“Fancy seeing you here,” I tell him. “Do you live at the 7-Eleven?”
He chuckles. “Do you?”
“Okay. Good point.”
“I was dropping a friend at home. Stopped to get refreshments.” He holds up a bottle of Coke. “What are you doing out here?”
“Uh . . .”
“Hi, Cameron,” Retha says, saving the moment. She lifts her hand in a wave. “Will you buy us a couple of sodas?”
I turn and glare at her. I can’t believe she would just ask him to buy us something. This girl has no filter.
“Sure,” Cameron says. When I turn to him, he looks at me and smiles. “No Blow Pop though, right?”
I fight back my laugh and shake my head no. Luckily, Retha doesn’t hear him, and he doesn’t tell her that he knows the truth. It’s like our little secret.
“What do you want to drink?” he asks me, grabbing two large cups from the holder.
“Nothing,” I say, and slip my hands into my pockets. I see Retha wander down an aisle.
“Really?” Cameron asks me. “Not even a water? You sure?”
“Yeah.”
“But you’re sweating.”
I’m also dying of humiliation. “No, really. I’m fine.”
He shrugs. “Okay.”
Damn. I’m thirsty. But I don’t want to owe him anything. Well, anything else. He’s already given me a lollipop and a ride. What’s next?
Retha appears again with a bag of chips. “Cameron,” she says, like she’s known him all of her life. “Can I use your phone real quick?” She brushes her black curls from her face. “I need to see if Travis can pick us up.”
Cameron looks over his shoulder from where he’s at the soda machine, filling up a cup with Dr Pepper.
“Sure, but do you guys need a ride somewhere?” he asks. He finds the tops for the sodas and presses one on. With his back to us, Retha glances at me and smiles.
I widen my eyes at her and mouth “no.”
“Actually,” she says sweetly to Cameron, licking her lips suggestively even though he can’t see her. “We’d love a ride. That is sooo nice of you to offer.”
“Retha,” I say as warning. She laughs.
“Cool,” Cameron responds, and turns around, oblivious to our struggle. Retha straightens quickly like she’s a saint. “Let’s do it,” Cameron adds, making Retha crack a smile.
He grabs another drink and fills it, but he doesn’t look at me again, doesn’t ask if I’m really sure I don’t want one. He laughs with Retha instead, handing her a drink. It’s stupid, but I’m a little jealous. I liked it when I was the only one he talked to.
I hang back as he walks around with Retha, letting her pick out other snacks she wants. Again, he doesn’t ask me. When they’re done with their shopping spree, Retha and I go out front to wait next to the Beamer while Cameron pays for it all.
“I can’t believe you,” I say to her, totally pissed. Another ride home, another conversation. Opening up my world to someone like Cameron is a bad fucking idea. I can feel it. And besides, I’m embarrassed that he knows I can’t even afford a cup of water, and yet, here’s Retha asking him to buy her Slim Jims.
“He wants to screw you,” Retha says as if it makes it all fine.
“He does not.”
“Sodoes.”
