“Oh,” I turn to Blue and then look back at her confident meander. “Look at that.”
Blue’s eyes are sending daggers straight to my chest. Jesus Christ. I look over at Stanley and then Percy. “Where’s Row?”
“Probably grabbing groceries for tonight’s special dinner.”
Stanley raises his brows. “Special dinner.”
“Shit, well, sorry to bust everyone’s balls here, but Coach changed a last-minute thing for Saturday, and he’s called a meeting.”
Stanley is the first one to make this shit obvious. “No,” he prolongs. “Why is he changing it?”
Percy says, “I bet it’s because you can’t play your line.”
“Shut it, Pers,” Stanley barks.
“Blue?” I say. “You got two minutes.”
He stills like what I said isn’t enough. I look down at Melly. She looks back at Blue. “I guess I should go.” She pauses. “But I still want to talk.”
“He can,” Stanley says. “After the meeting.”
Blue looks like he’s sweating.
I can’t help myself. I ask, “Are you still in high school?” She better not still be in fucking high school.
She turns around and looks at me like she’s offended. “No, I go here. I’m a junior.”
I look back at Blue and then at her. They make a cute couple. Matching eyes. He towers over her in a normal way. She seems genuinely interested in him, and he’s squirming.
“Boys?” I say.
Stanley stands up and says, “Eyes over here, Blue. See these house rules?”
“Fuck’s sake, Stanley. Drop it.”
Stanley shrugs. “Hey, I can’t be the only one following the rules.”
I grin towards Melly. “Don’t mind him. Blue’s not Camdenking any rules. Let’s go.” I grab Stanley and massage his shoulders as rough as I can.
He tenses under and waves at Melly. I flick my head at Blue.
Percy closes his laptop and plays along with this bullshit. We’re all about to sit inside the truck like a bunch of assholes.
We get into my truck, and Stanley mutters, “That’s the second girl to come over here like she has the right to.”
“I don’t want to hear you talk about Lucy.”
“You broke the number one rule of the Hawthorne House, Reeve. What happened to the Hawthorne House Boys? We had a pact.”
“Yeah, well, tell my heart that.”
Percy blows out hot air as we walk towards my truck. “At least some of us are getting action.”
We reach the truck and open the doors as Stanley throws his hands. “Blue’s not getting action in there. The man’s terrified.”
I get in the driver’s seat. “Probably because of your dumb fucking rules.”
Stanley hops in and says, “Look at us getting in the truck like a wagon of donkeys.”
