Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 112951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 565(@200wpm)___ 452(@250wpm)___ 377(@300wpm)
“Yeah.” Becca moved aside as her friend jerked into my emptied stall. “Linde’s up by the bar, and Shay just came in.” She snorted, moving to the sink beside me and reaching up to smooth some of her own hair. One imaginary strand might’ve not been in place. The perfection would’ve been marred. Wait. She moved the one strand, and whew. I felt the relief flooding out of me.
Perfect, once again.
That’d been close.
“I hear you’re a celebrity.”
“Huh?”
“The video.” She sipped her drink, waiting for her friend to come out. The other stall was occupied. The person had been in there when I came in and still was. “Where you grabbed a guy’s dick and not in the porno way.”
“Oh, yeah. Dick Crusher.”
“What?”
“Nothing.” I frowned. “Linde and Shay are here?”
She nodded, raking me up and down as she took another sip. “Speaking of the rest of the upperclassmen, what are you doing here? How’d you get in?”
To incriminate my brother or not? I was feeling light and tipsy. Incriminate, it was. “My brother brought me here to eat.” I shrugged. “We stayed.”
Her eyes sharpened. “Your brother?”
“Gage.” I wasn’t going to spell it out. The girl had to think a little. If she figured it out, oh, well. If not, kudos for me.
I couldn’t remember if I washed my hands. I better do them again.
Becca was quiet. I could feel her watching me, but her friend shoved open the bathroom stall. She came out, swaying as she zipped up her pants. “Your brother is Gage Clarke?”
“Ew, Lia. Flush the toilet.”
“Oh.” She did and came back. The same excitement hadn’t waned. Her eyes were bright and her face flushed. “Gage Clarke. Right?”
Becca didn’t move into the stall. She stood by her friend as both stared at me.
I shrugged. “Aren’t you going to wash your hands?”
“Gage Clarke is your brother?”
Neither moved.
I answered Becca, “I just told you that.”
“Why didn’t you say something in the beginning?”
“Why would I?”
Her mouth opened and hung there.
Her friend translated, “Because Gage Clarke is hot!”
“Oh.” I rolled my eyes, wishing I had brought my own drink. “See. This. You. You’re why I don’t say anything, because now you’re going to be all nice to me, and I know it’s fake.”
“It’s fake?”
“You’re being fake. My brother will either sleep with you or he won’t.” I pounded my chest and fell backward into the sink. “I have no bearing on that. At all.” I almost fell the other way, but caught myself. I pointed to Becca’s beer. “Are you going to drink that? Have you backwashed into it?”
“What?”
The friend snagged it from her and handed it over. “My name is Lia. When you talk to him, tell him how nice I am.” She pointed to Becca. “She’s a bitch, but not me. I was nice. Tell him.”
“I’m not going to remember your name.” I already forgot.
“Lia.”
“What?”
“LIA!”
“I’m not going to remember.” I leaned away from the sink to look at Becca, even though I could see her fine from where I was standing. “Your friend has a thing for my brother?”
She snorted, going into the stall. Finally. “Half the campus has a thing for your brother.” She grabbed ahold of the stall door on the top and pulled it shut with a firm and decisive click. The friend leaned forward, beaming at me. “Lia. My name’s Lia.”
I didn’t care. I’d take the bitch title here. Bitch and Dick Crusher. There should be T-shirts made.
I turned to leave.
The friend said something again to me, and Becca yelled something out, but I wasn’t listening to them. I lifted a hand over my shoulder, dismissing both, and left.
I took a few steps, but I felt it almost right away.
The air in the bar had changed.
People were more on edge. I frowned. I couldn’t place it. Maybe they were more . . . there was an eagerness mixed with a slight edge of hysteria at the same time. I was intoxicated. If I could sense this when I was blasted, it must’ve been really bad.
I marched over to my booth. Gage’s friends were still there, and a new guy had squished in to where I’d been sitting.
“Hey!” A cheer rose from them. “It’s Dick Crusher.”
I teetered on my feet, holding on to the table. “What’s going on?”
Two of them started to stand, saying, “You can take my spot.”
“No, no.” I waved them back. I needed to sober up. That meant not sitting and drinking more. “I’m good. Stay comfortable. I meant around the bar.” I motioned around. “I can feel something’s weird.”
“Oh.” One girl understood. “Shay Coleman came in.”
That was right. It all made sense now.
I swung my head around. “Where’s he at?”
This was as good of a time as any to apologize. I could do it in the bar, and I could slip away. It’d be a drive-by apology. He’d never know what hit him, and tomorrow, I could go back to being normal. I wouldn’t have to be nice.