Dan grinned at us and handed back a Twinkie. Elena whimpered.
Maybe it was my imagination, but the thing didn’t look as yellow as it was supposed to. I took it anyway and broke it in half. Vivid red filling oozed out, encroaching on my fingers. I was not tempted to lick it off.
“On the count of three,” Jenny whispered, taking her half.
She was so going to punk me. I totally was doing this anyway.
“One.”
Jenny nodded. “Two.”
“No.” Elena reached across and swiped the Twinkie half out of Jenny’s hand. “You can’t do this. Noah, hand me yours.” She reached out her free hand, fully expecting me to comply. Was there no limit to what this woman expected people to do, just because she commanded it?
“Sadie, eyes on the road,” Dan said. “I’ll give you the play-by-play later.”
The ridiculousness of the situation was too much for me, and the laugh that had been bubbling up from deep inside escaped in a snort.
Jenny’s shoulders began to shake.
The more we couldn’t hold it together, the redder Elena’s face got. “Just give me the thing, Noah.”
Jenny took it from me and went to hand it to Elena, but at the last second she pulled it back and took a big bite out of it. “Oh, this is disgusting,” she moaned around a mouthful of red filling.
A dollop escaped the side of her mouth and dropped onto her work pants. I’d never been so grossed out and turned on at the same time. The thought made me laugh harder.
Jenny wiped the dollop off her pants with a tissue, and then handed me what was left of the Twinkie half, a wicked gleam in her green eyes, now that she knew what I was in for.
I didn’t hesitate to take a bite, but maybe I should have. It was disgusting in every way—the sweetly bitter tang of the flavoring against the slight crunch of the breading where it should have been soft, the overall staleness of it all. Dan was insane to think this was good.
I wanted to spit it out immediately, but Jenny shook her head at me. We both had to swallow. There was nowhere else for it to go without making a disgusting mess.
I felt like I chewed for three minutes straight while Dan laughed so hard he was crying. “Best seventeen dollars I’ve ever spent,” he wheezed.
“You spent seventeen dollars on those things?” Sadie looked appalled.
“I’ve spent money on worse.”
Elena shook her head at us. “Unbelievable. I swear, it’s like a kids YouTube channel in here.” She froze and then examined the ceiling before craning her neck to see around Dan’s headrest.
“There aren’t any cameras.” I doubted she’d believe me, and I was right. It wasn’t until Dan, Sadie, and Jenny assured her that she sat back and sighed. “I hope you all get stomach cramps.”
Jenny turned her head into my shoulder to keep Elena from seeing her laugh, but when she finally lifted her head and met my eyes, she looked conflicted. She wasn’t supposed to like me anymore.
“Hey.”
“Hey,” she echoed back.
“Friends?” I whispered.
“Like before?”
“If that’s what you want.”
She nodded, looking solemn. “But just friends. Nothing else.”
My nod in response just about killed me. Because it was a lie. I had no plans to stay in the friend zone. Well, not permanently, anyway. I’d just be very careful from now on about how and when I tiptoed across that line.
Chapter 10 – Jenny
