Chapter Fourteen
T wo hours after he went home, my room was spotless. I promptly took a photo and sent it to Zack.
V : Since you’ve never seen my room, I thought I’d send you a picture.
ZACK : That is one good-looking bedroom. I’d like to find myself in it sometime ;).
V : I’m sure my very easygoing mother would be totally okay with that.
ZACK : Buzz kill :).
V : Lol sorry. I’ll call you later, I gotta do some homework.
ZACK : Later
Though my homework made an appearance, I was far too excited about homecoming to think straight about anything else.
* * *
Kimmy collapsed next to me at lunch, words flying out of her mouth before her butt even hit the chair.
“I need you to look over my left shoulder without being obvious right at this moment.”
I narrowed my brows at her because this cloud of vague chaos was usually accompanying Liv and not Kim. I did glance over her shoulder, and I saw several groups of people sitting at tables in the commons.
“I see a very ordinary lunch scene. Context please?”
She let out a strangled sound. “His name is Ethan, and he just transferred into my lit class. I heard him mention work-study conflicts or something when I was absolutely eavesdropping on his conversation with the professor. I don’t really care how it happened, I’m just ready to thank the deities responsible because look at him.
This has to be a gift from the universe, right? ”
I zeroed in on a table of guys, some of whom we’d both known since kindergarten, and one new face. From what I could see, it was a pretty face, I’d give her that.
“I’m not sure about a universal gift, but did you talk to him?”
“Define talk.” Kim was pressing her lips together looking sheepish.
“Utter syllables that make up words in the English language.”
“Not exactly, no. I gave him a pen.”
“Great! You’re like twenty-seven steps away from having coffee then.” I grinned.
“Please don’t toy with my emotions!”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Geez. Want me to talk to him for you?”
“No!” Kim shrieked, her hands pulling at her soft brown hair.
“Why not? There’s a ton of town events coming up for homecoming. If he’s not from Fox Falls, and I’m pretty sure we’d know if he was, he might want an invite or something.”
She fell silent and stared into my soul. “Do you swear on your collector’s edition DVD of Clueless you won’t embarrass me?”
“That’s a new one.”
“I figured that meant more to you than any holy text.”
“You might be right,” I mused. “Yes, I swear on my collector’s edition I will not embarrass you.”
“Okay. Just…ugh, okay. Okay. Go.” She shooed me away aggressively, and I just laughed.
I felt a little skip in my step as I made my way toward the unfamiliar, uncommonly tall male with uncommonly shiny hair.
I sized him up as I got closer. He was good looking.
Not entirely my type, a little too shaggy and a little too thin, but I got the hype.
The guys he was with weren’t my friends , but in this town, we all knew each other far too well.
They were notorious stoners, and we probably hadn’t had a conversation since the third grade, but what did that matter, really?
I approached their table with ease and pulled out a chair where Tyler Webb was currently resting his feet.
He scowled at me, and I was certain he thought he looked intimidating with his newly pierced eyebrow and random maroon hair, but I still remembered him wearing a vest in his second-grade class picture. Intimidating, he was not.
“Thank you so much for saving me a seat, Ty. So sweet of you,” I offered graciously, batting my eyelashes at him.
He looked completely baffled. Plopping into the now empty seat, I turned my focus towards this Ethan character.
He really was striking… something about his cheekbones and those dark eyes.
“You’re Ethan,” I asserted.
“I am. Most people call me Fisher. But you can call me anything you want,” he flirted, giving me a smirk I assumed would melt most girls on the spot. I let out a brief laugh.
“Oh, you are very smooth. I totally get it now. Why all of the girls walking by are acting like they just saw a Hanson brother on campus. I’m Vanessa.”
“Should I be offended, Vanessa, that you’re comparing me to a Hanson brother?”
“Not at all,” I smiled, holding back another laugh.
“Just save your super awesome lines for someone available. I came to see if you wanna go to the movies or something with a group of us, maybe this weekend? Oh! Except homecoming is this weekend. Damn. We’d have to schedule around that.
Unless you’re looking for a date? I know this awesome girl—”
“Ah, I’m certain that you do. I don’t really do set-ups, though,” he interrupted me, seeing through my fake airhead moment.
“I do,” Brandon interjected. I rolled my eyes .
“Yes, Brandon. We all know. You’re far too…
distractable to be deemed a respectable homecoming date.
” I watched his green eyes dance with laughter as he stuffed another French fry into his mouth.
