“I’m super sorry,” I drawl. “How’s that for you?”
“You’re a real wordsmith, you know that?” She snorts. “No big deal, though—it’s not like you’ve been ghosting me for weeks, or anything.”
As we crawl out of the parking lot, my mind is in overdrive.She really doesn’t want to answer that, does she?There’s no way I’m letting this drop, though—I don’t know why, but something about that guy has rubbed me the wrong way.
“Just some random dude hitting on you, huh?”
“Just a friend.”
“You have friends here?”
“Why the surprise?” she snaps.
“He like drag races, too?”
She rolls her eyes. “Why are you being such an asshole today? I was expecting some kind of heartfelt reunion…”
“Never seen him around campus before,” I continue.
“SHU has a student body of, like, sixty thousand people, Lewis. Maybe you don’t knoweverysingle one of them.”
I shrug. “He doesn’t look like a student.”
“Really? Whatdoeshe look like, then?”
“He looks like the guys who were sniffing around my car back in Brooklyn.”
I sneak a look at her.Got it in one.
“Real observant, aren’t you?”
I’m a basketball player—sizing up the competition is just what we do.
“Okay, so he’s a Brooklyn buddy who came down to visit?”
“Something like that.” She tosses her hair back. “I’ve had a lot of free time lately, you know? So I thought, ‘Hey, why not reconnect with old friends?’?”
I’m definitely picking up on her sideswipes about my lack of communication, but there’s only one thing I care about right now.
“He like drag races, too?” I try again.
“That’s not his thing. Esteban is more into buying and selling.”
Esteban?The muscles in my jaw twitch. I hate the way his name sounds on her lips.
“He’s a great mechanic, too. My dad…” She falls silent. “My dad taught him a lot.”
“I see how it is—he’s a very good friend of yours.”
And I hate that.I never expected to feel this jealous, but I suddenly want to rip out the steering wheel.
“Something like that,” she says again.
How hard is it to just answer a goddamn question?
“Should I be worried?”
“He came to help RJ out at the shop; they’re working through his backlog. It’s no biggie.”
