A week since he properly kissed me, a week since I thought we were growing closer with our shared revelations at the party, and I concede I might be friend-zoned.
Not a bad thing per se but not the outcome I expected. The trajectory from our first meeting to this strange touch-but-not-properly-touch area doesn’t adhere to the laws of physics at all.
My head is still so full of the fantasy, I’m crimson as he collects me for the drive to school. When we get out, I purposely brush against him… and he manoeuvres around me to slam the door shut. I’d feel rejected except it’s like he doesn’t register the advance at all, leaving me confused instead.
“Jesus Christ, don’t you ever stop studying?” is the question Wilder greets us with hours later as he arrives in the clubhouse, shaking his head to see us committing one of his ultimate sins. “There are people you can pay to do that for you.”
Maddox doesn’t even glance over. “Is that how you’re planning on continuing your education? Move from buying test results to buying a degree?”
“Who needs a degree? Mummy dearest paying for my housing is the only reason I’m continuing my education.”
Maddox and I are on the floor, cushions supporting his lower back as he leans against the wall, me between his legs. I’mright there, my arse against his crotch, thrusting backwards ever so slightly when I reach for my notepad, something I do a lot for precisely that reason.
And there’s nothing. No hint of a response. He doesn’t ease away with discomfort, and there’s no hardness poking into my lower back.
“Ball tickets,” Dahlia yells from the base of the staircase, her heels making dainty little thumps as she throws herself up the steps. “Give me your credit cards immediately.”
She holds her hand out to Wilder who obliges, and she types into her phone, showing off a few dances moves when she’s successful. Then she turns her eye on Maddox. “Now, you.”
He gives her his card and settles back, an arm across my torso, large enough to start at one shoulder and cup the other. I never used to appreciate tall men, but my thinking has taken an abrupt U-turn. Once the fear of being overpowered transformed into a desire for exactly that to happen, I uncovered a secret love of size differences.
After all, my favourite memory is him casually lifting me into his arms and sprinting for the car.Sprinting. Like I weighed nothing at all.
And once more I’m hot and bothered and Maddox is just stubbornly hot, hot, hot.
Dahlia finishes the transactions, then wipes her sleeve theatrically across her forehead, slumping onto the floor besideus. “Now the true planning begins. Finding the perfect outfit with the perfect accessories.”
“You know this dance is boring as hell,” Wilder complains. “People just stand around talking and barely drinking a thing because they can’t afford to get a reputation. So much networking goes on, it might as well be a business meeting.”
“That’s the point,” Dahlia says with a pout. “You don’t understand because everything’s always been handed to you on a silver platter, but some of us have to work at making all those valuable connections you take for granted.” She turns to me for support. “I knowyouunderstand.” After a nudge with her shoulder, I nod, and she mugs at her boyfriend. “See?”
The bell goes and we walk to class. Every time I lose interest in the lesson, I study Maddox from the corner of my eye.
At break, I follow Dahlia into the girls’ bathroom, taking a place at the bench beside her as she retouches her makeup. “Can I ask you something?”
Two girls walk through the door, talking until they see me. They clamp their mouths shut, rolling their eyes at each other instead.
Apart from Maddox’s clique, it’s the behaviour I’ve come to expect.
“Don’t let the bitches get you down,” Dahlia says before smacking her lips together and tilting her head from side to side, eyes fixed on her reflection. “While they’re eaten up with jealousy, I’m getting eaten out by Wilder Parry.” She winks at me. “And I know which side of that equation I’d rather be on.”
The arrival of the girls stops me asking the question I wanted to, instead trying, “Do they stare at you?”
She arches an eyebrow, waiting for more information.
“Everywhere we walk, students stare at me.” I tug at my ear, then twist a curl around my fingertip, pulling until it turns white. My voice drops even lower. “Not just the girls.”
“They stare because you’re a novelty.”
Right. My stomach drops and my anxiety rockets. “Because I used to work at Chezzers.”
Her mouth drops open, eyes widening, then she collapses into giggles. “No, you dick. Because no one has ever seen Maddox with a girl before. He quite famously doesn’t touchanybodyand now he’s roaming the corridors, unable to keep his hands off you.” She washes her hands in the sink, flicking water at her reflection. “They’re not just jelly, they’re baffled. We’ve all heard of magical pussy before, but you take that to theextreme.”
She takes out her phone, still chuckling, dragging me into the frame for her selfie. “Say cheese.”
I dredge up a smile, but my head is spinning. Confusion doesn’t begin to describe it.
“But he must have—”
