“That’s a great idea.” Vic nods. “Bree, you’re awfully quiet over there.”
“I have a headache. May I please be excused?” she asks, monotone.
“Of course, darling.” Tab places her hand over Bree’s.
I’m finished as well, so I excuse myself, only by the time I round the corner by the front door, Bree’s standing at the bottom of the stairs, arms crossed.
“I saw you come home Saturday morning,” she says, lips puckered like the asshole she is.
“So?”
“You weren’t walking from Emily’s house. You were coming from a different direction.”
“And your point?”
Bree huffs. “You lied about where you were that night.”
“You lie about shit all the time.” I point at her chest. “Your entire fucking bra situation is a lie.”
She covers her chest, jaw hanging, and I push past her, heading up to my room, but she follows.
“I’m going to find out what you’re up to.”
“Is that a threat?” I ask, keeping my voice down. “Because you don’t want to go there with me.” Stepping back, I smirk. “Wait, this is about Thane. You’re jealous.”
Duh.
“No, I’m not,” she says, chin tilted up.
“You are so jealous.” Chuckling, I shake my head. “Doesn’t quite make up for the money you stole from me, but it’s somewhat vindicating.”
“I stopped liking Thane years ago, when he dated one of my best friends. We don’t double dip in my group.” Her nose lifts in the air.
“Best Friend? As in one of those girls you follow around like a lost puppy because you don’t actually have any real friends because you’re a boring little poser that nobody wants to hang out with?”
“I have friends,” she says, her words staccato and brusque, like she’s trying to convince herself as well.
“How come you don’t ever hang out with them outside the cafeteria? Why aren’t they blowing up your phone on the weekends?”
Her eyes water and her slender lips quiver. For a sliver of a second, I see Bree as a human being with feelings and not a humanoid Stepford daughter with a heart as black as coal.
“You’re such a bitch,” she says, wiping tears with the back of her hand. “I hate you.”
“For once we have something in common.”
“I wish you would just leave!” Bree runs to her room, slamming the door.
I don’t get the chance to tell her that the money she stole would’ve helped with allowing me to leave at will, but that’s neither here nor there.
Ambling toward my room, I lock the door behind me and yank my phone off the charger.
I miss talking to Kerouac.
On a whim, I reinstall the Karma app and unblock him just to see if he’s still around. Lo and behold, his profile is still there and the app tells me he hasn’t been active in four weeks … since we last spoke on the phone.
Settling into my bed, I compose a message:
From: [email protected]
Subject: Oh, you.
Time: 6:35 PM
Message: Uncle Vic says he invited you to dinner on Friday. My aunt then suggested that we make it a thing and I bring Thane because everyone’s under the impression we’re still dating. I don’t know why I’m telling you this. Guess I thought maybe you’d get a kick out of it. I know you don’t like him, and now you get to sit across from us at supper later this week while we hold hands and play footsy. Just kidding. I don’t do that shit. But don’t think I won’t be eye-fucking you every chance I get. Okay, kidding about that too. Kind of. You know I like to tease. Anyway. I don’t even know if you still get push notifications from this stupid app. For all I know I’m talking to dead air.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Oh, you.
Time: 6:38 PM
Message: I really don’t like that guy.
I laugh out loud, my stomach fluttering when I read his email.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: re: Oh, you.
Time: 6:41 PM
Message: I know you don’t. I don’t either. I’m just using him to piss Bree off. No intentions of screwing him if that makes you feel better. Boys use girls for worse things than that all the time, so I figure it’s okay.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: re: re: Oh, you.
Time: 6:43 PM
Message: You’re better than that. Not sure why you’re wasting your time.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: re: re: re: Oh, you.
Time: 6:45 PM
Message: Is there a reason your responses are only one or two sentences? You know this app is 100% anonymous. There’s no way our conversations could ever be traced back to us.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: re: re: re: re: Oh, you.
Time: 6:46 PM
Message: Well aware. But we shouldn’t be conversing at all.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: re: re: re: re: re: Oh, you.
Time: 6:47 PM
Message: Then stop responding!
I bite my thumbnail, my lips overtaken by a mile-wide grin as I await his response.
But it never comes.
It’s all right. I got my Kerouac fix for tonight.
Chapter 27
Ford
“You have something … right here.” I point to my mouth, then to Sara Bliss’ as we eat lunch in the faculty lounge.
She giggles, dabbing her fuchsia lips with a napkin. I didn’t invite her to sit with me, but we were the only two in here eating lunch at two thirty in the afternoon, and it would’ve been weird to sit at different tables.
“What do you think of the school so far?” she asks, dragging her fork around the mushy frozen entrée she’s picking at. There’s a smudge of something on her hands, chalk or pastels or paint perhaps. “Liking it?”
“I am.” I uncap my water, glancing at the clock. In twenty-five minutes, the final bell will ring. I haven’t seen Halston all day, our paths taking us in different directions apparently.
The silence between us is awkward and stifling, and I still have half a sandwich left to finish.
“Read any good books lately?” I ask a minute later.
Sara smiles, eyes crinkling as she quickly chews her bite. “Not much of a reader. Sorry.”
If I were a lonely man, looking for a companion and some decent sex on a regular basis, I could easily bag Sara Bliss. She’s a free-spirited twenty-something art teacher who probably keeps a cluttered house and doesn’t own a watch or a calendar. She’s attractive in a Tinkerbell sort of way, pixie-sized and fine-featured. But she’s boring. She doesn’t read. Keeps her opinions to herself. Smiles way too fucking much.
And she’s not Halston.
Sara finishes her meal, which smelled way better than it looked, and washes her hands in the sink. “Oh! I was going to ask you if you wanted to chaperone the homecoming dance next weekend? I was supposed to do it with Connie Seltzer but she threw out her back, so I need a replacement. If you don’t want to, no worries.”
Running my lips together, I consider it for a moment, weighing my options. Chances are Halston’s going with Thane, at least if her intention truly is to make her cousin jealous. And if that’s the case, I should be there to make sure he keeps his hands off her.
“Just get back to me by tomorrow or something if you want to think about it.” Sara gives a nervous titter before heading for the door.
“I’ll do it.”
“Really?” Her expression is lit. “Awesome. It’ll be fun. You’ll like it.”
I doubt I’ll like it.
I’m just going for the peace of mind.
Chapter 28
Halston
Kerouac sits across from me, with Bree on his left. She’s in heaven right now, finding it impossible to remove that shit-eating grin off her face. I’m sure in her warped little mind, she’s pretending he’s there with her. That they’re together.