“FIVE? You’ve had five boyfriends?!”
“Don’t judge!”
“I’m not! I’m just impressed.” Flo sniffed Rose’s foot. Rose still didn’t notice. “I think I remember some of them… you were with Leo Nguyen this year, weren’t you?”
A shudder passed through me. “Unfortunately. I found out he didn’t brush his teeth.”
Rose screamed, sending Flo shooting off to the kitchen. “Gross!”
“Yeah, I don’t even want to… I mean, we made out so many times…”
She laughed so hard that she choked. I pounded her back and handed her a drink.
“Thanks,” she gasped, waving her hand at me. “Anyway, wow. Totally gross.”
“Agreed. So, what about you? Have you had boyfriends? I don’t remember any rumors of you dating anyone at Elysian anyway.” It was strange to know someone for so many years and not know them at all, I realized. The bulk of my Rose Carver knowledge was like the news feed of someone’s life—only the obvious, visible stuff.
“Not really? I date guys, but never longer than a few weeks at most.” She looked around for Flo, who was now lapping up water at her bowl in the kitchen. “I’ve never liked anyone enough. I like them at first. But something happens when I spend more time with them.”
“You’re over it?”
“Exactly. I don’t know… when they like me too much I stop liking them?” Suddenly Flo plopped into Rose’s lap. Rose’s eyes grew wide, and she froze.
I raised my eyebrows. “See, Flo gets you. You only start liking them when they stop paying attention to you.”
Rose laughed and pulled Flo to her chest, which made her yowl and jump out of Rose’s arms—flouncing away with a swish of her finicky tail. “So… five guys. You didn’t like any of them enough to keep them around longer than…”
“Six months,” I finished for her. “My longest relationship. With Felix Rafael Benavides, believe it or not.”
“Oh, I remember when you guys dated. You were like our high school’s Brangelina.”
I snorted. “Please. He wishes he were Brad. Anyway… yeah. I dunno, when it gets boring and too real, I bail. Who needs that? We’re in high school.”
“But you like boys enough to keep wanting them around,” she said with a waggle of her eyebrows.
I waggled mine back. “Well,yeah.” We both laughed.
“I can’t even imagine liking a guy enough to call him my boyfriend, so you’re preaching to the choir,” she said, taking a sip of her drink. She looked at me. “But you know, why is it that we’re supposed to feel bad about this part of our lives? Like, if we don’t have a boyfriend, we’re loser weirdos. If we date too much, we’re ‘sluts.’”
I chewed my fourth slice of pizza thoughtfully. “Maybe the truth is… nothing is weird about dating in high school. Everyone is different, and we need to stop reading so many magazines giving us dated-ass relationship advice.”
She held up her cup. “Hear, hear!”
“Rose. Stop saying stuff like that.”
“Cheers to that.”
I threw a Parmesan cheese packet at her.
CHAPTER 17
After Rose left (making sure I verified the time of my date), I cleaned up lunch and took a shower. Confession: I hate taking showers. They’re just so much time and effort. I have the thickest hair on the planet, and it takes hours to dry.
Once I was dressed, I swiped on some eyeliner—making a cat eye with a little swoop at the end. Then I grabbed a glittery teal eyeshadow and extended the end of the swoop. I blinked and looked in the mirror. There. Properly fancy.
I heard my dad’s voice echo through the hallway. “Clara! He’s here!”
Why my dad had to get home in time for my date was beyond me. Cosmic timing. I grabbed my mini black leather backpack and headed downstairs.
