway before Justin grabs her arm and she stops.

Justin’s eyebrows are pushed forcefully together. “What am I missing?”

“You’re not missing anything,” Ella says. “And I don’t want to talk about this here.”

“Well, this is exactly where I want to talk about it,” Justin snaps.

“Amber is just—”