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“What are you doing?” Iask.
“Seeing what all the hype is about.” He sticks his hands on his hips. “I don’t getit.”
* * *
“Thanks for driving us around,”I say to Beck when he drops us off. “You don’t have to go home. You can stay at my place for awhile.”
“It’s okay. I’m studying for debate anyway. It’s hard to improv if you don’t know anything about the topic. Besides, it’ll surprise the hell out of Dr. R. Did you know Adam Sandler and William H. Macy both diddebate?”
“No. When’s your firstdebate?”
“Wednesday.”
“I want to go,” I say, surprising usboth.
He looks up. “I guess that’s all right. See you, Haley.” He waves as we slideout.
“Wow,” my friend says as we go up to my apartment. “Who’s this magical Dr.R?”
“The same guy I’m helping with theprogram.”
Her expression shifts. “You slept withhim.”
“Yes. But no.” I unlock the door and we go inside. “He wasn’t even in it, Haley. And after I just felt... awful.” I don’t usually overthink hookups, but my brain keeps going back to the expression when he walked out. “He doesn’t want to date me, he wants to study me. I think he feels sorry forme.”
Haley steps out of her shoes. “What do youwant?”
“Not that.” I scoop up Scrunchie, whose cuddle whore tendencies are on full display as he sniffs up at us, and cross to the couch. “I want to laugh with him and hang out with him and know him and maybe lick his abs. I want him to talk to me, and I want to talk to him. Abouteverything.”
I realize how strange and serious that probably sounds coming from me, but my friend doesn’tjudge.
“When I got on Jax’s tour,” Haley ventures, sinking onto the couch next to me and reaching over to scratch Scrunchie’s head, “you told me I should jump in headfirst. Just because you’ve always done something one way doesn’t mean it has to be that way. Maybe you should just go with it. See where it takesyou.”
“See where it takes me.” I turn that over. “When’d you get sosmart?”
“I was always smart,” she teases, her hazel eyes narrowing. “Now you listen to me because I have sex with a rockstar.”
16
Wes
“You thinking about eating?”a voice chirps on Monday from the door of thekitchen.
I straighten so fast I hit the coffee next to my arm. “Carly.Hey.”
“What are you doinghere?”
“School holiday. I’m making revisions to apaper.”
Carly crosses to the fridge, pulls on the handle, and takes out a brown bag. “We could eattogether.”
I glance past her into the fridge, scanning the shelves before I realize… “I forgot to bringlunch.”
“I’ll come with you,” she offers before I can inviteher.
Carly babbles a steady stream of work stuff as we go down to thedeli.
Despite my best intentions, I zoneout.
