Never Have You Ever (The Love Game #1)- Elizabeth Hayley Page 0,16
water, towel dry, and put this on.” She held up some sort of intense moisture serum and then scooted me out of the bathroom so she could get ready for class.
I shuffled over to the couch, plopped down, and got comfortable. I hadn’t realized I’d fallen asleep until a knock at the door woke me up.
“Coming,” I called, heading to the door. I pulled it open to see Emma standing on the other side.
“So it’s true, then?” She sounded sad, but I had no idea why.
“Um, what’s true?”
“The whole gay thing.” She whispered the word gay like some sort of homophobic government agency had tapped the apartment and she didn’t want me to get waterboarded until I spilled all the secrets of the LGBTQ community. “I’ve been wondering about it since Soph told me, but I refused to believe it. Maybe it was wishful thinking.” She sighed and gave me a shy smile, probably feeling embarrassed by her admission.
“Wait, how do you know it’s true?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do I give off like a gay vibe or something?” I was suddenly very concerned about it. I know had to pretend I was gay, but I wasn’t gay. Until now, I’d never had someone look at me and assume that I liked men.
She brought a finger up slowly to point at me. “You’re in a charcoal face mask.”
“Shit.” I rubbed a hand over my face, feeling where Sophia had mummified it before she’d left. I would kill her if this didn’t come off. “I actually don’t usually do these, but Sophia made me put it on before she left for class, which was like”—I looked at my watch—“an hour ago.”
“That’s cute. Did you let her do that when you were little? Like practice her makeup skills and stuff?” I could practically see the lightbulb appear over her head. “Oh my God, is that why you’re gay?”
“What? No!” Was this how she thought sexual orientation was determined? “I just like men. That’s all.” I’m not sure how my life had become…whatever this was. “Are you staying or going? I need to get this stuff off my face before it eats away at my flesh.”
S O P H I A
I’d been sitting in psychology class for less than twenty minutes when my head started pounding and my stomach began to twist. “Are you okay?” Carter asked when my insides made a noise that sounded like a lion sitting down to devour its recent kill.
Since there was no pretending it didn’t come from me, I said, “Yeah, just hungry.”
I knew that wasn’t it. I’d eaten a bagel and cream cheese an hour ago, and the thought of food made my stomach turn in a way that made me wonder if I’d ever have an appetite again. I swallowed hard, took a small sip from my water bottle, and silently prayed to the vomit gods that they’d find someone else to punish today.
Not only did I absolutely not want to get sick in front of Carter and the other twenty or so people in our class, but I didn’t want to be out of commission in the middle of the semester. I couldn’t be out of commission. I had a GPA to maintain, and a stomach bug—or whatever this was—might mean time away from class and falling behind in my work.
“You want some of my protein bar?” He was already reaching into his backpack to pull out a chocolate peanut butter bar.
“I’m really okay,” I said, but my stomach still said differently.
It was gurgling and cramping, and I knew if I didn’t get the hell out of here soon, whatever was inside me would be coming out. I didn’t even get a chance to say where I was going before I jumped out of my seat, grabbed my belongings, and bolted to the nearest bathroom.
Not much satisfaction came from vomiting in a public restroom. Even though I should have felt some sort of relief, the thought of having my face dangerously close to a seat where countless people had placed their asses was enough to make me want to throw up all over again.
I didn’t leave the bathroom until I was certain I had nothing left in my stomach, and by the time I made it back to the apartment, I felt like my body had rid itself of every ounce of fluid it had. I was desperate to replenish it.
Opening the fridge to grab a bottle of water, I couldn’t have been more thankful that