Curvy Girls Can’t Date Soldiers by Kelsie Stelting

Thirty-Three

Nadira

The four ofus got into Des’s car, and she asked, “Do you think he took her to Emerson Trails?”

I shook my head slightly. “I don’t know. That was the plan before he came here.”

She put the car in gear. “Let’s see if that’s where they went. You’ll have to get out and tell him who you are.”

Faith let out a frustrated groan. “Tatiana is so evil. Why would she do something like this?”

As I blinked, fresh tears spilled over my eyes. “She’s not the evil one. I am. How could I have lied to him like that?” He was a nice guy, just messaging me, and I got so wrapped up in my insecurities that I’d rather lie about who I was than treat him the way he deserved to be treated.

Adriel reached forward from the back seat and squeezed my shoulder. “You learned from your mistake. You don’t need to keep punishing yourself.”

I looked out the window, watching the city pass by. “The second I see him, I’m telling him who I am. I should have shouted it earlier before she could whisk him away.” I shuddered at the thought of him having a complete stranger in his car without even knowing it.

Des glanced over at me, a determined look on her face. “We’ll get there. You’ll have your chance.”

The trails neared, and Des drove us to the north trailhead. I looked around, desperately trying to find the gray sedan Apollo and Tatiana had driven away in. But the only thing we saw in the parking lot was a motorcycle.

I sighed. “He’s not here.”

Des parked, rubbing her temples. “Can you call him?”

Why hadn’t I thought of that?

I got out my phone and dialed his number, hoping he would answer. Praying I could tell him that the girl with him wasn’t who he thought she was. It rang twice before going to voicemail, and I looked at the screen in horror.

“He ignored my call.”

Des paled. “That’s bad.”

Adriel said, “What if Tatiana told him you got a new number?”

My stomach turned. “I’m going to be sick.”

Faith asked, “What are we going to do?”

With a sigh, Des said, “We have to go to Tatiana’s house. Wait for her, right? Unless you know where else he might take her?”

I shook my head slowly, trying to think of what Apollo might want to show her—want to show me. “He loves the beach, but it could take us all evening to find the right one...”

Des put her car in gear. “Then we have to go wait at the school—catch him dropping her off at her car.”

We drove back to the academy, and the ride felt like it took hours. What were Tatiana and Apollo doing together? What had she told him? What had he told her? It should have been me on that date. Getting those flowers. Seeing his eyes with the beautiful golden flecks around the pupils.

We reached the parking lot, finding mostly cars of student athletes.

Tatiana’s pink Hummer was nowhere to be seen.

I let out a groan. “She’s not here.”

“Then to her house,” Des said, whipping around the parking lot. “We’ll get her.”

I gripped the seatbelt over my chest, trying not to combust as we drove toward Tatiana’s house.

From the back seat, Adriel said, “You should text him. Maybe he ignored the call before he saw who it was.”

I nodded, fumbling for my phone. I wasn’t thinking clearly. My brain was a mess with everything that had happened, so opposite of how I’d planned it.

My fingers flew over the screen as I sent the text.

Nadira: Hey, Apollo. It’s Nadira. Can you call me? I have something really important to tell you.

But within seconds, an error message appeared on the screen. Message not sent. Tap to retry.

I furrowed my eyebrows, looking at my signal. I had full coverage. I tapped retry but within seconds got the same message again. What was going on?

I twisted in my seat to show Faith and Adriel the screen. “It’s saying the message’s not delivered.”

Adriel’s mouth dropped open, and she covered it with her hand. “Did he block your number?”

My heart sank. “No. That’s not possible.”

I tried again, only to get the same message. I dropped my head back against the headrest, banging it harder than I needed to.

“Hey,” Des said, reaching over to rub my thigh. “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to get there and show Tatiana she messed with the wrong girls.”

The fierce way she said it gave me something akin to hope. I held on to that tiny flame until we approached the massive house within a gated community. I couldn’t see the pink car out front, but that was probably because they had a five-car garage.

Des unbuckled. “Come on,” she said, getting out of the car.

The three of us followed her as she marched to the front door and pressed the doorbell, then banged the ornate knocker on the twelve-foot door.

Within moments, the door swung open, revealing a woman in a uniform. A maid. “How can I help you?” she asked.

Des spoke up. “We’re looking for Tatiana.”

“Ah, friends of hers?” the woman asked, eyeing us. We clearly didn’t look like the kind of people Tatiana usually hung out with.

Catching the suspicion, Des said, “Class project. Can we come in?”

The woman nodded and stepped aside. “Miss Tatiana is upstairs in her room. Second door on the right.”

We stepped inside, passing the maid and following her directions to walk up the elaborate stairway. Under her breath, Faith muttered, “This house is massive.”

Adriel nodded. “No wonder Tatiana thinks she’s better than everyone else.”

We reached the door, and Des pressed her ear to the wood, then shoved it open.

Tatiana dropped her hands from her earlobe, where she’d been fiddling with an earring. Her fists went to her hips, and she said, “What are you doing here?”

Des opened her mouth to speak, but I stepped forward, demanding, “Why did you do that?”

“I could be asking you the same thing. Apollo said he recognized me from the picture ‘I’ sent in an email.” Tatiana quirked an eyebrow. “Now, Nadira, why would you do something like that? Did you think that adorable soldier was out of your league?”

My lip curled into a sneer.

“Because you’re right,” Tatiana said, looking back in her mirror to remove her earrings. “He is way too cute for you. Me on the other hand?” She winked at me in the mirror and ran her tongue suggestively over her lips.

