Curvy Girls Can't Date Cowboys - Kelsie Stelting Page 0,32

even need to punish me for driving out to the sticks. Surely this pain would stay with me the rest of my life and remind me what a terrible idea it had been.

I slowly settled into the chair, hooked the mask over my face, and began the treatment. The gentle hum of the machine washed over me, and I sat back in the chair with my eyes closed.

Someone jostled my shoulder, and I jerked awake. I tried to sit forward and stand up, but then I realized the mask was still hooked on my face.

Cori reached down and touch the button on my bear-shaped nebulizer. “You fell asleep during your treatment.” She laughed.

I pulled at straps to the mask and hooked it over the bear’s ear. “I can't believe I did that. I was awake and then...” I just shook my head.

She leaned against the wall and rubbed at her tired eyes. “It was running for like an hour and woke me up. How late did you stay up?”

“Not too late after I gave you back your phone.”

Concern etched her face. “Are you sure you’re not getting sick?”

I knew where her mind was going, and I needed to steer it as far as possible in the opposite direction before she called Mom and Dad and worried them both over nothing. “I was just tired from yesterday. I ended up tagging along with Ray and his siblings while they worked.”

“How was it? Did he make a move?” she asked. “Wait. You can tell me over breakfast.”

I nodded and slowly walked with her to the kitchen, where she scrounged for eggs and bacon in the fridge. Sitting into the chair like a hundred-year-old woman, I said, “I have no idea why you work out.”

She laughed at me. “I so don't look like that every time I do any amount of physical activity.”

I glared at her and then slumped forward. While she cooked the eggs and bacon, I recounted the day, about how he reacted when he first saw me, and then how things began to change as I saw what his life was like.

She folded one arm over her chest, and she held out the spatula. “You know Mom and Dad are never going to change their minds about the store.”

I sagged. “I know. And I can’t even show them the video or they’ll know I was out there—with a boy.”

She shook her head, then perked up. “Can you show me the video?”

I nodded, and she set the spatula down to clap her hands together excitedly.

Slowly, painfully, I went to my room to get my computer. After I played the draft of the video, Cori said, “This is seriously amazing. He makes me want to be a cowboy. Or at least date one.” She raised her eyebrows at me. “Hubba, hubba.”

I rolled my eyes. “Please. Even if I could get Mom and Dad to go for it and he somehow found the time for a girlfriend, I’m the last person he’d be interested in.” Although what I’d said was true, it hurt more than I was willing to admit.

“Whatever.” She turned to tend the sizzling skillet. “It really is good, though, the video.”

I smiled. “I still need to do some touch-ups, but I hope Ray likes it.”

“If he doesn't like it, he's stupid.”

I gave her a look.

“What?” she asked defensively.

“He can't be stupid. He's at the Academy on scholarship.”

“For football, right?”

I lifted my eyebrows. “How did you know?”

“Word spreads. Especially about cute boys.”

Laughing, I said, “True. But even if he was recruited for football, you know no one lasts at the Academy if they can't keep up with their grades.”

She nodded and flipped the eggs over.

“What's on your agenda for today?” I asked.

“The girls want to go to Emmerson Shoppes and go dress shopping for the dance.”

“Sounds fun,” I said.

“Sure, if you call trying on a million dresses and then buying the first one fun... Mind if I take the car?”

I shook my head. “Honestly, I’ll just be around here. Maybe one of the girls can pick me up if we make plans.”

She nodded and plated some eggs over easy for me. “Bon appétit.”

“Merci beaucoup.”

As we ate our meal, she told me about her friends and how they had drama around the Spring Fling dance and who would be taking who. I shook my head at it all. Maybe that was a benefit of not having any guys interested in me—no one to worry about asking or not asking or flaking or