Total pages in book: 42
Estimated words: 39136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 196(@200wpm)___ 157(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39136 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 196(@200wpm)___ 157(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
“Wanna meet Jaz and Tanya at Neon tonight?” I asked around the last bite of my crust.
“You should totally go.” He frowned. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to invite me.”
I stopped chewing, my stomach twisting. What the hell?
“Elliot, this is what we do. We hang out together. Don’t we?”
“Yeah, sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Guess I’m still feeling salty about bombing my pharmacology test.” He stole a glance at his laptop, and I winced, remembering his text from yesterday after class. He’d gotten a lower score than expected, and I knew he was bummed about it. “I’ll never get your kind of grades, Mr. Perfect Score.”
“I don’t get perfect scores,” I flung back but then decided to tone it down since he was likely only blowing off steam. He wanted so badly to get into the PT program, he didn’t cut himself much slack. It was like he’d found a replacement for his obsession with baseball, which I supposed wasn’t such a bad thing since it had to do with his future. Or maybe he felt like he had something to prove since he’d always been pretty chill about grades.
“You know what I mean.” He sighed. “I always have to study harder, and this time I thought I did.”
“I’m sorry. How about next time, I quiz you the night before?”
“Sounds good.” He stood to stack our plates and take them to the sink. “So yeah, I could probably use a night out.”
I smiled. “It’ll be fun.”
We both got busy with other things, and then Elliot phoned his mom. I heard him ask if she thought his suit from graduation would still fit him. I sighed in relief that he was still planning on attending the wedding with me. Not that I thought he’d ditched me, but it was that whole off-kilter thing I was feeling around him.
We got changed to go out, and I asked his opinion on my outfit, something I was always self-conscious about. It was hard to find bottoms that didn’t display my leg braces too prominently. I had to be on the hunt for just the right width of jeans to fit over them. Not that I was embarrassed by them, they were part of me, but I’d always hated being in the spotlight, and calling any attention to myself was not my thing—outside of a guy wanting to hook up, of course. Otherwise, I’d rather blend into the background.
I also didn’t feel like explaining myself to anyone unless I had to, for obvious reasons. Christ, at this point, I would welcome a blowy in the restroom.
Despite our usual routine and conversation, it was still quieter between us on the way there, and I wished we could take it all back and return to normal—whatever that was.
Thankfully, I spotted Jasmine and Tanya right away. They were heading toward the bar with Brady and Kellan, who had their fingers knotted together, and I felt this strange ball of jealousy form in my gut, maybe because they looked so in love and I hoped to have that someday.
“So glad you made it,” Jasmine said, and we ordered drinks and talked for a bit, which was hard over the pounding music. Elliot was still being strangely quiet, not even joking around and saying stupid shit, so I nudged his shoulder and told him to snap out of it.
“I’m allowed to have an off night,” he said in my ear, and I felt guilty.
“You’re right. I just don’t like when you’re sad.” I reached over, took his hand, and tangled our fingers together.
“I’m not sad,” he said, pulling at my arm. “Let’s dance. That’ll put me in a better mood.”
I motioned to our friends, and they followed us through the crowd to dance—well, I just shuffled my feet—and it did wonders for his mood. Guess all it took was getting his adrenaline pumping.
After a couple of songs, my feet started aching, so I took a break. I leaned against a free spot on the wall and watched my friends having fun. When a guy approached, I was taken aback, the idea of hooking up somehow forgotten. He was cute and asking casual questions, and hey, maybe this was how I was going to finally get laid.
Heads bent to hear each other, I kept chatting with him, and when I glanced over my shoulder to my friends, I saw Elliot dancing with a gorgeous guy who had his hand on Elliot’s hip. We’d always given each other signals if we needed help or an out, but this time he seemed into the guy, and I breathed a sigh of relief while at the same time my stomach twisted strangely.
The truth was, I’d looked at Elliot differently since that night I’d walked in on him with his hookup. Maybe because we’d come close to sharing the same guy. Would Elliot have touched me during it? Would I have tried to touch him? And why did the idea of it turn me the hell on? And now watching him being all sexy with this guy on the dance floor was wreaking havoc on my brain.