He wasn’t bad to look at either, but he had total attention deficit when it came to girls.
He’d charmed almost every female on my cheer squad junior year of high school. Some of them twice.
“Don’t hate, V.”
“Just being honest. Anyhow, if you change your mind, Fisher, let me know. I sincerely think you’re missing out. It was lovely to meet you, though.”
“I won’t. But nice to meet you too. Let me know if your, ah, availability changes.”
I just shook my head, preparing to head back to my table to deliver the unfortunate news to my friend when Zack appeared, his hand roughly clamped around my wrist. The sudden pressure made my breath catch—not just from surprise, but from how tight his grip was.
Instinctively, I tried to pull away, but he only held on tighter.
He tugged me back into my chair and pulled up his own.
“Don’t leave on my account,” he spit out, his eyes fierce. “Introduce me.”
“Um, okay? Zack, this is Ethan, Tyler, and Brandon. Ty and Brandon went to my high school. Ethan is new to me.” I searched Zack’s face, trying to get a read on what was happening while I discreetly rubbed my sore wrist under the table.
“Hey man,” Ethan started, seemingly unsure of how to take Zack’s demeanor. He wasn’t the only one. Fisher reached out a hand in a friendly gesture and Zack shoved his arm out of the way.
“Yeah, I really only came over here to tell you to mind your own fucking business.”
“Zack, I came over here to ask him about Kim, I didn’t—”
“Shut.Up.” His tone was razor sharp. My vision narrowed, and I could only see him. His jaw tight, his breathing shallow. My heart rate sped up as his expression dared me to challenge him .
“Yeah,” Ethan began, snapping me back to the present, “I’m not really wanting to throw down with some guy I don’t know over some girl I don’t know, and get arrested on a Monday, so whaddya say we all just calm down, mad dog?
” The guy was surprisingly chill for someone being threatened in the middle of the campus dining hall.
“Pussy,” Zack muttered loud enough for the table next to us to hear.
“I said I didn’t want to. Not that I wouldn’t.” Ethan stood up with a tight smile and towered about four inches over Zack. Though he was thin, I was not about to find out who would win in a fight. About nothing.
“I’m sorry, we’re leaving—” I began.
“Do not apologize to this asshole,” Zack interrupted again. “You’re going to damn well apologize to me, though.” There was no hint of that being a request. It was a command.
Fuck , I thought, alarm bells ringing in the back of my mind. All of this was too much, too fast, and I didn’t know why he was so angry .
“Zack,” I tried again. He silenced me with a look.
“You’re one hundred percent right about one thing, Vanessa . That we are leaving.”
He grabbed my hand and squeezed it to the point of pain as he led me into a deserted area in the courtyard just outside.
I tried to pretend the entire room hadn’t heard him tell me to shut up, and that they were staring through the window for some completely unrelated reason.
Tears were spilling over my lashes before I had a chance to try to keep them at bay.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he sputtered, finally releasing my hand.
“Are you insane ?” I got out, hating that my voice was wavering as I furiously wiped the tears from my cheeks. “I went to ask the guy if he wanted to go to homecoming with Kim, and you fucking attacked him. ”
I found myself pressing my hand to my forehead and I began to pace. Because what had just happened?
Zack whipped around and kicked a metal newspaper dispenser onto its side, the heavy sound echoing around the courtyard. I flinched before wrapping my arms around my stomach.
He has to calm down. We’re in public.
“You know exactly what is wrong with me. I fucking spilled my guts to you about Jenna, and you repay me by flirting with that stoner, making me look like a complete asshole. I actually skipped lunch with my friends to be with you, and that’s what I walk into.
It’s the exact same bullshit as with her. ”
My breathing became as shallow as his while I tried to figure out what to say to make him understand it was nothing. It was less than nothing.
“Zack, I didn’t mean to make you look like anything,” I said quietly. “Kim asked me to talk to him for her; that was the extent of it. I told him right away I wasn’t available—”
“He hit on you?”
“Stop it, please. I’m telling you the whole thing was innocent. I’m sorry if it looked otherwise, but you’re making it out to be something it absolutely was not. And you’re being mean.”
The last words had my voice shaking and tears welling up again, and I hated it. I was not the girl who cried in public about a fight with her boyfriend. I was the girl who judged other girls for doing it.
And he’s not even your boyfriend, my inner critic reminded me. I cringed inwardly.