Chapter Seventeen Rowan #2
“Yeah.” I dip my chin in a nod.
Summer motions to the bed. “You can sit if you want.”
I take the ball and sit on the edge. The frame squeaks under my weight. I scoot until my back is against the wall and my legs dangle over the side.
“This is so weird,” she mutters and picks up her notecards. She walks toward me and extends them my way. “Ask me these.”
I flip through the first few cards, then glance up at her.
“I have an anatomy test on Monday.”
I nod my understanding and stack the cards again. “This is not how I pictured spending my Saturday night.”
“Mine either.” She laughs like seeing me in her room is the strangest thing ever. Maybe it is.
“What’s Silas’s room like? Does he have a shrine in there of me?”
Her laugh is louder. “No, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find your face in the middle of his dartboard.”
I look back at the notecards and lift them in one hand. “If I ask you these, then can we do something else?”
“Like?”
“Boone is having a party.”
“I have to work tomorrow.”
“So that’s a no?”
“If you don’t want to help me, then you can climb back down the tree.” She smiles smugly.
“Fine, but for every study card, I get to ask a non-school question.”
She considers it, then relents with a nod of agreement.
“Define ‘proximal,’” I say. I cannot believe this is how I’m spending one of my few free Saturday nights during the season.
I flip the card as she reads the definition, nearly word for word.
“Correct.”
Her smile lifts.
“Now my question.” I think carefully. There is so much I still don’t know about her. I start with an easy one. “Why did you and Kevin break up?”
“He broke up with me because he said it didn’t make sense to stay together when we were going to be at different schools.”
“Seriously?” Seems like a dumb reason. Oakley and Frost Lake aren’t that far apart.
“That’s what he said, but I think he was looking for a reason to dump me, because he started hanging out with Lizzy the very next day.”
“Lizzy, huh?”
“All the guys want to date her. She’s beautiful and popular and—”
“Not nearly as good as you, I’m certain.”
She flushes. “She’s actually really nice and smart. It’s hard to hate her. Next question.”
I shuffle to the next notecard. “Which terms are used to describe whether a structure is in front or behind another?”
“Anterior and posterior.”
“Correct again.” I drop the cards into my lap. “Why do I feel certain you know all of these by heart?”
“That’s the point.”
“My turn again.” I mull over a dozen or more questions before I ask, “Do you ever think about getting back with him?”
“Who? Kevin?” She immediately shakes her head.
“Why not?”
She lifts a single finger. “You get one question.”
“Fine,” I mutter and read from the next card, “what is the sagittal plane?”
Again, she rattles off the answer with no problem.
“You’re like Google,” I say, impressed.
“Thanks.” Her body language is more relaxed now. She walks over and sits on the bed, as far away from me as she can get but still close enough that I can see the smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose.
“More questions about Kevin?”
I don’t really give a shit about her ex. What I really want to know is what kind of guy is she looking for.
“How many other guys have you dated or talked to or…” I let my voice trail off with a flick of my wrist to indicate she should answer it however she wants to define it.
“Is that supposed to be code for ‘hooked up with’?” She arches a brow.
“However you want to answer.”
“Kevin and I only hooked up once and I’ve never been with anyone else. I went on a few dates with this guy Oren on the boys’ soccer team. He’s a senior.”
“I know him,” I mutter, picturing his stupid face. I never had a problem with him before, but I’m now fairly certain I’ve always known he was a jerk and never realized it.
“We were better as friends. We just talked about soccer the whole time.”
That makes me feel slightly better. I like soccer and all, but it’s the last thing on my mind when Summer is around.
“Why are you so curious about my dating history?” she asks, picking at the comforter. “It’s a lot less interesting than yours.”
“Where’d you get that idea?”
She rolls her eyes. “Come on. I see the way all the girls at school look at you and talk to you. You have your pick.”
I let my head fall back against the wall and laugh toward the ceiling.
“I’m serious,” she says. “You might have inadvertently made me the most hated girl in school. Except they’re nice to me to stay on your good side.”
“People are nice to you because they like you. Not because of me.”
She hums like she disagrees.
“And I’ve only hooked up with two people.”
“Amanda and…?”
I squint, wondering if this is one of those times I should keep my mouth shut so it doesn’t cause more problems down the line.
“It’s someone on the girls’ soccer team, isn’t it?”
Fuck.
“Who?” Summer demands, but she’s smiling.
Dread pools in my stomach. I don’t want to lie. And I guess some part of me wants to tell her. I want her to know me in a way I haven’t shared with other people.
“Sophie.”
She leans forward, shoulders hunching and gaze narrowing. “I’m sorry. I must have misheard you. It sounded like you said Sophie.”
I bite down on the corner of my lip and wait for it to fully sink in.
“As in Amanda’s best friend? That Sophie?”
Reluctantly, I nod.
“What the hell? How could you do that to Amanda? How could Sophie do that to Amanda?”
“It was her idea.”
She inches closer on the bed. “I need more information.”
“It was right after the first time Amanda and I stopped talking. I can’t remember now why we stopped, but then she was talking to someone else, and we were all at a party…
” My voice trails off. There is no great explanation for doing it, and I know it doesn’t look great, but at the time it wasn’t a big deal.
“And Amanda said you should hook up with Sophie?”
“Not in those exact words, but she kept saying we’d be cute together, stuff like that.”
“Wow.” Summer’s lashes drop and then pop open as she shakes her head. “I do not get you two at all.”
“Me and Sophie?”
“You and Amanda.”
“It was a long time ago, and Sophie and I knew immediately that we weren’t a good match. She’s a great girl. I’ve gotten to know her from hanging out with Amanda, but there’s no chemistry there.”
“So little you hooked up with her,” she mutters.
“I thought it would help me get over Amanda.”
“And did it?”
I consider that. “I talked to a few people after that before Amanda and I sparked things again, so yeah, maybe it did.”
“When I first met you, I thought that you and Amanda were perfect together.”
One side of my mouth lifts. “Something tells me you didn’t mean that as a compliment.”
Her responding smile is sheepish. “I didn’t know either of you very well, but my first impressions weren’t great. But the point is, the more I get to know you, her, the situation…” She pauses and presses her lips together.
“What?” My pulse picks up speed again. Whatever she’s going to say next feels important, like she can help me pinpoint the thoughts that have been swirling around since Friday.
“I can’t understand why you want to get back with her so badly. There are a lot of girls at Frost Lake who you don’t have this toxic history with.”
“I know.” My stare drops to her lips. “I’ve thought about that a lot recently.”
“You have?”
“Sure. Maybe I’d be better off with someone new.” Maybe there was a reason Amanda and I never worked out. Maybe, maybe, maybe.
“Exactly.”
“Someone smart and kind, beautiful…” I move my hand along the comforter until the tips of my fingers brush against hers.
Her cheeks flush as she holds my stare.
“Someone I could have fun with and who’d show up for me, cheer me on at games and make sure I get home at night. A real sweetheart.”
I mean her. She has to know it, but Summer’s expression is one of confusion or maybe skepticism. Faking with her has been easy and fun. How much different could a real relationship be?
She pulls her hand back and drops her gaze to her lap. “There are lots of girls like that at Frost Lake. You could have your pick.”
What I want to say is, I pick you. But there’s something in the way she won’t meet my gaze that tells me it doesn’t matter.