I take in the other guy beside him. He’s shorter than the first but still around six feet tall. He’s Hispanic like Roman and me but his eyes lift at the edges a bit more and his cheekbones are a little sharper. Not Mexican, I don’t think. Maybe Honduran. He’s the thinnest of the three but his arms are still wrapped in corded muscle. He just hasn’t filled out as much.
He wears a white tank top, low slung jeans that expose the top two inches of his black boxers, and a silver chain around his neck.
He’s gorgeous. All three of them are. And one look around the cafeteria shows me that these three are the cream of the crop. All of the girls stare at them with lust and hunger on their faces.
Can they be any more obvious?
The other Hispanic guy glances at me as I follow behind Roman, a question in his stare, but Roman doesn’t seem inclined to answer.
“Por qué está ella aquí?”Why is she here?he asks when we finally reach the table.
Roman grunts, not offering a response. Wonderful.
I debate leaving. I can go to the library, have lunch there. Despite Roman dragging me over, the other two guys don’t seem inclined to be all that welcoming, but I decide to introduce myself anyway.
“Me llamo, Alejandra. Allie.” I decide to say in Spanish. I don’t want to be a jerk, but I don’t want him thinking he could use Spanish to talk about me without me realizing what he’s saying, either.
He smirks and a surprised laugh escapes him. “Ooo, I love it when a girl speaks Spanish to me.” I roll my eyes ignoring his attempt at flirting. He waggles his brows and asks. “What’s your story, vanilla?”
Him too? I try not to glower. “It’s Allie. Not vanilla,” I say, working to keep the bite out of my tone. Neither of these guys did anything wrong to me and I don’t want to alienate myself further. But I’m really not on board with the nicknames.
“Whatever you say, vanilla.”Urgh. I just might strangle him.“I’m Emilio.” He points to himself. “That silent fucker is Dom.” He indicates the black guy beside him. Dom nods but doesn’t seem all that interested in introductions. “There a reason you kicking it at our table? No offense, but we don’t like to mix with the fairer sex these days.”
Oh.Oh.“I’m just … I mean … No judgments here.” I raise my hands in a placating gesture. “Really. If you’re into other guys or each other—”
“We’re not gay.” Dom deadpans.
My cheeks heat. They’re not? “Umm…”
I have no idea what to say.
Dom sighs and shifts to face me. “What Emilio meant to say— “ he pauses and smacks him upside the head.
“Hey!”
Dom scowls at Emilio and continues, “…is that it’s our senior year. We don’t have time for chicks. We’re focused on football. Only football. So, if you’re trying to get with Ro— ”
“I’m not. Oh, my god, I’m really not.” My cheeks are flaming by this point but I don’t want anyone here getting the wrong idea. “I’m his punishment. That is literally the only reason I’m here right now. Something about him having to show me around this week to avoid detention.”
Emilio whistles. “No shit?” He eyes me up and down like I’m a piece of meat before turning to Roman with a wide grin on his face. “How’d you manage to get a hot piece of ass as punishment?” He says it like a joke but there’s a certain level of concern in the question.
“It’s not a big deal. Just Mrs. Jennings being Mrs. Jennings.”
Both guys groan. I ignore what’s said next and decide to check my cell.
I pull out my phone. It was buzzing on and off during first and second period but I didn’t want to risk looking at it and having it confiscated. I don’t know how strict the teachers are here.
I scroll through my text messages. I have three from my ex, Ryker.
Ryker: Baby, I know we broke up but I miss you.
Ryker: Let’s make plans soon to meet up.
Ryker: I miss your kiss. The way you taste…
Gross.The last includes a photograph. A dick pic. Wonderful. What an asshole. He broke up with me. The day my mom died. Who does that? And he cheated on me. With my only female friend. And none of these texts are an apology for that. Not that I’d forgive him even if they were. Instead he treats me like some booty call as if I asked for a stupid picture of his pencil dick.
I delete his messages, not bothering to respond and move on to the other two waiting for me.
