Chapter 14
DISTURBED
Finally, it was almost lunchtime. I didn’t think I could stand another minute in Computers, not only because Mr. Piven was a snooze, but because Margie Freakin’ Caputo never seemed to be able to just shut the hell up.
The whole class had been assigned to work in pairs today, and lucky me, I got stuck with Margie. She seemed less interested in working on the assigned project and more interested in being a pain in my ass.
She’d been chewing my ear off about godonlyknowswhat when her diatribe switched to wondering aloud about where the party was going to be this weekend. “I heard there’s going to be a rave at The Barrens on Friday night. Are you gonna go?”
“Wasn’t planning on it.”
“Why?” she teased, attempting to come off as cute. “Got something better to do?”
“Hadn’t really thought about it.”
She leaned over toward me, close enough that I could smell her Designer Imposters perfume. “Well, maybe you should start thinking about it.” She punctuated her come-on with a flirty smile, and it was all I could do not to storm out of the room in frustration.
Yeah, okay, sweetheart. I can take the hint you’re throwing at me. No need to ram it home. And by the way, you and me? It’s never going to happen.
Thank God the bell finally rang, giving me the excuse to ditch Margie. I grabbed my books and dumped them in my locker on the way to the cafeteria.
Layla was already there.
With all the bullshit that transpired over my Weekend from Hell, I hadn’t talked to her since Saturday night when I went to her house after Homecoming. I wanted to. But I just figured I could talk to her once we were both together at school.
I sat down next to her at the lunch table and said hi. Only, she was so busy chatting up Benedict that she didn’t hear me.
“Layla. Hellooo. What? You don’t even say hi?” I was busting her chops a little, but she knew I was only joking. It’s what we did.
But then I thought that maybe she got it in her pretty head that I was really taking a dig, because she kind of gave me the rolled eyes and barely said hi back.
Shit. She must’ve been pissed about Saturday night. I know I was standing there wondering how I’d possibly be able to stop myself from jumping her the second I got inside her house, and I was pretty sure she wanted me, too. But I don’t know. Maybe I was wrong.
She was completely giving me the cold shoulder, her full attentions lavished all over Cooper Benedict. She was smiling and flirting with him, practically batting her damned eyelashes at her ex-boyfriend. And as of this weekend, I knew for sure that he was definitely her ex, at least according to Rymer.
Jesus. What the heck was I thinking, listening to Rymer? ‘Cause right then, she was trying to make it very clear that she was way more interested in Coop than she was in me. She was like, fawning all over him.
“What was the score on Saturday?” she asked. “Twenty-eight to ten?”
One of Benedict’s eyebrows rose to answer, “Twenty-eight to seven.”
“Wowww,” she purred, her eyelids lowering to half-mast. “And that wasn’t even counting your last touchdown that the ref ruled out! I’m impressed.”
What the hell is she doing? Playing games with me? Trying to make me jealous right now?
It was working.
The rest of that lunch period went down in much the same way. Layla ignoring me. Me wondering why.
The guys started laughing at something funny Rymer said just as the bell rang, and I found myself following Layla across the hall to her locker. I needed answers.
I stepped in front of it, blocking her, and asked, “What the hell was that in there?”
“What the hell was what?” she asked back. Those amazing brown eyes were looking at me all wide-eyed and innocent, and normally, seeing her look at me like that just about killed me. But right then, I wasn’t buying it. I knew something was up.
I stepped aside, though, so she could squat down and grab her books, and found myself talking to the top of her head. “Come on, Layla. You know what. Why are you treating me like I’m some piece of garbage all of a sudden?” She probably had already written me off, thinking I was like every other guy in this school, just trying to get in her pants. I was, of course, but honestly, that’s not all I was sticking around for. I actually really liked this girl. Enough that I actually pulled back for once and tried to take things slow with her. She had to know why I was there on Saturday, though. Had to know I was looking to step things up. Maybe she wasn’t ready for that. Maybe she wasn’t as into me as I thought. Maybe I misread everything that had gone on between us that night. Hell, the past three months. “Did I do something?”
She gave a huff and tried to play innocent. “Trip, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just trying to get to class right now, okay?”
I thought she was trying to be polite or something. Like she didn’t want to just say that she wasn’t into me. God. She wouldn’t even look at me. Did I blow it? Did I read her wrong? It’s not like I was dealing with some inexperienced girl, here. I mean, look at her. The girl was drop-dead gorgeous, so there’s no way I was the first guy to get caught in her trap. Maybe all those flirty moments were never meant to reel me in. Maybe that’s just who she was. Maybe she only liked me as a friend.
And the strangest thing was, I would almost have been okay with that. If she just wanted to stay friends, I could deal with it. It would suck, but I didn’t want to lose us over this. We were really good at being friends.
Like I said, I actually really liked this girl.
She stood up to leave, but I couldn’t let her go like that. I just wanted to know if we were okay. I just wanted to know that she didn’t freaking hate me. But Jesus. She still wouldn’t even look at me.
I slapped a hand up on the wall to stop her from taking off, and had her backed up against her locker before I even realized what I was doing. All I knew is that I wanted to get to the bottom of things. Right here, right now. “Oh, really? You have no idea what I’m talking about? That’s just an ordinary day for you, then, huh. Hanging all over Coop Benedict, treating me like a disease… Obviously you’re pissed about something.”
I was pretty sure I’d already figured out the problem. I had to imagine she was angry that I’d abused our friendship or something, trying to make a move on her when we’d spent the past three months all platonic, and now all of a sudden I was trying to come between her and Benedict. But I thought dangling her real boyfriend in my face was a little much and I told her so.
I got distracted from her answer as I watched her lips try and deny it. There was no space between the two of us, and I was having a hard time trying to do anything other than stare at her mouth. Her eyes finally met mine, and I thought I was gonna lose it, watching her look at me like that when I had her body practically pinned to the wall.
What would she do, I wondered, if I were to kiss her right now? Just slam her up against this locker and suck on that bottom lip of hers for the next hour or so?
Fuck. Just the thought of it gave me a semi.
But Layla didn’t look like she wanted to kiss me. She looked like she wanted to kill me. And seeing that look on her face made me realize she was done with me. Done playing with the new kid. The mystery had worn off, so now it was time to chew me up and spit me out.
And that’s what I got for taking a shot at the most beautiful girl I’d ever met in my life. Fucking maneater. I thought she was different.
Okay, Miss Popularity. I hope you and your dreamboat Coop will be perfectly happy together. Until then, “Fine. You want to play games, go right ahead. I don’t have time for this. You want to talk, you know how to find me.”
And then I stormed off, for English class of all places, wondering how the hell I was going to spend the next forty minutes sitting in the desk behind her without smelling her hair.
I punched a locker in frustration and just vowed not to breathe for the rest of the day.