Chapter Ten
W hen I strolled down the hallway towards class later that week, I stopped short when I saw Rich leaning against the wall outside my class. He looked very much like Emilio Estevez in The Breakfast Club in an oversized jacket and tight white t-shirt.
Oh, this is going to be so uncomfortable .
My mouth was a lot less bold when my brain was not boiling over in anger. Squaring my shoulders, I continued my path towards the lecture hall with feigned confidence. I cleared my throat obviously upon arrival since he didn’t appear to notice. Rich looked up and shoved his phone in his pocket.
“Hey, Vanessa. How’s it goin’?”
“Oh, just peachy.”
He ran his hand through his hair.
“Listen, about the other night. I was being an ass. I didn’t mean it as anything personal. Obviously, I don’t know you, so I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Thank you. For the apology.”
“Yeah, no problem. Are we cool?”
“Sure.”
“Alright, I’ll see you around then.”
“See ya.” I nodded. He pushed open the double doors and left the building, and I could only shake my head at the surreal nature of that conversation.
Rich Michaelson wasn’t really known for his sincerity.
More for his DUI from when he was in high school.
Fox Falls was a small town. People remembered this shit.
Which is why you should thank your lucky stars that your parents are friends with one of the sheriff’s deputies.
“Hey, hi, hello, good morning!”
I smiled even before I saw Livy’s red hair.
“Aren’t you in a good mood? ”
“Well, that remains to be seen. Or heard. What have you heard? Tell me. Like right now, I’m going to combust.”
“I heard that you have a homecoming date with Vader. And we’re going to Zack’s this weekend so you guys can hang out.”
Her eyes got wide like a kid on Christmas. “Shut up.”
“Well, if you don’t wanna go with him…”
“Bite your tongue. Bite your whole mouth even. Of course, I want to go with him. Oh my god, we are going to have so much fun. Can we shop now? Like tomorrow? Or right now? Skip this class and let’s go to Fairfield.”
“No ma’am. The last time I went on an unsanctioned outing with you, I almost got arrested.”
She gave me a sour look. “Ugh, fine! This weekend then? Yes. I will pick you up.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll be ready.”
Liv clapped excitedly and hurried to class without saying goodbye.
The day passed by blissfully quickly, but I was disappointed when Zack wasn’t in the commons at lunch. I speared my lettuce rather forcefully with a plastic fork, attempting to mask my disappointment. When my phone alerted me to a message, I felt my mood lift.
ZACK: Hey, I went off campus for lunch near Rich’s, but I’m bringing you back something. I didn’t want you to think I ditched you. I’ll see you in a bit.
V: Can’t wait :)
Promptly, I threw my broccoli salad in the trash and listened to Liv and Kim go back and forth about homework from their shared math class. Zack dropped into the seat beside me a few minutes later with a cheeseburger and a Frosty, and I couldn’t lie—I didn’t hate the looks people shot our way.
“Thank you! So much better than my salad,” Vanessa exclaimed.
“You are welcome. So, you guys down to come over tomorrow? Probably like six?” Zack slid his arm across the back of my chair and leaned into me, his breath ghosting over my neck.
I broke out in a wave of goosebumps until he completed his mission, which was apparently to steal some of my fries.
Then, I smacked his hand, making him chuckle. I didn’t share.
“Yeah, we’ll be there,” Liv answered gleefully, jumping into the conversation.
“I’m not sure what’s going on after the game tonight, but I’ll text you if it’s anything fun, yeah? And I think you should cheer extra loud for me.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” I promised, taking a sip of my milkshake. He leaned in closer to whisper in my ear.
“Truth? There’s something kind of sexy about watching you suck that Frosty through a straw.” He finished with a laugh, and I willed the blush spreading across my cheeks to go away. He kissed me beneath my jaw and went to catch up with his teammates.
“It’s not even fair how pretty he is,” Liv declared rather loudly.
“Amen, sister,” Kim agreed. A wave of guilt crashed into me that I hadn’t included Kimmy in our weekend plans, so I immediately invited her, though she didn’t seem committed to joining in. I also resolved to help find her a homecoming date despite her protests.
* * *
The game Friday night did not go well for us, and no one was quite in the mood to go out and celebrate. I tried sending several cheerful messages to Zack after the loss, but he insisted he just wanted to go back to his apartment and sleep.
Well. Fuck .
I realized that my vehicularly blessed friends had left, assuming I was getting a ride from Zack, and now I was stuck on campus. Neither Liv nor Kim was answering their phones, and the parking lot of the stadium was starting to clear out.
Reluctantly, I began to text my mom to come pick me up like this was the eighth grade.
Humiliating.
“Well, that was disappointing.” A voice came from my left as I hovered over the ‘send’ button.
“Right?” I answered, turning to see Luke with his car keys swinging around his finger playfully. I supposed he could afford to be in a jolly mood since he played basketball.
“Do you need a ride?”
The keys stopped swinging, and he shoved them into the pocket of his dark jeans.
“Actually, yeah. Would you mind?”
It struck me that this was the most civilized conversation we’d had since perhaps the sixth grade when we first met. Since then, it’d been mostly sparring.
