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“Maybe you should get it now.”
“Maybe I should.” I lightly touched her knee and was pleased to see the chill bumps form on her skin. I seemed to recall giving her chill bumps before. But that could have been someone else.
“Ahem.”
Macy and I looked up.
“Seriously?” Lily asked. “You’ve been here what, five minutes? Don’t you have enough going on in your life? Do you really need to play to the stereotype?”
“At least I know how to play,” I shot back.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were seeing anyone.” Macy stood quickly.
I caught a glimpse of hot-pink underwear.
Lily caught me looking. She shook her head with just enough disdain to spark my anger.
“Oh, I’m not seeing her.” I inclined my head toward Lily. “I’m helping her out with something, for a friend. Kind of a charity case thing.”
I froze when Lily’s emotions hit. Not pissy mad but hurt mad. She said a couple of choice words and then stalked away, her long legs quickly closing the distance between me and Murphy’s Law.
I couldn’t afford to have Lily mad at me.
Plus, I kind of didn’t want her mad at me.
“Macy, it was great seeing you.” I pushed myself up to my feet, standing on my toes to keep my eyes on Lily. “But I gotta jet.”
I heard her say something about her number, but I didn’t turn back.
I replayed the conversation in my head to figure out what I’d said wrong. When I finally caught up to Lily, I reached for her hand, but I stopped just in time. She wasn’t in the mood to be touched by anyone. Especially by me.
“Lily, I was messing with you,” I said in a soothing voice, trying to calm her down. “There’s no need to take it personally.”
My attempt to calm her didn’t work. It made her madder.
“There isn’t?” She stopped and poked me in the chest, narrowing her eyes dangerously. “You don’t know me. You don’t know anything about me. You can’t make judgment calls on what I can take personally and what I can’t.”
I took a step backward to avoid her finger. “You made a judgment call on me and Macy, and you weren’t even there for two seconds.”
“That was an observation.” Now her hands were fisted on her hips. “I know what a hookup looks like.”
“There was no hooking up. We were talking. I hung out with Macy this past summer. We’re friends.”
“What’s her last name?”
I blinked. “What?”
“What’s her last name?”
“I … uh …” Suddenly, my mouth felt really dry. “It’s right on the tip of my tongue.”
“Mmmhmmm.” Lily spun back around and started for Murphy’s Law.
“Wait—”
“No!” The word exploded as she threw it over her shoulder without looking at me. “Go back to your fancy house and scroll through the contacts on your phone. I’m sure if she was good, you’ve got her number in there somewhere. I’ll be somebody else’s charity case.”
The hurt came through again, tinged with jealousy this time. It couldn’t be because of the girl, so it must be because of … my house. I’d called her a charity case, but I hadn’t meant it at all, much less that way.
