He waved me off. “Nah, don’t worry about it. I think I’m going to enjoy the sun for a little while longer before taking one more lap around the exhibit hall. I still need to pick up my commission from Ashley.”
“Oh, I forgot about that,” I said, my heart sinking. “I really wanted to see how it turned out.”
“How about this?” Xander replied. He plucked the cell from my hand and replaced it with his own. “Let’s trade numbers. I’ll text you a picture of the sketch, but you have to promise to let me know if your plans for Saturday change.”
He was probably just being nice, but I allowed myself a small smile. “I think I can manage that.” We both entered our information into each other’s contacts and traded back phones. “Well, I should get going.” I stood and brushed off the back of my jeans.
“Bye, Indie,” Xander said as I slung my bag over my shoulder. “Thanks for today. I had a blast.”
“Ditto,” I called, already picking my way down from Umpire Rock. “See ya around, E.T.”
Once I reached solid ground, I hurried past the birthday party and toward the footpath. As I made my way out of the park, I could feel Xander’s gaze fixed on me, but I forced myself to keep moving and not look back.
Chapter 5
“Let me get this straight. You left him in the park?” Sofia asked as we walked into homeroom on Monday. “What’d you do that for?”
When I arrived at school, Sofia was lying in wait at my locker in order to maximize our conversation time before the bell rang. While I collected my books, I filled her in on my weekend—the fiasco of losing my Comic Con badge, what it was like to meet Melody, and how I’d hung out with Xander Jones.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Things got weird, and I sort of freaked out.”
“Define weird,” she said, shrugging off her backpack as we took our usual seats at the back of class.
“Well, we were talking and having a good time, and then out of nowhere, he asks me what I’m doing on Saturday and says he’d love to hang out again.”
Sofia raised an eyebrow at me. “I don’t know what alternate reality you live in, but in the real world, when a guy says something like that, it’s agoodthing. It means he’s interested in you.”
“That’s exactly why it’s weird,” I said, digging through my backpack in search of my calculus homework. When I found it, I passedit to Sofia for her to check since she was a math wizard. “Why would he be interested in me?”
“Hmm, I don’t know,” she replied, voice drenched in sarcasm. “Maybe because you’re freaking awesome?”
Grinning, I tossed my hair over my shoulder. “Well, obviously, but I also have to be realistic.”
She looked up from my assignment and gave me a hard look. “Realistic about what exactly?”
“Oh, come on,” I said and gestured at myself with an eye roll. “I’m so not the type of girl he would date.”
Her expression turned incredulous. “Wait a minute. Are you telling me you ditched Xander because you don’t think you’re skinny enough?”
“Absolutely not!” I said, bristling at her question. I didn’t need to lose a single inch of my curves to be worthy of a guy. “This isn’t about what I think of my body. It’s about what someone like him thinks.”
“Someone like him?” she repeated. “What does that even mean?”
“A celebrity,” I clarified. “I’ve spent enough time around Gabe Grant and Ryan Klein to know guys like them don’t go for thick girls.”
Instead of responding, Sofia refocused on my homework and made a small correction. Then she handed it back to me, lips pursed.
“What? Just say it.”
She crossed her arms. “I think you’re being awfully hypocritical.”
“How so?”
“You won’t give Xander a chance because you assume his fame makes him incapable of seeing through bullshit beauty standards,” she said, “but you’re the one being judgmental, not him.”
Easy for you to say, I thought, clenching my jaw to keep from snapping. Sofia had a bone structure so delicate she looked part pixie. She never had to wonder if a boy would turn her down due to the fat roll below her bra or because her thighs were bigger than his.
“I wasn’t trying to imply that Xander is a bad guy. He’s the exact opposite, but this isn’t something you would understand.”
