“What’s Lucky up to?”
I do my best not to let her see my eyes roll. She knows something happened between the two of us, but I never told her the story. All I said was he didn’t defend me when Tiffany was mean-girling me.
It worked, because after that, whenever she even heard the word “lucky,” she’d make a hissing sound.
“I’ve no idea.” That’s no lie. I haven’t seen Lucky since that night. The one when he kissed me. After, I did my utter best to avoid anything Lucky-related. Even at Joe’s graduation party, I was able to make a brief appearance and then leave. Joe was so wasted, he didn’t even notice.
Since then, I spent my summer working at our hometown grocery store. At first, I was concerned I’d see him now and then, but I’d heard early on that he was in Chicago for the summer doing some sort of physical therapy internship. As far as I know, that company could have hired him. He didn’t come home over the summer. At least, I never saw him. I sort of felt sorry for his dad, but it made things easier for me.
“Do you think you’ll see him this semester?”
Crap. She’s still talking about Lucky.
“I doubt it.” He no longer lives with my brother, of course. They had to move out of their little rental house when Joe graduated. “I don’t have a clue where he is. He graduated.” I shrug.
“Hm.” Deena’s voice sounds a bit strange.
“Why? What do you know?”
“Maybe…”
With a sigh, I set down the box of dishes my mom scrounged up for us. “Spill.”
“He lives here.” She titters. “In this same complex.”
“No.” She cannot be serious.
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“I was heading into the management office and he was coming out.”
Slapping my forehead with my palm, I make a groaning noise. “So he knows I’m here?”
Shaking her head, she snickers. “He didn’t see me. I hid behind a bush.”
Thank goodness.
“But I followed him.”
I gasp. What if he saw her?
“Relax.” She waves me off. “I was super sleuthy. He didn’t see me. He lives in building five.”
We’re in two. “Great,” I mutter sarcastically. “I’m sure we’ll run into each other at some point.” How could we not?
“Well, you’ve done your best to avoid him. You quit hanging out with your brother. Going to the ass-crack of dawn kickboxing classes our last five weeks last spring ensured you wouldn’t see him at the gym.”
She’s right. Somehow, I found the will to get up at four thirty in the morning just to make it to the 5:00 AM kickboxing class.
“You look good, by the way.”
I smile at my best friend. “Thanks.” I didn’t stop working out when I went home over the summer. I found a regular kickboxing class at a nearby Y that enabled me to keep up with the workout. I love kickboxing. I’m pretty good at it too.
“How much weight did you lose, anyway?”
“Hardly any.”
