I groaned silently, dragging a hand down my face. I’d honestly thought I’d gotten away with it. Discussing my deranged behavior yesterday was the last thing I wanted to talk about.
Then I frowned. And did he just use the wordfrankly? Since when did Jace talk like that? Or anybody, really.
Me: Are we going to talk about what you just said?
Jace: I literally texted you to talk about what I just said.
Parker: …
Jace: Don’t … me, Davis. I know you think you got that from Walker, and that’s completely unacceptable. You got that from me. And possibly my brother. Not from wildly overrated professional Dallas hockey players.
Jace: We are the No Drama Llamas.
Jace: We’re not followers. We. Are. Trendsetters.
I grinned at that. Parker’s brother, Walker, played in the NHL. He was the starting goalie for the Dallas Knights, and he had his own group of friends on his team that had their own brand of chaos. Jace could get a little competitive with them sometimes.
Me: I just wanted to know why you used the word “frankly”, but I guess I can also remind you that I never approved of that group name.
Parker: I, too, would like to know why you used the word frankly. It seems suspicious, frankly.
I texted back a … because it seemed fitting.
Parker: Also…I’ll make sure to tell Lincoln Daniels that you think he’s wildly overrated next time I talk to him. I’m sure that will go over well. You’ll be a big hit at the next Christmas party.
Me: Good point, Parkie-poo.
Jace was probably pissing himself right now. Lincoln Daniels, the Dallas Knights star center, and Parker’s brother’s teammate, was actually terrifying…and definitely not overrated.
Jace: Obviously Parker’s big brain isn’t working right now. I obviously would never include Lincoln in that description. I would also like to bring us back to what we were talking about.
Jace: The fact that our boy Matty is in love with a stalker.
I huffed at that. It was laughable that Jace would ever tease me about having a stalker, considering that if you looked up the word in the dictionary, it actually wouldn’t have a definition. It would just sayParker DavisandJace Thatcherand everyone would understand.
Me: Pot, meet kettle. Seems to me it wouldn’t be much different than Riley and Casey being in love with the two of you, now would it?
Me: But also, I’m not in love. I had concern as a citizen of the world for the safety of…another citizen of the world. That was it.
Parker: What the hell is a citizen of the world?
Jace: That’s why you’re my bestilicious number one today, Parker. Using that big brain of yours to tell my bestilicious number two he’s an idiot.
Me: I thought you said that wasn’t a ranking “per se.”
Jace: Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. But someone has to keep you on your toes.
I sighed and set the phone face down on the desk before they could come up with anything else. The screen buzzed once more anyway, vibrating against the cheap wood like it was laughing at me.
There was a rustle beside me, books shifting, a chair scraping, and I caught the faint scent of coffee and something floral. I didn’t bother looking over. I didn’t feel like talking to anyone.
A throat cleared at the front of the room. I looked up to see the professor leaning against the desk with a smirk that set off instant alarms. That look never meant anything good.
Pop quiz. It had to be a pop quiz.
Swearing under my breath, I glanced down at my desk. No pencil. No pen. Nothing but my useless phone and a sinking feeling in my gut.
I dug through my backpack, irritation bubbling up as I flipped through loose papers, crumpled receipts, and an empty protein bar wrapper. No pencil. No pen. Nothing.
