The Boyfriend Thief

CHAPTER 17





I pressed a hand to my mouth, trying to hide the yawn I couldn’t stifle. My eyes drooped heavily. My instincts had been right—I felt like a zombie. All because of Zac Greeley and his slushies.

The only thing I wanted to do was lay across the counter and take a nap, but I had counter duty at Diggity Dog House that day. My eyelids drifted downward and I felt that soothing sensation of sleep beginning to wash over me just as someone stepped up to the counter, dropping a stack of books and startling me awake.

“Hey, Sleeping Beauty.” Molly grinned, pushing a pink and blonde braid out of her eyes.

“Hey to you,” I answered, giving her a stern look. “And where have you been?”

“At home, then the library to pick up some reading material.” She tapped the stack of networking books on the counter.

“Oh, really? I called your phone several times this morning and you never answered.”

“My cell phone was dead,” Molly told me. “It was charging while I was on the computer.”

“I checked and you weren’t on chat either.” I crossed my arms over my chest and stared down at her, wishing I could read her mind and find out what she had really been up to. Probably something involving that cretin Elliot.

“I wasn’t on chat because I was trying to focus on my work.”

I snorted. “How convenient. And what work was this?”

“Your matchmaking website,” Molly said, scowling back at me. “The one your boyfriend has promised me ten percent of the profits on.”

I grabbed a washcloth from under the counter and scrubbed at a stubborn ketchup stain. “Zac is not my boyfriend. And why didn’t you tell me he had roped you into this project?”

“He didn’t rope me into anything. I merely saw an opportunity to turn things into an advantage for me. If this matchmaking thing takes off, all three of us will have our money problems solved. You could go to Costa Rica five times a year if you wanted.”

“I’ll be lucky if I even make it there once.” I collapsed across the counter, sighing. “This whole thing is getting way too complicated.”

“I have the complicated part, building your website,” Molly said. “Even though it’s not that hard, a bit of tricky coding in some parts—”

“I don’t mean the website,” I interrupted her. “I mean—you know. This thing with Zac is getting way over my head.”

Molly raised her eyebrows. “What? He’s not perfect enough to live up to your standards in fake boyfriends?”

I threw my washcloth at her, hitting her in the face.

“Relax,” Molly said, rolling her eyes. “It was a joke.”

I yawned. “Sorry. I’m a bit grouchy today. I didn’t sleep well last night.”

Molly clasped her hands over her heart in mock horror. “You? Not sleep well? Are you sick?”

“No, I’m exhausted from being up until after two A.M. Zac took me to see his midnight comedy show. And then we got slushies.”

“I didn’t know you drank slushies,” Molly said.

“I don’t. It was my sleep deprived state causing me to do insane things that I wouldn’t normally do.”

Molly tilted her head to the side as she looked at me, a strange smile on her face.

I scowled. “What?”

“I think this whole winning Zac over thing could work out great for you. Open you up to a few new ideas. Get you out of your comfort zone.”

I shook my head. “I’m done. I’m not chasing Zac around town in the middle of the night to get him to break up with Hannah. It’s over.”

“So you’re kissing Costa Rica good-bye?” Molly blew a kiss into the air for emphasis.

I wiped a smudge off the glass of the corn dog display next to the register. “I’ll find a way to get there.” But I didn’t sound sure of myself. Hannah’s offer was my last hope for making it there this summer. If I didn’t get the money on my own before June, I could give up the hope of adding it to my college applications for the pre-med programs I planned to apply to. It would be one less thing to distinguish myself from the thousands of other prospective students applying, all of whom I was certain didn’t care about it as much as I did. Being a doctor had been my dream since I was a kid and this summer program was one step closer to getting there. And maybe it was the only chance I would get to be closer to my mom.

“If Hannah decides she wants someone who can get the job done, let me know,” Molly said as she gathered all her books. “For five hundred bucks, I’ll make out with Zac Greeley and convince him I’m the greatest person alive.”

I shot a glare at her. “Get out of here if you’re not planning on ordering anything. I have to get back to work. Someone probably needs another hot dog.”

Molly waved her fingers at me with an evil grin as she turned and headed out the front door of Diggity Dog House.

“Was that Molly?” Elliott asked, coming out of the kitchen and looking toward the front door even though she had already disappeared.

“Are you spying on me?” I snapped.

Elliott gestured toward the broom in his hand. “I’m working, Avery. I can’t help it if doing my job takes me within five feet of you.”

“Whatever,” I said, grabbing the washcloth from where it had landed after hitting my best friend in the face. “It wasn’t Molly anyway.”

“Looked a lot like her,” Elliott said.

“You must be imagining things. Molly doesn’t even like hot dogs.”

“She likes Diggity Dog Shakes. And I can almost surely bet you would call her over here to yell at her for speaking to me last night.”

I rolled my eyes. “Honestly, Elliott, my entire life does not revolve around you. You are barely a miniscule iota of the things I have on my mind at any given point in the day.”

Elliott leaned on his broom, shooting me a smirk. “But I’ll bet you’re now dying to know what Molly and I talked about, aren’t you?”

“Not at all,” I said, turning my back to him.

“In case you were curious, I asked Molly out. She said no.”

I had to bite the inside of my mouth to keep back the smug smile that wanted to spread across my face. I focused on scrubbing a bit of dirt out of the seam in the top of the register. “Maybe your overuse of cologne drove her away.”

“You are so funny, Avery,” Elliott said in a monotone voice. “No wonder you have guys pounding down your door. Oh, wait, you don’t, do you?”

If only the broom wasn’t clenched so tight in his hand. I would have loved to smash Elliott over the head with it.

“No one except Zac Greeley,” Elliott sneered. “You really caught yourself a prize there, didn’t you?”

“At least Zac doesn’t sneak around behind his girlfriend’s back,” I said.

“No, you’re right,” Elliott said, straightening up and beginning to sweep the floor nearby. “Zac would never do that to his girlfriend. Other people’s girlfriends, on the other hand, are a different story.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, crossing my arms.

Elliott shrugged and continued sweeping, as if he had grown bored with the conversation. “Why don’t you ask your friend Zac? I’m sure he remembers the entire story very well.”

Mr. Throckmorton walked into the counter area and spotted Elliott and me. “Reiser!” he shouted. “Get back to work and leave flirting to after-hours.”

Ugh. Mr. Throckmorton didn’t know how far off he was in his guess as to what Elliott and I were doing.