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14. Ugh! As If!

14

Ugh! As If!

“I can’t believe Gladys took on Evie for you,” Wanda says as we reach the outer perimeter of campus. “I mean, I can believe Gladys was kicking ass and taking names. She’s a stone-cold assassin. But you always made it sound like she doesn’t like you.”

“She doesn’t,” I say, covering my eyes and looking at the grounds beyond the sports fields. The banners Mr. Fumagalli was asking about are starting to pop up around town. “I think she might equally dislike everyone and Evie made herself an easy target.”

“Got to give it to Gladys, she shoots to kill.” Wanda stops at the edge of a field. “Thanks for walking me. If you want to take off, I can find the coding labs myself.”

“It’s your first day,” I reply. I didn’t love waking up to walk Wanda here, but she would have done the same if I needed moral support. Even if she isn’t saying it, I can tell by the way she keeps readjusting her backpack straps that she is nervous. Although Wanda’s streams are bringing in decent revenue, she needed a steadier source of income before college, and remote jobs are scarce around Little Elm. Despite how good she is with the people she knows, the daily face-to-face interactions are going to stretch Wanda’s comfort zone. “You’re going to be awesome. Besides, I’ve got to get used to being on campus again. I can’t run every time I’m here.”

“It’s too early for Truman to be around,” Wanda says, addressing my real concern. “What are you going to do before Corner Books opens?”

“Finally get the last of the painting done. It feels like we’ve been redecorating forever, and it’s only been a couple of days. There are a lot of final touches to get done before Corner Books’ first book club.”

We cross under a huge banner announcing the dates of the festival, the morning heat strong but not unbearable. I wonder if it’s a field or a pitch. I’m not sporty but I know there’s some sort of difference. Maybe it depends on what sport is being played on it at the time.

“I’m supposed to meet the rest of the day camp counselors outside the Athletic Center,” Wanda says, checking her email for the sixth time.

We approach the building but don’t see anyone around. I try one of the doors nearest us. It doesn’t open.

“Hey, Casanova.” Luke strides across the field toward us wearing a tank top, shorts, and backward baseball cap. “You have to go around to the front of the building.”

“Casanova?” Wanda asks.

“Don’t ask,” I mumble. Wanda is trying to catch my eye and wants to know who the guy I’m talking to is. “What are you doing here?” I ask Luke.

“I’m one of the college’s lifeguards for the summer,” Luke says. “I thought I told you.”

I shake my head. Most of our communication has been via text and that’s mostly revolved around my plans for Corner Books’ book club.

Luke holds out a hand for Wanda to shake. “I’m Luke.”

She fist-bumps him instead. “I’ve heard about you. Wanda here.”

“Really dumb question,” he says. “I think I know you. Lt_GlittrB0mb?”

Wanda smiles. “Good eye.”

“No way. Your stream helped me get through Venomwood II big-time. I almost didn’t recognize you out of costume.”

“Kind of the point,” Wanda says.

“Gotcha. I’ll keep your lieutenant rank under wraps with the other staff.”

Wanda’s shoulders relax and she lets go of her backpack straps. “It’s cool. I’m trying to put myself out there more. If they find out, they find out. It might help build the fanbase.”

“Is that why you’ve been streaming with chickn_backflip lately? To piggyback on each other’s fans?”

Wanda blushes. She never blushes. “No. We play well together. That’s all.”

“You two are freaky in sync.”

My romance senses are tingling and I’m about to grill Wanda about who this chickn_backflip is, but she cuts me off.

“Let’s get moving. I don’t want to be late on my first day.”

“Are you sticking around?” Luke asks me as we walk. “I could get you a pass for the pool.”

Wanda coughs and snorts as she tries not to laugh. “Bobby? He doesn’t swim. He likes to lounge or work on his tan or swish around deck in a caftan.”

Since Luke is watching us, I tilt my head and smile, pretending to be amused Wanda told him all that.

Luke scratches his head. “That’s too bad. The outdoor pool isn’t really for sunbathing and the indoor pool is mostly used for laps.”

