“Yeah. Well Alisha says that they hooked up that night, and he took her out a few times after that but then suddenly ghosted her.” Daisy takes the popcorn from me and gives it a shake so the candy disperses. “Like he was supposed to meet her at a fancy restaurant. He planned it. And then he didn’t show up and when she saw him the next day, he pretended he didn’t know who she was. For real. Like ‘Do I know you?’”
“Brutal,” I whisper because it is. And it makes me very disappointed in him.
“Maggie, please say you got drinks too,” Caroline says, changing the subject.
“I forgot drinks,” I mutter and sigh. “You go get them.”
Caroline groans. Daisy pops up. “I’ll do it. But I didn’t bring my wallet so lend me some cash.”
I sigh and stand up. “I’ll be right back. Getting drinks is easier than giving you my wallet.”
“Hurry back,” Daisy calls but then someone calls her name and she turns her head and waves at them, forgetting me completely.
I purposely stand in line for the stand Tate isn’t at, the one on the other side of the screen. I make it all the way to the front of the line before he notices me. I pretend I don’t see him looking at me while I order from another guy on the team. I order three cans of Coke, and as the hockey player digs them out of the cooler behind him, I think of Daisy’s story. Would that be my fate too if Tate and I were actually dating? Is he really a guy who does that? I have no reason to not believe this Alisha girl’s story. Does it even matter? I will never end up like Alisha because I can’t date Tate…but do I want to keep getting naked with a guy who does that to girls?
He hands me the Cokes and I pay and turn and leave. The urge to look at Tate one last time is overwhelming so I glance over my shoulder. Turns out he’s been staring at me and as our eyes connect, he jumps the counter and starts toward me.
I keep walking like I didn’t notice but the fact is my gait slows so that he can catch up with me quicker. “I have a tater tot sized penis? Really Maggie?”
I shrug. “You were picking on me in front of your buddy.”
“By saying you needed butter? So you go straight for the tiny penis lie?” Tate counters still walking along beside me. The place is now packed with people, so we’re moving around them and stepping over them as we go. As soon as we get a couple more feet, Daisy and Caroline will be in sight—and vice versa—so I stop walking.
“It was a joke,” I say simply.
“Not a joke, a lie,” Tate replies. “Jokes are funny and I know you know my penis is no laughing matter.”
My cheeks heat. “Neither is your ego. Besides, what are you going to do about it? Ghost me?”
“What?” Tate blinks and shakes his head in confusion. “I would never ghost you. But if you can’t remember much about my penis, maybe you need me to remind you why it’s no laughing matter.”
“No. I mean. I don’t know what I need, to be honest with you,” I confess, my eyes darting up to the darkening sky in frustration.
“Where are you sitting?” His fingers wrap around my wrist for a millisecond. I look at him. The moon, which is full and bright, is glimmering in his mossy eyes and accentuating his full mouth and angular jaw, which has a little bit of stubble on it. That’s new. Tate is usually clean-shaven. I immediately want the chafe of the five o’clock shadow on my lips and my neck and my breasts and my…
But he’s not a good person…is he?
“Maggie. Where are your friends?” he repeats more firmly.
“About twenty-five paces to the left, near that large fir.” I point, and his head turns to follow.
“Deliver them the drinks, watch fifteen minutes of the movie and then excuse yourself to go to the bathroom. Bring your phone.”
“Excuse me?” I blink.
“Then meet me behind the Museum,” Tate continues. “You can text Daisy from there and tell her you went home or ran into someone or went to get food or something and you’ll meet her after the movie.”
“Why?”
“So we can sneak back to my place and I can remind you exactly why that tater tot comment was stupid,” Tate replies casually like he isn’t propositioning me.
“I can’t just take off like that,” I reply for some stupid reason. I came here with the hopes of doing exactly that. And Daisy gets really into movies. She won’t even notice or care and Caroline usually falls asleep in them, so she won’t mind either. “It’s too risky.”
“It’s worth it and you know it,” Tate replies and without another word walks away.
That arrogant, cocky, annoying pain in my non-freckled ass. I stomp my way back to Daisy and Caroline. I sigh and want to kick myself because despite all my concern and confusion and the rumors and the risk, I know without a shadow of a doubt I’ll be behind the museum later.
13
