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He looked down at her as he opened the door. “Yes, you would.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do. You’re judging me now.” Always the gentleman, he gestured for her to precede him out the door. “You’re judging me for not telling you.”
“Damn it. You’re right.” How did Jason always do that? He was perceptive in a way that always caught her by surprise. “But I could have been a better tutor if I’d known.”
They started down the staircase, lost in their conversation. “You were a great tutor. But mostly you were a hot girl helping me out of the kindness of her heart. I probably would have stuck needles under my fingernails rather than tell you I had a problem.”
“Well, you’re talking about it now. Sounds like emotional growth.”
“Emotional…” He stopped halfway down the stairs. ”It was Holly, wasn’t it? That damn kid.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair, shaking his head, his expression so exasperated that she had to laugh.
“She had a whole theory about you.”
They hurried the rest of the way down the stairs. “I’m sure she does. Do not tell me what it is.”
“Oh hell no. That’s Holly’s thing.”
“What’s Holly’s thing?” The girl herself popped her head over the railing as they reached the turn in the stairway. Her cheeks were pink with sunburn, her hair windblown. She must have just gotten off her bike. She’d signed up for an inordinate number of summer courses, which Jason said was unusual.
“Jesus,” Jason said. “I thought you were at debate class.”
“I demolished the competition in record time. There’s just no good argument for continuing the patriarchy.”
Kendra searched for an excuse for being upstairs with Jason. “Hi Holly. I was helping Jason pick out a suit for tonight’s town meeting. What do you think?”
“I think it’s a pretty good story to come up with off the top of your head.” Holly grinned mischievously at them and took a bite from a green apple. “But it doesn’t explain why your hair is messed up.”
“It’s not messed up. This is a style. A Black girl style, so don’t be casting doubt.”
“Are you seriously pulling the Black hair card on me? You must really not want me to know that you guys are hooking up. Too bad. I already know.” She took another bite, then stepped aside to let Jason pass by. He tweaked her ponytail on the way past.
Kendra followed, wrapping her dignity around her like a cloak. Holly was going to find out sooner or later, even though they’d tried to keep it quiet.
“For the record, I’m not mad about it,” Holly called as she followed them.
“For the record, no one cares.” Jason ushered Kendra to the front door.
“Then why are you being so secretive? Chloe said she saw you making out in the alley behind the SweetBitter. She was feeding a stray cat, not spying, by the way. I had to pretend like I knew all about it, and do you know how humiliating that was for me? I’m the one who’s supposed to know things!”
“Well, maybe you should step down as queen gossip bee. You might let something slip that’s supposed to be private.”
Jason was already out the door, but Kendra hung back. She’d caught an expression on Holly’s face that alarmed her.
“Have a good meeting, Jason,” she called after him, sounding about as casual as a person could when they’d just been caught coming out of someone’s bedroom. “Work that suit, baby.”
She closed the door and faced Holly, who munched her apple as she returned Kendra’s gaze. She was wearing ripped jeans that were mostly threads held together by patches of fabric, and an off-the-shoulder top. The girl’s usual bubbly manner was nowhere to be seen.
“Let slip something private…is he talking about you-know-what?”
“I’m sorry I ratted you out. I didn’t mean to.”
The girl gave a gloomy shrug. “Whatever.”
“Are you all right?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s talk about you and Jason. What’s up with that?”
