“Why do you hate him?” I’m yelling now, and I can see that Abby has completely given up on her text, watching us with rapt attention.

“I don’t hate him,” he says, and then shakes his head, pulling his hands out of his pockets. “Actually, you know what, I do hate him. I have every right to. You used me to get with him. You fucking said his name while we were hooking up. You’re the hypocrite, Collins. You get mad at me for using girls, for hooking up with girls when it doesn’t mean anything, but you’re the master at using people. You didn’t even care about my feelings.”

“You never care about anyone’s feelings!” I say, throwing my hands into the air. “You’ve been sleeping with girls for years, throwing them away the second something better comes along.”

“No I haven’t!” he shouts.

“Are you kidding? You’ve—”

“I haven’t been sleeping with anyone!” He looks quickly behind him and then takes my arm and pulls me farther into the corner, out of earshot.

“What are you talking about?” I say, pulling my arm out of his grip.

“I haven’t . . .” He pauses, and his voice is so quiet I can barely hear him over the thumping of the music. “I haven’t slept . . . with anyone. Ever.”

“That’s not . . .” That’s not true, I want to say. But—he never slept with Cecilia, she said so herself, never slept with Sophie, because she’s waiting until marriage.

“You’re a virgin?” I ask, feeling as small as my voice.

“Yeah.”

It all makes sense now—why he’s been acting so cagey around me. It’s because, this whole time, he’s been scared I’ll find out the truth.

“You lied to me,” I say. “I thought . . . you let me believe you were some sort of expert. I never would have . . .”

“Come on, Collins, that’s not fair. What was I supposed to say? You came to me and you were so vulnerable and I just wanted to help you. I just felt bad—”

“You felt bad for me,” I say, the words hitting me like a punch to the gut. Could I be any more pathetic? “You could have told me the truth. I feel like such an idiot. I asked for your help, I wanted your advice, and you didn’t know anything either.”

“It’s not easy for guys to just . . . admit they don’t know anything. I never lied to you, I just didn’t correct you when you assumed—”