Not that he had any intention of playing video gamestonight.
Dominick pulled into one of the school’s many parking lots. “You don’t have to worryaboutme.”
Conrad shook his head. “Sweet. Thanks for the ride. I’ll catch you later.” He hopped out of the car, and walked toward his dorm. He tried to adopt an easy pace, worried Dominick would somehow catch on to his little secret if he walked too quickly. But a quick glance back at his roommate’s car showed Dominick still in his seat looking down athislap.
Conrad’s boy had his own stuff going on. Too much to notice the pace with which Conrad walked to his room. He was pretty sure he could do a pirouette all the way to Lacey, and Dominick wouldn’t be any thewiser.
Of course, Conrad would just have to worry about everyone else he passed along the way, including the possibility of Laceyseeing.
No,thankyou.
He took a deep breath and slowed his roll as he turned the corner to the front doors of his dorm. There she was, her back leaning against the front of the building, her long tan legs stretched out in front of her. He wasn’t sure if she realized the effect seeing so much skin had on him, or if she only had short skirts in her wardrobe. Either way, he wasn’t complaining. She hadn’t noticed him yet, her eyes trained on what was in the open box inherlap.
He walked up slowly, trying not to catch her attention just yet. But as Conrad got closer, he saw the small furrow inherbrow.
“Don’t tell me the pie dumped you, too.” The comment was meant to make Lacey smile, but her lips pressed into a straight lineinstead.
“Sorry,” he said, looking down at his feet. “You were smiling in the picture you sent, and I thought that…I don’t know. That was stupid.” The words were little more than mumbling by the time he’d finishedspeaking.
Lacey bit her lip. “Yeah…I just got a text from Morgan. It just…” Her words trailed off in a similarfashion.
Conrad didn’t bother sitting down next to her, nervous about the sudden change between them. What had Morgan texted Lacey that had her looking like she was about to cry? “Is, uh…is everything okay?” he asked, hating how insecure hesounded.
She closed the lid of the pizza box and started smacking her hands against it. It started as one hand connecting against the cardboard, and then the other. But soon, she was smacking both hands against the top lid, gaining attention of nearby students. Not that she noticed with her eyes closedtightly.
Conrad kneeled down in front of Lacey and willed her to look at him until she eventually cracked one eye open. Her face was scrunched up in an expression that would have been adorable in any othercircumstance.
“Whathappened?”
Lacey shook her head. “Morgan told me about the make-out session at the Polk Theater. Did you really catch Trevor kissingthatgirl?”
Filled with shame, Conrad struggled to keep eye contact with the girl in front of him, but he held her gaze as he nodded once. “Yeah. Is that what Morgan justsentyou?”
She rested the back of her head against the wall. “She didn’t want me coming over here on this date and has been trying to convince me these last few days not to see you again. And we’ve been fighting so bad over it. I couldn’t figureoutwhy.”
“It was because I didn’t tell you about it when I had the chance,” Conrad answered matter-of-factly as he sat downbesideher.
Lacey’s eyes went wide. “Oh, that’s the angle she tried to push. But she must not be thinking clearly, because then she said something about how you confronted her about it. You told her she needed totellme.”
It wasn’t really a question, but Conrad nodded onceagain.
“But she didn’t. She let me go on a date with a guy she knew was hooking up with someone else. It was you, the guy I didn’t know, who cared about what happened to me. It was why you were out with DeclanAdams.”
“Not the only reason.” He bit the inside of his cheek. “My roommate also had a bad date. I looked up the Date Maker and saw the article Declanposted.”
Lacey sat quietly for a long, uncomfortable stretch. “Did you end up telling himanything?”
“Nah,” Conrad said as he lifted a corner of his mouth into a smile. “A pretty girl asked menotto.”
A small smile touched Lacey’s lips at Conrad’s easy tone. “How is it that you’re the only decent human being in this entire city? Seriously, even my best friend istotalcrap.”
He swallowed hard as he chose his next words carefully. It’s not like he could just insult Lacey’s best friend—no matter how much she might deserve it. “Well, the same pretty girl also told me her friend was under a lot of pressure. Maybe she’s temporarily got her head stuck upherbutt.”
Lacey snorted, so Conrad decided to push his luck a littlefurther.
“I hear the only way to help a friend in that unfortunate position is to find a guy who is ridiculously hot, funny, smart, charming—” He was interrupted by the sound of Lacey clearing herthroat.
When he looked over, the smile on her lips was bigger than before. “That’s quite the list,” she said. “Where do you think I’ll find a guylikethat?”
