"I play defense."
"I assumed that, given your size. What college?"
"I'm not in college. I'm a senior in high school."
She looks up and down my body. "You don't look like any high school boys I've ever seen."
"We should go," Brook says, glancing at me. "It was good to see you, Fiona."
"You too," she says as she walks off.
We cross the street to the burger place and get in line.
"What was that about?" I ask.
"What do you mean?"
"Why were you all nervous talking to your friend?"
"I wasn't nervous." She stares up at the menu. "I don't think I like this place. You want to leave?"
Checking the menu, I skip the descriptions and look at the prices. A basic burger is twelve bucks, with no fries and no drink. Add those in and this could end up costing me almost forty dollars. That's a lot more than I planned to spend.
"Let's go somewhere else," Brook says, leaving the line.
"Brook, wait!" I catch up to her. "Is this about the money?"
"No, I just didn't want to eat there. The line was taking forever."
It wasn't. We were almost at the window. Brook just needed a reason to leave. She didn't want me using all my grocery money for a couple hamburgers.
I gotta say, this girl keeps surprising me. I would've thought a girl who grew up rich wouldn't even look at prices, especially if someone else was paying. But Brook saw the prices, knew it was more than I could afford, and left without making me feel bad about it.
I really wish Brook would stop doing things that make me like her. I want to go back to hating her, not that I ever did, but I was trying to when I first met her. When I saw her in class that first day, I knew she was trouble. My heart immediately jumped at the site of her, ticking up its pace when she stopped in my row. It took off like a rocket when she sat her cute little ass on my desk. I decided right then and there that this girl was trouble. That she needed to go away. And now here I am, spending the day with her. What's even worse is that I'm actually having a good time.
Why am I doing this? Why am I letting myself? What the hell is wrong with me?
Chapter Eighteen
Brook
"Why don't we head back?" Dean says as we stand at the end of the street.
"Back home?" I ask, noticing he seems anxious, his eyes shifting all around.
What happened? Why did he suddenly change? Just moments ago he seemed to be having a good time. He was smiling. He seemed relaxed. And I think he almost tried to hold my hand.
I would've let him do it. I wanted him to. Technically I'm still with Chad but that's as good as over. I'm ending it tonight.
Dean is right. Why wait for Chad to end things when I could do it myself? What am I waiting for? If Chad doesn't want to see me or talk to me, he's telling me the relationship is over. He just won't say the words, so I'll say them for him. I didn't think I was ready to, but being with Dean and feeling what it's like to actually have fun with someone again has convinced me it's time to move on. I don't even remember the last time I had fun with Chad.
"We don't have to go home," Dean says. "We'll get back on the bus and get off at a different stop."
"Okay," I say, happy he's not insisting we go home. I want more time with him, which is crazy when I think about how much I couldn't stand him when I met him.
We head back to the bus stop.
"Hey, what about that?" I point to a hot dog stand that's next to a park.
