“Can I give it back to you now?” she asked, and his heart sank.
“No, I was just asking if you’re taking care of it,” he replied. He needed her to. It was a substitute for his heart. Yeah. He’d already given his heart to this girl. He couldn’t make sense of it, and he quit trying. It wasn’t love yet. He wasn’t that foolish. But he wanted to nurture his blossoming attraction, and he wanted her to as well.
“It’s in my pocket,” she said.
“Good.” He liked that idea—that she carried it around with her. If she would have said, “It’s in my locker,” he would have been disappointed.
Her agitation grew until she finally blurted, “Why are you sitting here?”
He had to swallow his instant thought: Because of you. My God, did he have no control?
He gave her a safe answer instead, listened as she offended the other students at the table, then watched her stomp off towards the cafeteria doors. Little brat, he thought, though he knew he instigated her anger. He played a mean game, and he wasn’t sorry for it. She stomped off for now, but he’d see her again. And again and again. She was going to be his girlfriend. And he was going to make her love him.
***
“Avery’s spending the night with Marybeth,” Cadence said, trying hard not to laugh.
“Marybeth?” Mark asked.
“I couldn’t resist,” Cadence said. “It’s the most virginal, sweet, Christian-sounding name I’ve ever heard, so I chose it for Avery’s campus friend.”
Mark rolled his eyes. “The Campus Crusade for Christ friend?”
“Mmhmm,” Avery replied. She pulled up “Marybeth’s” contact info on her phone and showed Mark.
He leaned in to take a look at Cadence’s number. “Clever.”
“We know,” Avery replied. She paused for a second. “Nice to see you again, Mr. Connelly.”
“That’s cute. Call me Mark.”
“Hmm. No, I think I’m gonna call you Mr. Connelly for a while.”
The girls giggled.
Mark pushed a hand through his hair. “Do I need to go somewhere else?”
“No,” the girls said in unison.
“Fine. I’m calling Dylan.”
“Who’s Dylan?” Avery asked, watching Mark walk to the bedroom.
“Mark’s friend. The guy who owns the record store.”
“Ohhh. Is he cute?”
“He’s cute. He’s dating a witch, though. So I don’t know what that says about his intelligence.”
“Nothing wrong with a good witch,” Avery said.
“She’s not a good witch. She’s just a witch.”
“Hmm. Well, good witch bad bitch—”
“Witch,” Cadence corrected, then smirked.
“That’s what I said. Bitch. Anyway, I don’t care if he’s a retard,” Avery said. “So long as he’s freaking hot.”
Cadence smiled patiently.
“You think he’ll come over?”
“Don’t get any ideas,” Cadence warned. She flipped the page of her magazine.
“Ideas? What ideas? I don’t have any ideas,” Avery argued.
Cadence stared at her.
“I’m freaking horny, okay! I haven’t been laid in months! Can’t I just have someone cute to look at and fantasize about?”
“But won’t that make it worse?” Cadence asked.
“Yeah, but I don’t care. I need a guy, Cadence. Okay? I need a guy to flirt with me and then ravage me.”
“He’s got a girlfriend.”
“I’ll take care of that.”
“Oh, Lordy.”
“Show me a little bit of kindness, all right? I’m desperate over here. Hello? Song of Solomon, anyone?”
Cadence closed her magazine. “Wanna paint our nails?”
“No, I don’t wanna paint my nails! I wanna fuck! I just wanna get fucked really hard!”
Mark cleared his throat.
Avery whipped her head around. “Oh, fuck.”
“Yeah, so I’m gonna go to the store for beer. That’s the only way I could get Dylan to come over.”
“Will you get us something?” Avery asked.
“No.”
She folded her arms over her chest and screwed up her face.
“He’s not bringing her, is he?” Cadence asked.
“Who? Portia?”
Cadence nodded.
“He broke up with her a week ago or something,” Mark replied.
Avery sat folded up on the couch sporting a sour expression, but inside . . . oh, inside her heart was glowing! Pulsating, actually, with hope. She felt the pulsing move from her chest to her inner thighs and squeezed her legs tight.
“Bye bye, Mr. Connelly,” she said, trying to push him out the door so she could squeal to Cadence.
Mark opened his mouth to reply, but he had nothing to say. He winked at Cadence then left. She knew what the wink signaled. He knew what Avery was up to, and he also knew she wouldn’t have a chance with Dylan.
He had no idea how wrong he was.