It’s difficult, impossible really, to leave her, but I make my way to the door. I pause with my hand on the knob and turn back around. “Can I repay you with coffee in the morning?”
“It’s my job, Morgan,” she says.
Even though I promised myself I wouldn’t let this thing between us—whatever it is—become a distraction, I still let myself want to be around her. It feels good to forget for a minute. Who knows, maybe it’s what I need to move on.
“Okay. But hypothetically speaking, if a guy were ever to do such a thing…howdo you like it? Your coffee order, I mean.” I stuff my hands in my pockets.
Her eyes follow her hands as she restocks her kit. The soft glow pooling through the west windows highlights her smiling profile.
“I like it black.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
HAILEY
14 years old
“Who’s this girl you were hanging out with?” I nudge Dean in the shoulder as he bites into a slice of meat lovers pizza. On our stomachs, sprawled across my bedspread, we’re watchingArrowon a twenty-four-inch flat-screen TV.
“Just some girl.”
I don’t buy it. Other than the guys on our high school football team, I’m the only other person he’s ever hung out with.
“Sure.” I consider giving him a break and letting it go, but… Why doesn’t he want to tell me about her?
I tip on my right side, nudging him with my heel this time. “Come on; it’s me. You can tell me anything.”
He sighs like he knows he’s not getting out of this. “It’s the new girl,” he mumbles under his breath.
“Madison Walter?!” My eyes bug out of my head.
“Why are you saying it like that?”
I press my shoulders back. “Like what?”
“With whatever weird gasp that was. As if it would be absurd for me to get a girl like her.”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just…”
Madison Walter is beautiful. Long blond hair that skims the waist of her jeans. Crop tops that show off her perfectly milky skin. Eyelashes that fan her cheekbones when she bats them. It’s not hard to see why Dean likes her. But she’s kind of…
“What?” Dean presses, irritation creeping into his tone.
“I mean, she’s kind of entitled. I just pictured her with one of the Johnson brothers or something, that’s all.”
Nate and Noah Johnson, identical twin seniors with a track record for trolling younger classmen, seem like the perfect fit.
“She’s different than you think.” He rolls his eyes.
“Differenthow? She wears a pound of makeup and every time she talks, it comes out all breathy and squealy.” I giggle, and he glares at me. “I’m sorry. That was rude.”
He sighs, scrubbing his face with his hands. “No, I get it. It’s not like I’ve ever had a girlfriend before. What makes me think I can keep her?”
I push on his bicep so he’ll stop hiding behind the pizza box. He tips backward on his forearms.
“Come on, Dean. You deserve any girl you’re interested in.”
And I can confidently say that because he’s a twelve out of ten in the chivalry department. I can also attest to how good-looking the guy is, even if I’ve never been interested in him like that.