Des lunged forward, but Adriel held her back.

Tatiana only giggled, unphased. “Why are you mad at me?” she asked. “Your friend wanted him to believe that I was her. I’m just helping her along.”

I glared at Tatiana. “I was going to tell him today.”

She pouted her bottom lip in fake sympathy. “And he saw me first.”

My eyes narrowed further. “What did you tell him?”

Gingerly, she set her earrings in a jewelry box and looked away from the mirror. “Only that I had to get my number—and email—changed because of a stalker. I made sure he blocked both of them. He was very sympathetic, actually. Concerned about my safety. Being wrapped in those big, strong arms?” She let out a happy sigh. “Perfection.”

My stomach twisted, threatening to spill acid all over the marble floor.

Des said, “Tatiana, this is crazy. You need to tell him the truth.”

“Oh, I will,” Tatiana said leisurely.

“Today,” I said.

She shook her head.

I narrowed my eyes at her.

“Don’t get so up in arms yet.” She leaned her hip against her vanity. “I think there’s a way we could make this work for both of us.”

Raising my eyebrows, I waited for her brilliant plan. One that was sure to benefit her way more than me.

“I have an annual fundraising event I need to attend for Emerson Dance on Thursday night.” She smiled coyly at Adriel. “You might remember it.”

Adriel’s lips pressed into a line.

Tatiana casually picked up a brush and began working it through her relaxed hair. “I need to have a date, and I’m so over high school boys. Why don’t we wait until Friday to tell him?”

“Are you kidding?” I said, hurting for me, Apollo, and now Terrell too. “What about my brother?”

She scoffed. “What about him?”

“He likes you.” I gestured at her. “And you’re just going to toss him away like yesterday’s news?”

“Don’t be silly.” She batted her hand. “He knows there’s nothing serious between us. Your brother has basketball practice anyway. He can’t make it.”

I cringed. “That’s the plan, then? Let you borrow Apollo for a week and lie to him even longer while you break my brother’s heart?”

She shrugged. “I’ll get to know Apollo so I can put in a good word for you, and you can look more sympathetic to him when the week is over. You don’t have much experience with boys, but I do know one thing: he’s already protective over me. If you go up to him now and tell him you’re the real Nadira, he won’t believe you. And then I’ll tell him you’re the jealous stalker and pretending to me because of the way you look... and of course he’ll believe me because of the way you look.”

My heart sank at her words, knowing she was right. “But what about my voice? We’ve been talking on the phone. He’d recognize how I sound.”

“People sound different on the phone,” she said dismissively. “And that’s if you even find him, which would include stalking him to find out his dorm number and ambushing him there. Not likely to help your case.”

I shook my head, struggling to find a way to make this work.

“But if I take him aside on Friday and talk to him, with just you and me there, then maybe we can help him understand that you were just misguided and that you’re really a nice person. You know, way deep down. That way, you two will get a chance to talk after your precious Mathlete competition, where I’m being forced to volunteer, and I’ll have the hottest date at my event. Easy peasy.”

Des sputtered, “You’re insane, Tatiana. He’s not just some puppet you can work over to make you look good. You both need to tell him the truth, today.”

“Nadira can try.” Tatiana shrugged, seeming bored. “See what happens.”

My lips parted, an argument on the tip of my tongue, but Tatiana cut me off.

“Now, I’ve been charitable to have the four of you here, but I’m tired of you. I suggest you leave my house before I have to call the police. Or cattle ranchers.” She tapped her chin. “Not sure which would be more appropriate.”

Des made to fight Tatiana again, but Adriel gripped her hand and pulled her back.

“Come on,” Adriel said. “She’s not worth it.” She took my hand with her free one. “We’ll figure this out. Let’s go.”

We turned away from Tatiana and left the lion’s den, hearing the roars of her laughter at our backs.

My eyes were burning by the time we reached Des’s car. I couldn’t believe what an idiot I’d been. Or how willing Tatiana had been to be so cruel.

“It’s not over,” Adriel said, getting into her seat behind mine. “There’s still a chance.”

Des started the car, putting her hands on the steering wheel. “Right. Just tell us where to go.”

Faith agreed. “We’re here for you.”

I shook my head, making tears spill down my cheeks. “This is such a mess.”

Des said, “We can go to the college. Right? We have to be able to find him at one of the dining halls or something.”

My eyebrows rose. “Did you hear Tatiana? She’s already planted the seed that she’s being stalked. He’s blocked my number and my email address. He has a picture of Tatiana to prove she’s the one he’s been talking to.”

“So what?” Adriel asked. “You’re going to wait until Friday and hope Tatiana puts in a good word for you? That’s insane!”

“What else is there to do?” I asked hopelessly. “Go to his college unannounced and look even more like a stalker? Create a new email to message him and, yet again, look like a stalker? She’s backed me into a corner, and I don’t know how to get out!”

Des’s eyebrows drew together. “What about Josh? Can’t you text him and talk to Apollo that way?”

Faith shook her head sadly. “Then it will look like Nadira’s stalking Apollo instead of Tatiana. He won’t let her get anywhere near him after that.”

Des banged her hand on the steering wheel. “I hate her!”

“She’s evil,” Adriel agreed.

I sighed. “She wouldn’t have been able to pull this if I hadn’t lied in the first place. It’s my fault.”

Des turned toward me. “So what are you going to do?”

“What else is there to do?” I asked. “I’m going to wait. And I’m going to hope to God he forgives me Friday.”