Lily rolled toward me in her desk chair. “No way. That’s awesome. What kind?”
“A Corvette,” I answered, almost sheepishly.
The look that crossed Lily’s face was priceless. Like she was confused as to why I’d getthatcar, and yet didn’t want to say anything in case I was a Corvette junkie or something.
“It wasn’t my choice,” I said. Lily gave me a knowing, almost sympathetic look, and I felt this twinge of betrayal toward Yvette. Stupid, I know, but I put my chin up and added, “But it grew on me.”
“This just happened today?” Lily asked.
“Yes. When I came home from class.”
“Did you take it for a drive?”
I shrugged, and busied myself with putting my books away so I wouldn’t have to look at her while I answered. I didn’t want to see their reaction, and more importantly, I didn’t want them to read anything into mine.
“Sort of. It’s a stick shift, and I’ve never driven one, so it wasn’t much of a drive. But I got a little better by the time I was done.” Which might have been the exact words I would have used to describe kissing Stick—it got better by the time we were done.
“You don’t know how to drive a stick shift?” Lily asked, a touch of incredulousness in her voice.
“No,” I said, a touch of defensiveness in mine.
“Do you?” Lily asked Syd, now thinking maybe she was the odd one.
“I don’t even know how todrive,” Syd said.
Lily looked at her, then waved her away. “That’s right. You’re from New York. Nobody knows how to drive there.”
Syd opened her mouth to argue, but ended up just shrugging and asking Lily, “You do know how to drive one, obviously?”
Lily nodded. “My dad insisted I learn when I started driving.” She looked away, and I could tell she was embarrassed. She knew neither Syd’s nor my father would be giving their daughters driving lessons. Mine would never take the time, and Syd was cryptic enough about her home life that I assumed her dad wasn’t in the picture. I mean, my dadwasin the picture, but there was no way in hell he’d have given me driving lessons.
I could picture Grayson Spaulding, or maybe Lily’s mom, taking her out in the family Lexus or something and teaching her how to drive a stick.
But it wouldn’t have felt the same to her. The way it felt to have Stick’s deep voice telling me when to shift, coaxing me into feeling Yvette’s every need. His hand on my thigh, inching its way upward.
His lips crashing down on mine as he yanked my body into his.
I shook my head, as if trying to physically dislodge him from my brain.
Thankfully Syd brought my thoughts out of Yvette’s warm cockpit and the parking lot’s cold air, and back into our room by asking me, “So, like, it was just here when you got back from class? Did your dad bring it to you?”
Syd had seemed fascinated with the whole Joe Stratton thing after Betsy’s wedding, and then my father announcing his candidacy. Then photos would be inPeopleand other mags, and there I’d be, alongside my family, looking like I belonged.
The whole campus had seemed fascinated for about a minute. But Bribury was full of political and celebrity offspring, and it quickly died down, thank God.
“No. He had it dropped off. Somebody…else brought it over.”
Syd nodded, but Lily looked at me strangely. Did she already know about Stick through Lucas somehow? Or had there been something weird in my voice that she picked up on?
I cleared my throat. “Actually, that thug friend of Lucas’s brought it over. We knew he couldtakecars. Apparently he can deliver them, too.”
“Stick? Stick brought you your car?”
So she hadn’t known. Damn, that meant she’d picked up on something else. God, did I have a Stick tell?
“And what? He just shows up with a car, hands you the keys and runs off? You must have been like…WTF.”
Of the three of us, only Lily would use the letters instead of saying the words, but it made me smile that she did.
