She drops her arms. Good. I can’t really concentrate with cleavage staring me in the face. She slaps her forehead. “Fart, I’m usually right about these things.”
I bark out laughing. “Did you really just say fart?”
She laughs too. “Yes.”
“I thought girls avoided that word around guys.”
“We don’t avoid the word… just the action.”
I have to bend over and set the gas can on the ground so I don’t drop it. Seriously, where did this girl come from?
“What?” she asks through pretend offended giggles. “That’s my four letter F-word.”
After I control myself, I stand upright and grab the gas can again. “I think I like you.” Yeah, I just said that. Hopefully she knows what I mean by it.
“Ah, so we’re officially friends now because I said ‘fart’.” Good, she knows what I mean. “That’s gotta be the most random and awesome thing ever.” She smiles and starts walking. Since I’m slacking on the umbrella covering thing, I guess it doesn’t matter if we get wet.
And I’m goin’ to be bold. This girl’s easy to talk to and she doesn’t seem to judge me too harshly on liking someone out of my league. And who used to date someone who shares the same bloodline as I do. “Well, you weren’t wrong.”
“Huh?”
“You weren’t wrong about Quynn. I’m pretty much screwed.”
“Thought so.” She doesn’t say anything else. And she’s not all ‘I knew it!’ or ‘That’s so typical’ or anything like I thought she’d be.
She’s just cool.
“You’re not going to tell me to forget about her, or call me a perv?”
“What?” Her eyebrows pull together, and she gets a cute little wrinkle just above her nose. Whoa, did I just think she’s cute? Nah, just her expression’s cute. She shakes her head a little. “Why would you think that?”
“‘Cause that’s what normal people would say.”
“When have I ever given you the impression I’m normal?”
We laugh… again. Dude. “You’ve got a point.”
“Well, honestly, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.” She throws me a half smile and a shrug. “I mean, you guys are friends, right?”
“Yeah…”
“And everything between her and Gabe are way over since he jabbed another girl with his pleasure stick, right?”
She just said that. I’m halfway between laughin’ and shock. “That’s one way of puttin’ it.”
“See, it’s just two single people who like each other. No biggie.”
I snort. It’s a biggie for me and Quynn. As I said before, it’s just… weird. Like she thinks of me as her brother. “You make it sound like it’s not against any ‘rules’ or shit like that.”
A slight cringe crosses her face, but it’s gone before I can tell if it was actually there. “Well, you’re not the only guy who fantasizes about her.”
I open my mouth to shoot off a defensive comment about how I hate when people think I’m just the stereotypical horn-dog, but she stops me by nearly shouting.
“BUT, you are the only one who’s not, like, nasty about it.”
“Huh?”
“Like, guys who just wanna jump her bones look like they’re about to smack her butt every time she bends over.”
My gut clenches. Maybe I am the stereotypical horn-dog.
“But you’re not like that.”
“I’m not?”
“No. You look at her more like you care about her. Like you’re sorry for what’s happened to her, and that your brother was the cause of all the crap she’s had to deal with lately. You look at her like she’s your friend.”
“She is my friend.”
“Well, then there you go.”
Silence. But it’s not crazy awkward. It’s kinda nice. I haven’t told anyone about my impossible dilemma, thinkin’ anyone in their right mind would call me a creep or a bad brother, and then the word would travel faster than I could take two steps. But here she is, not judgin’ me.
Yeah, I like this girl.
We’re at the car, so I dump the gas in the tank, spilling some on my shoes, but they’re soaked anyway from the puddles we’ve had to wade through. Hayley holds the umbrella over my head, and the rain picks up. She has to shout when she talks again.
“Well, thanks for keeping my book dry. Hopefully it stays that way.” She laughs.
“D’ya think I’m a jerk or something?” I smirk. “I’m goin’ to give you a ride home.”
“Well, I didn’t want to assume…”
I shut the gas cover and pop the trunk. She follows me to the back of the car, and I grab her book and toss the gas can back in. I better be a gentleman and open her door. Mom