The formal is in six days. She’s the President of the sorority.”
“A girl like Riley will not have a hard time finding a replacement.”
How quickly I switch from considering a kiss with this guy to wanting to punch him in the throat. “Thanks for the reminder,” I say dully.
“Okay, now why are you mad?”
“I should get back inside.” I stand and he rises off the bench alongside me. I have to crank my neck back to keep eyes on his face.
“When can I see you again?”
I gather my hair at my nape, pull it over my shoulder and twist it just to give my hands something to do besides reach out and press them to his chest to see if it’s as solid as it looks. “I don’t know, Loren. You’re with Riley now. How can you even talk about seeing me? Honestly, it makes you look like a creep.” I bite my tongue wishing I could take back the words. Leave it to me to push away the only hot, popular guy who has ever shown me interest.
He takes a step back, his hands shoved tightly into his jeans pockets. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have come over tonight.”
Don’t say that! I nod, because I’m afraid to open my mouth for fear of what kind of begging might come out.
“I’ll make things clear with Riley, let her know I’m not interested in anything more than friendship, and I’m sure after that she’ll want to take someone else to the formal.”
I’m already shaking my head. “You clearly don’t know her.” Tell Riley she can’t have something and that becomes her sole focus. I’ve never known her to not get everything she’s ever wanted. Which makes any feelings I could possibly develop for Loren even more pointless.
“What?”
I sigh and shake my head. “I gotta go.” I head back in the direction of the front door and can feel Loren’s presence close behind me.
He jogs up the front steps to whirl around in front of me. “Can I call you?” He dips his chin to get my eyes. “As friends.”
“Sure, I guess.” I enter my info into his phone and he tucks it back in his pocket.
A small breeze carries a thick, frizzy, strand of hair across my face and he reaches it before I do to tuck it behind my ear. The action is so gentle it makes my chest cramp.
“Goodnight, Bex.”
“’Night.” I step around him and before I’m even to the door I’m wondering what the fucksticks just happened. How is this my life? And what will Riley do when/if she finds out that he was here…for me? The answer? She can’t know. I turn around hoping it’s not too late to catch him before he leaves only to rock back in surprise when I see him standing on the bottom step watching me with an intense gaze. “You have to go to the dance with Riley.”
“I’d rather go with you.”
“And turn a house of fifty plus girls against me?”
He frowns. “Fine, I’ll go with her if she doesn’t cut me off herself. But, Bex, after the dance, you and I are going to talk.”
“That’s fair.” We won’t, because I’m sure he’ll snap out of whatever delusion he’s in and he’ll fall hard for my cousin.
He studies me once more from my flip flops up my bare legs and to my eyes. “Go inside, Bex.”
I glare at him so he knows I don’t appreciate being told what to do.
Then I turn around because I want to. Without another word I head inside, up to my room, and lie in bed going over every word he said and talking myself out of believing him.
Chapter Eight
Bex
Breakfast in the house on the weekend is a big affair. Aggie makes waffles, bacon, fruit salad, and we fire up the espresso machine for day drinking. I find Riley sitting at a table surrounded by Becky, Lily, and Lynn, all of them leaning in to her as she talks while stabbing at her fruit salad.
Coffee in hand, I take a seat down the table from her crew of gossipers. I’m meeting the Herping Society at eleven in Sierra Madre to herp at the mountain base. Exhausted after Loren’s early morning visit my brain is slow to calculate how much time I have to get ready and factor in the commute so that I make it on time.
So far I haven’t heard even a whisper about Sweaty Loren Garlic Breath, which makes me curious. Her and the surrounding