Orion’s gaze flickered to her, hurt evident there, and for a moment True hated herself. Why had she said it likethat? As if admitting Orion any deeper into her circle of trust would signal the coming of the apocalypse. It was just friendship. She could give himfriendship,couldn’t she?
“But, ah, he’s cool, so, you know. We’ve been hanging out a bit.”
Orion’s eyes lit up again. It was so easy to make him happy. Again, so unlike Bradley, even early on in their relationship, when he’d been on his best behavior.
Refocusing her attention on her parents, True took a seat beside her dad. Orion sat on her other side. “But wait, how long have you guys been in here, taking a break?”
Her mom consulted her wristwatch, while her dad grazed on a bag of popcorn by his elbow, looking a lot like a disaffected goat. In spite of being rail thin, her dad wasalwayseating. “Oh, only about fifteen minutes.”
“And how long do you think you’ll be staying in here?” When her parents made vague noises, she snorted. “Let me guess: until the party’s over?”
Her dad gave her a reproachful look while he munched his buttery snack. “People are exhausting, True. You can only listen to tales of career trajectories and patio extensions for so long before you start to go very slowly but very surely insane.”
True laughed and looked at Orion. “Is my antisocial nature making sense yet?”
He studied her for a moment, a smile hovering at his lips. The low lights glinted off his hair, turning it to gold. “I wouldn’t say you’re antisocial. More like… selectively social. You have to trust people before you talk to them, but when you talk, it’s worth listening to.”
True opened her mouth, but for once, she didn’t have a solitary smart-ass comment to impart. Her cheeks were warm at the look in his eye.
The moment stretched out as they gazed at each other, neither speaking.
“Well! That’s very nice.” Her mother’s booming voice sounded from the other side, making True jump. Right, she was in a room with Orion—and her parents.This was no time to get lost in those dreamy brown eyes. Jesus.
Her dad was suddenly regarding Orion very suspiciously over his bag of popcorn. “How old did you say you were, Orion?”
“I’m eighteen, sir.” Orion smiled at him.
“Hmpf.He’sbig,though,” her dad muttered, although to whom he was speaking, True didn’t know. He pulled a box of his favorite candy—Whoppers—from his pocket to mix in with his popcorn, but his eyes stayed on Orion.
Awkward.
“So were you two coming in here to watch a movie? Were Ash or Onny going to join you, too?” Her mother’s tone was smooth as river rock, but True knew what she was really asking:Were you going to make out with this boy in your friend’s home theater while Bruce Willis and The Rock looked on, True?
True felt her cheeks flame, and she hoped Orion couldn’t see through her mom’s not-very-subtle line of inquiry. “No, we were looking for a mannequin. Mr. Brightside asked me to keep an eye on it, and then Bradley and his friends stole it out from under our noses. We’ve been trying to track them down. They—” True looked from her mom to her dad—and then stopped short. Squinting at her dad’s neck pillow, she gasped. “Dad! That’s not a neck pillow; that’s Wicked Wynona’s scarf!” She reached toward him and tugged at it until he leaned forward and let her have it. True curled the green paisley monstrosity around her hand. “Where did you get this?”
Her dad held up his hands, one of which was covered in popcorn butter. “It was here when we came in, I swear!”
“So theywerein here,” Orion said from beside her. To her parents: “Did you happen to see where they went?”
“Oh no. But I did hear something that sounded like boys stampeding toward the turret staircase.” Her dad waved his hand. Then, frowning, he added, “But you sayBradleyhas this mannequin? Bradley Morris?”
True knew what was coming. Sighing as she stuffed Wicked Wynona’s scarf into one of her pockets, she said, “Yeah, Dad.”
“That boy’s bad news, True. You don’t need to go chasing after him.”
True rolled her eyes, but her face was hot enough to erupt into lava.Not in front of Orion, please,she tried to telegraph.But her dad remained, as always, completely oblivious. “I’m not chasingBradley,Dad. I’m going after the mannequin.”
Her dad didn’t look convinced. As if this situation wasn’t hideously humiliating enough, her mom piped in, too. “The mannequin, the football game, the astronomy class you invited him to for fun. There’s always something that sucks you into Bradley’s orbit. But it always ends up the same way. With that boy hurting you and calling your interests silly. I still can’t believe he fell asleep in that astronomy class.”
“Mom.”True cut her eyes at Orion and then looked back meaningfully at her parents. “Not now, okay?”
But it was too late. “Wait, wait, wait.” Orion sat up and angled his body so he was looking at all three of them. “You took Bradley to an astronomy class? On a date?”
True sighed, feeling more and more stupid with each passing moment. Clutching the skirts of her outfit, she said, “Yeah. I was taking it at the community college for fun, and I thought he’d enjoy sitting in on a session. But, um, as you can probably guess, he didn’t.”
“Dude!” Orion spoke so loudly that his voice startled them all. He was grinning. “That is such anawesomedate idea! I tell you, True, if you surprised me with something like that, I’d die of happiness.”
True and her parents froze. It took Orion a moment to understand why. And when he did, his face turned a rather endearing shade of flamingo pink.
