“I gotta go.” Speaking of Pavlov… “Someone’s ringing that bell at the desk.”
“Ah, Pavlov. Gotcha. See ya. We’ll finish this convo up tonight. I’m baking your cookies right now.”
“Ooh. Sweet. Thanks.”
When the bell rings again, this time much more annoyingly repetitive, I hang up the phone and step out and see the blonde girl from earlier. “Here.” She hands me the key. “We’re done.”
I look up at the clock. Only thirty minutes has elapsed. “Okay.”
Holding out her palm, I slide Eli’s ID into it.
“We’re going back to my place.” She winks at me again like she did earlier.
“Good for you.” I mean. What do I say to that? Besides, for some reason, the whole idea of her and him makes me feel sad inside, which is crazy because he belongs with someone that looks like her––blonde and beautiful.
“Right? I’ve been trying to bag and tag that guy for two months.”
And there you have it. The reason I never want to hear that expression ever again.
“He’s been a tough nut to crack.” She snickers. “Get it?” She blinks at me. “Nuts?”
“Oh.” I pretend to laugh, then I give her that trigger pointy thing with my right hand and make a clicky noise with my mouth. “Got it.”
“It’s been awfully hard work though,” she says in a whisper. She looks behind her, then leans closer like the two of us have some sort of secret. “I’ve actually had to study for this stupid psychology class.” Her eyes roll so far back in her head I sort of fear for their return. “That’s the class we have together.”
“Okay.” I’m really not enjoying this conversation. I don’t know why she feels the need to tell me all of this.
“You know. You’d be sort of cute if you’d—”
“That’s enough, Lacy.” I practically jerk from my spot at his voice. I didn’t even see Eli approach.
“What?” She turns to face him. “I’m just trying to help a girl out.”
“She doesn’t need your help.”
Lacy snorts. “Uh, yeah. She kind of does.” He looks back at me and gives me a forced smile. “No offense.”
I shrug, because what am I supposed to say to that? It was offensive but whatever. I’m used to that kind of thing.
I guess Eli’s not in the mood to disagree with her because all he does next is hold his hand out flat and ask, “Did you get my ID?”
“Got it, babe,” she coos as she slides it slowly into his palm. The way she does it was kind of seductive if you can be sexy with an ID card.
“Later, Emma,” he says, walking away.
“Mm-hmm” is all I seem to be able to say. Because… bummer.
* * *
“So…”Carley sets a plate of cookies down in front me along with a glass of milk. “Start at the beginning. Tell me everything.”
Grabbing the cookie on top, I shove it into my mouth and point at the chair across from me. “Omkay,” I say with my full mouth. You know, I really need to quit doing that. It’s very bad manners to talk while food is rolling around inside my mouth. Swallowing, I begin, “He came in a little after one.”
Carley takes one of my cookies, leans back in her chair, crosses her legs, and listens all while eating one ofmycookies. Grasping the plate, I pull it off the table and onto my lap. Arching my brow, I dare her to say a word all while I think to myself, Mine.
Once that’s settled, I tell her the story of his arrival and the MacIntosh. I even fess up to the story about the bug because she’s had to save me from bugs a time or two. She laughs at that part, probably because she’s seen me freak out.
After I tell her everything that happened, even the part about Lacy offering to give me a makeover, she asks, “So, do you think they went home and… you know… fucked?”
