“It’s hard not to be jealous of myself,” I said. “I never imagined what I could do to deserve a man like Jayce Gregory.”
“How’s the sex?” Candace asked, far too loudly for my comfort. I unconsciously slinked down in the chair a little bit, hoping to make it more difficult to be found by passersby.
“Candace.”
“What? I can’t ask? We’re friends, right?”
“Sure, but do friends really ask each other about that sort of stuff?” I demanded. Truth be told, the only reason I didn’t want to talk about getting naked with Jayce is because the sex was, indeed, mind blowing. Toe-curling.Phenomenal.
And that was nobody’s business but ours.
“Dalton is pretty good,” Candace continued as though I hadn’t spoken. “He knows how to please me, but he’s also really obsessed with blow jobs and honestly, I’m not the biggest fan.”
“Have you told him this?” I asked, and Candace shook her head.
“Why? He tries hard to please me, I can at least attempt to please him.”
Giggling, I took a bite of my vanilla scone and chased it down with a chai latte, glancing down at the textbook in front of me. Now that I had something that moderately resembled a life, time for school and work had become scarce and far in between. I was still passing my classes, of course, just maybe not with the same perfection I had been B.J.—Before Jayce.
“So, what are you going to wear to the formal?” Candace asked, pretending to halfway read her workbook.
I shrugged. “I don’t know yet. Maybe I can find something in my closet.”
“In your closet?” repeated Candace. “You can’t just pick out any old rag from your closet, Macey, you have to buy a new one.”
“But why if I might already have a dress?”
“Dude.” Candace dropped her voice and looked around pointedly. “You’re in the big leagues now. Jayce Gregory is hot shit around this school, and that means that now you are, too.”
“I warned him that wasn’t me right from the start,” I told her. “I don’t care what people think of me, Candace, and I don’t care if they don’t think I’m good enough for Jayce. As long as Jayce thinks I’m good enough for Jayce, that’s all that really matters.”
“I’m just saying.” Candace leaned back in the chair and shook her head. “Now that you have help, don’t you at least want to try it?”
“Try what?”
“Fitting in.”
“I thought I did fit in.”
“Oh honey.” Candace laughed, leaning forward to gently squeeze the top of my hand with hers. “You’re so cute and naïve. I love it. Now, when is a good time to go shopping? Because I’m down whenever.”
“Uh, when is spring formal?”
Candace rolled her eyes so far into the back of her head I just knew they wouldn’t come down again. “Next week, Macey.”
“Okay. So how about next week?”
“How about tomorrow?” Candace slammed her workbook shut and slipped it back into her bag, hoisting the pack over her shoulder. “I gotta get to class. But how about tomorrow evening? I can take you shopping.”
“Is there any way to get out of this?” I asked, and Candace shook her head.
“Nope.”
“Then I guess I’ll be ready.”
“Great. I’ll pick you up at your apartment around five.” Candace hurried away before I could argue this anymore, one hand flapping behind her shoulder as she waved goodbye, nearly colliding into a group of students who were coming around the corner. She’d taken her coffee but left her untouched scone, so I wrapped it in a napkin and stuck it into my backpack for later. So I was a child, sue me.
“I saw that,” a voice behind me said, and I turned in my seat to find Jayce approaching, that wickedly beautiful grin making me weak in the hands and knees.
