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Zariah’s mouth fell open in surprise as I burst into giggles.
“It just takes practice,” I assured him. “At my internship, we had all these crazy-good coding people, and they still fell for the gift card emails. It happens.”
Ryan grinned, and Kassie beamed down at the phone. She nestled down in her chair and asked a million questions about the conference. We told her everything. Our full sticker books, all the workshops we went to, the dinner that’d been crappy sandwich boxes, so June whipped out her credit card and ordered us Indian food from a surprisingly good place nearby. But then came the question.
“Where’s Adam?” Kassie frowned.
“He better not be causing any trouble,” Ryan warned from the other side of the room.
The truth was, I hadn’t seen Adam Russell since the sex ed class. I couldn’t believe how he single-handedly ruined it. The freshman could’ve been hurt. If anything, he was scared of Adam. And it’s not like that helped anything. The others were talking about the bleacher bunny picture when they left the classroom.
The last few hours were the most peaceful ones I’d experienced for at least a week. Better than yoga. And I should’ve been happy, right? I should’ve been.
Instead, I’d agonized over bringing my phone just to see if he’d message me. Which was stupid. But I couldn’t help that weird sense of anxiety, thinking about what he was up to.
Where is Adam?
“He’s…good,” I answered honestly. If he’d been in an accident, I would’ve heard about it. Everybody loves their Marrs Manwhore news.
Ryan’s chair creaked. “He’s not causing trouble, is he?”
Shoot.
Thumbing the fabric of my dress, I gave a shrug. “He went to my sex ed class.”
“Don’t move,” Kassie told Ryan, and the chair creaking stopped. She held up a notepad for us to inspect, with a serious-looking cartoon Ryan sitting on a chair with his laptop in hand. The slant of his eyebrows, so solemn, made us laugh again, and Kassie grinned, returning to scribble in her notepad. She flipped a few more pages and showed us the other model. “The Marrs Manwhore.”
Cartoon Adam was perfect. The relaxed, comfortable position, his sharp jaw, the lines of muscle on his arms, she couldn’t have captured him better with a camera. His cartoon was glancing to the right with a slight tilt to his eyebrow, half-a-smile on his lips, daring someone to come closer.
“It’s weird without him,” Kassie admitted. “Without him bringing in new girls, I don’t get new models.”
June snorted, and Zariah made a joke, but I settled on the bed. That’s what Adam did. He brought a brand new girl into their space all the time. It was just a part of Adam. But it made me hunch into myself anyway.
Why did I care? I didn’t want to be a notch on anyone’s bedpost.
No, thank you.
“We have to get our asses in gear,” June said, shoving us off the bed. The bowl of popcorn, nacho chips, and Takis went flying and hit the ground like a firecracker. Zariah slid on the ground, stumbling back in her heels.
“I got you!” I grabbed her hand, and we skidded together, desperate not to land on the mess on the floor.
“What the hell?” Kassie snorted from the phone. “Pivot! Pivot!”
That was easier said than done. I crashed to the floor and Zariah smacked into the dresser. June took the brunt of the nacho dust.
Slowly, June stood up, huge firework-orange patterns splattered across the skirt of her white dress like a five-year-old personally decided to ruin her day.
She jerked back and forth between staring at her dress and staring at us. A snicker slipped out of Zariah but June held up a finger, shaking her head. “Don’t you dare.”
Maybe Zariah could hold it in, but I couldn’t. I hit my fist against the floor, my sides aching with how much I laughed. I couldn’t help it. The dumbfounded look on June’s face was priceless and the nacho dust and then there was Zariah, who laughed so hard she couldn’t breathe. She hiccuped, trying to stop laughing.
“You guys are assholes!” June scoffed. “I didn’t even want to go to this stupid formal!”
22
Adam
You Must’ve Had Fun