The lifeguarding job must be why Luke appeared in Little Elm at the beginning of the summer instead of closer to September like students normally do.

We reach the front of the building and Luke asks, “Will you be around after we finish up? I know we text, but I was thinking we could hang out. I don’t know anyone besides my roommates yet, and you could show me where this town’s good pizza place is.”

“There isn’t one,” I say. “The pizza sitch in Little Elm is tragic.”

“You have to go about thirty minutes out of town to PizZaZa Gabor’s for the good stuff,” Wanda adds. “But you need a car.”

“Ah. Ok. I guess pizza isn’t an option.” Luke shuffles from foot to foot before pointing at the double doors to the Athletic Center. “We should get inside.”

Wanda grabs my arm. “I’ll be in in a minute.”

She smacks my arm once Luke is out of sight.

“Ow!” I say. “Why’d you do that?”

Wanda raises both eyebrows. “Where do I start? How about, why didn’t you tell me about meeting a guy?”

I raise my hands in an I don’t know kind of way. “I did tell you. And he’s not a guy. He’s Luke.”

“You didn’t mention the nickname.”

“Because it’s silly.” I don’t mention my nickname for Luke.

“You two have been texting. A lot.”

“About Jerome and Mya.” I know I glossed over a lot of details about Luke with Wanda, mostly saying he’s a guy who’s new in town. I’m not even sure Luke and I are friends yet, so it’s always felt premature to share a lot about him. Seeing my chance, I redirect the conversation. “You and chickn_backflip have been gaming together. A lot.”

Wanda laughs. “Nice try. That’s not the same. We’re just gaming.”

“And we’re just texting.”

“For a guy who eats, sleeps, and breathes romance, you’re so dense sometimes. Luke was feeling you out.”

I burst out laughing. “I don’t think so.”

“He asked you to hang out.”

I shake a finger back and forth between us. “No. He asked us . It was a group hang.”

“Because you’re not giving him the green light. It was insurance against you rejecting him. If you said no, he wouldn’t lose face.”

“I didn’t reject him. And he’s not into guys. He told me so.”

“You’re sure?”

I open my mouth in mock indignation. “You know how finely tuned my gaydar is. I always know which movies stars are queer.”

“That doesn’t prove anything. You think every celebrity is queer.”

“Because they are. Give it time and all will be revealed. Ok. You want proof? He’s a sunbaked jock who games and basically admitted to me he’s into sorority girls named Bambi. His name is Luke. Not Luca. Not Lucas. Plain. Old. Luke. Even if he decided to dip a toe into the sparkly end of the pool, I’m no himbro. I’m the deep end of fabulous you cannonball into or get away from the splash zone. Unless he’s some self-hating closeted chubby chaser, a guy like Luke would never look twice at a guy like me.”

“That’s all crap. You’re amazing.”

I suck on my bottom lip and think about Luke saying he didn’t see anything wrong with how I looked and the things he first noticed about me.

“You saw us standing together,” I say. “We don’t go together.”

“Not looking like Truman didn’t stop you from pursuing him hard,” Wanda says, reading my subtext again.

“Tru is gay, and we have books in common. Luke is a love Grinch. He doesn’t like anything romantic, not even weddings. We are vastly different people.”

“Love Grinch? Do you not hear yourself?” Wanda rubs her hand across her face. “You were wrong about Truman.”

“All the more reason I’m not making the same mistakes with Luke,” I say with what I hope is finality. I know I have a history of creating fantasies around people, whether it’s Evie or Truman or that guy who stole the twenty from me. The only difference with Luke is I caught myself before I fell full speed down the rabbit hole like I did with the others. Luke has no romantic interest in me or anyone else I know of. Even if my judgment lapsed, Luke isn’t someone to have a crush on. He’s a documentary-watching wedding heckler who doesn’t love love. There’s zero chance of reciprocation.

“Luke isn’t Truman. You said so yourself,” Wanda says.

“Exactly. Stop seeing things between us that aren’t there.”

Wanda throws up her hands as she walks into the building. “Boys!” she exclaims. “I can’t believe how clueless you all are.”