“Honestly, I don’t think I can handle it. I need a sick day.” It wasn’t a lie. She did feel sick. And the thought of seeing Darcy and Tanner and everyone else tomorrow made her stomach hurt worse. “I think I’ll lay around here tomorrow. Maybe catch up on some reading. Get ready for prom.”
“You and Ray are still going together, right? Don’t tell him I said this because I will deny it straight to his face, but he looks pretty good in his tux. Almost like a grown-up.”
Sloan pictured Ray in his tux and smiled. “I bet he does. And yeah, we agreed to still go to prom together. As friends.”
“Friends. I like the sound of that with you two.” She felt his smile in her hair.
“Is that what we are? Friends?” She couldn’t keep herself from asking.
“With benefits,” he teased.
“If that’s what you are looking for, you have the wrong girl.” She laughed and settled closer to him. It was nice to be held. She wasn’t alone and that felt good, especially after what had happened the last few days.
“I know, Saint Sloan. I know.” He patted her arm. “I don’t like you for your body anyway. It’s your brain that I find sexy.”
She laughed and hit him in the stomach. “As it should be.”
The day started getting to her, and she soon couldn’t fight to keep her eyes open.
“You sleep. I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”
“Promise?” she asked drowsily.
“Promise.”
With a smile, she drifted off to sleep, safe in Aaron’s arms.
CHAPTER NINE
One Day Before the Fall…
SLOAN WOKE UP THE SAME WAY she’d fallen asleep: pressed against Aaron’s side. True to his word, his eyes were open and staring off into space. She felt a little bad for that. She’d slept well and he apparently hadn’t slept at all.
“Mornin’.” She sat up at stretched. While it was comforting, it didn’t do her back any favors.
“Mornin’.” He smiled back. “You slept well.”
“How do you know?”
“Because you snored like you did.” He laughed and jumped off the bed when she tried to hit him.
“I don’t snore.”
“I beg to differ. But it’s a cute snore.” Aaron ducked out of the way from the pillow flying his direction.
“Thanks.” She grimaced. Her first nightlong sleepover with a boy, and she’d snored. It could have been worse. She could have drooled.
“Want me to go scope out the bathroom before you head in? Make sure there aren’t any boogeymen or creepy men in there?”
The bathroom. A place she didn’t want to go, but knew she had to. “If you don’t mind. Not that I want you to get hurt, but, you know. You’re a big, strong manly man who can protect himself from roses.”
“And boogeymen. Don’t forget that.”
“Never.” She smiled as he walked out the door.
Finally, she was alone. Alone wasn’t good. She got up and grabbed some clothes to wear for the day. Since she wasn’t going to school, she decided on some black jogging pants and a long-sleeved eggplant-colored shirt. Sure, it was May, but she was freezing. It wasn’t the coolest May on record, but it felt pretty close.
Sloan locked the door to change clothes, not wanting any unwanted visitors or boyfriends.
Oh glory! Aaron was her boyfriend. Wait. Wasn’t he her boyfriend? Had they decided that last night? They’d decided they liked each other. Did that mean he wanted to go steady, as Donna called it? Did she dare ask or just go with the flow? She should so text Mackenzie.
She grabbed her cell and looked at the time. After eight. Man, she’d slept a long time. And she already had one text from a number she didn’t recognize. She opened it and stared when the picture popped up. A single red rose with the message:
A fake rose until I can give you the real one. Can’t wait till the Fall. I wouldn’t tell Aaron if you truly care about him. He won’t like it if you do. This is between me and you. <3
Sloan stared at the sparkling rose on her phone, not sure what to do. She was lying to her mother, now she needed to lie to Aaron. She couldn’t let anything happen to him, and it would if he knew.
Who knew her cellphone number? She ran to her computer and turned it on, praying it would hurry up before Aaron got back. Finally, it did and she pulled up a search engine. She typed in the number and waited.
“Sloan?” The handle to her door jiggled. “You okay in there?”
“Hold on, Aaron. I’m changing,” she lied as she watched the little circle swirl above the cursor arrow on her screen. Hurry up, she willed it.
“I don’t mind. I can always help.”
“No thanks.” She shook her head. What was she going to do with him? And on a more serious note, how was she going to keep the text from him? With one click, she deleted the message so he wouldn’t find it if he dug.
A list of numbers popped up on the screen. None matched the one she needed. “Prepaid phone,” she whispered. Of course it was. Why did she even waste the time looking?
“Sloan, it doesn’t take that long to throw on a shirt and pants. Come on, let me in.” He banged harder.
Frustrated, she got up and unlocked the door.
“Took you long enough,” he said as he walked by her.