“For a small fee, of course.” He grinned. I could see his green eyes light up even in the dark.
“Whatever, bite me. I’ll just call my mom.”
He had to go and act like himself.
“Stop. You know I’m kidding. Let’s go.” He took my phone out of my hand and held it in the air so I couldn’t reach it.
“You are a child,” I complained, following him towards his car, my pleated teal and black cheer skirt bouncing around me as I stomped. Jumping on his back to get my phone was not out of the question.
This is ridiculous.
“A child? With these guns? I don’t think so,” he bragged, flexing his biceps casually under his shirt.
“Ugh. Can you just give me my phone back and take me home? ”
“Magic words?” he asked, holding it above my hands and still wearing that stupid smile as we approached his black Chevy truck.
“Screw you?”
“Eh, close enough.”
He dropped my cell into my grasp and opened the door for me.
Really? Chivalry now?
It was surprisingly clean inside, and it didn’t even smell like gym clothes.
“Your truck is nice,” I stated begrudgingly when he got in. He just looked at me for a moment, his smile dropping just slightly.
“Thanks. My uncle, ah, he has a dealership…so he helped, whatever. Do you wanna grab some food? Concession-stand hot dogs don’t really do it for me.”
“Um, sure. I could eat. Just not Wendy’s please.”
No matter how much I loved burgers and Frosties, there was only so much a girl could take.
“Pizza?”
I felt the confusion spread across my face. Pizza would mean we’d actually have to sit down together for the length of a meal. It was entirely possible one of us would end up wearing the pizza before it was over.
“Are you sure?”
“About pizza? Yeah, I’m one hundred percent sure about pizza. Do you have some sort of objection to Italy’s greatest gift to the world?”
“I don’t think the idea of pizza actually originated in Italy, but okay. Pizza it is.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Yeah, I think it’s like Babylonian or Greek or Egyptian or something. They had flat breads with toppings. I don’t know why I know this, there was probably a documentary on the Food Channel when I couldn’t sleep.” I shrugged.
“You are a wealth of information, Vanessa. ”
“Don’t sound so shocked.”
He pulled into the Pizza Hut parking lot and killed the engine.
“I can’t even believe pizza isn’t from Italy. I’ve been crediting the wrong culture with my favorite food, and now I have to start giving props to the Babylonians or something.”
“I’m sorry my knowledge of food history has disrupted your world,” I joked. “But modern pizza is from Italy. So, I guess you’re not wrong wrong.”
“That’s a relief.”
The vinyl seat of the booth squeaked as I slid in. We ordered quickly once inside; the restaurant was busy after a game night. Luke ordered a Mountain Blast and a ridiculous amount of carbs.
“I heard that drinking Mountain Blast can mess with the effectiveness of your, um… You know? Never mind. I don’t even think that one’s true.”
You did NOT just enter into a conversation with Luke Miller about his sperm count. Jesus Christ.
“ What? What are you trying to do to me here? First pizza and now Mountain Blast? You are a cruel woman.” He called the waitress back over and asked for water instead. “For the record, I’m not worried about anything in that general vicinity, I—”
“Stop the words from coming out of your mouth immediately. We are not having this conversation.”
I wanted to be mad, but a laugh bubbled up from my chest anyway, and I covered my face with my hands. I struggled to regain my composure, but I forced deep breaths.
“Moving on. Do you have a date for homecoming?” I asked, an idea forming in my head.
“Not as of yet. Why? Did you decide to take my advice and ditch Rhodes?”
“ No ,” I retorted pointedly. “And even if I had, why would you assume I’d want to go with you? You would just make me want to kill you the whole night.”
“Touché,” he admitted .
“And I think you should take Kimmy.”
“Selner?”
“Yes. Do I have another friend named Kimmy?”
“I suppose not. Why? Does she have a thing for me?” He raised his eyebrows suggestively just as the pizza arrived.
“Not everyone is in love with you, Lucas. But since neither of you are dating anyone, you could go as friends.”
“Yeah, maybe. I’ll think about it. She’s…nice.”
I shot him a satisfied smile and dove into the pizza. “Why is this so good?”
“That’s what I’m saying!”
Conversation flowed surprisingly well considering I didn’t know that we’d ever hung out on our own before. Our friend circles always overlapped, which is how Luke managed to annoy me for so many years, but we were never friends .
I insisted on splitting the bill despite his protests.
“This is very emasculating, Vanessa.”
“Define emasculating, and I’ll consider letting you pay.” I smiled knowingly.
“ This . This is the definition of emasculating. Whatever, now I don’t even want to pay for you.”
“That’s what I thought.”
He blew a straw wrapper at me like he was seven years old, and I rolled my eyes. We spent the ride arguing about who had worse taste in music, and I was trying to outline the incredible talent of N’Sync when he finally pulled up to my house.
“I kind of had fun tonight. Thanks for eating with me. It definitely beat going home and finding out what my mom left in the fridge.”
“I kind of had fun, too. Thanks for the ride.”
“See ya, V.”
“See ya.”
What a random night .
I texted Zack once more to try and bring him out of his mood about losing the game, but I got tired of waiting for a response. Instead, I scoured my closet for an outfit to wear to his house that would make him forget he even played football.