Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 104501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 523(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 523(@200wpm)___ 418(@250wpm)___ 348(@300wpm)
“We know.” Claudia cut her off. “I’m not giving you shit. I hope you’ll be as forgiving with me if I ever mess up like that.”
Avery frowned. “Thanks, Claudia. I appreciate that.”
Claudia snapped her fingers and pointed at Avery. “That’s what friends are for.”
Kevin smirked. “Forgiveness.”
Claudia shrugged, sending him a sly smile. “Appreciation.”
“AH! No. Right there.”
Claudia’s head snapped around to the other girl on the couch. She’d been quiet almost the entire time, so I kept forgetting her name, but pointed at Claudia now. “You were flirting with him. Stop flirting.”
“I was not.”
Avery looked at everyone. “What? I missed it.”
“She was totally flirting. I saw that little smile you sent him. All seductive-like.”
“I wasn’t.” Claudia said to Kevin, “I wasn’t flirting. Tell her.”
Kevin didn’t say anything, looking to me instead.
Well, crappers. I knew where this was going. Claudia scared me.
He raised an eyebrow. “Were you watching?”
Claudia turned to me, waiting too.
I groaned, covering my face with my hands. “Don’t put me in the middle of this.”
“I wasn’t flirting!”
Kevin snorted. “Right.”
“I wasn’t.”
The quiet friend threw her hands in the air. “Even the guy is admitting to it. ’Fess up, Claudia. It’s okay if you admit it.”
“That’s all bullshit.” Claudia’s shoulders stiffened. “Kevin, you know I didn’t mean anything by that.”
He leaned back and spread his legs out. “Uh, pretty sure that same smile was why we hooked up in the first place.”
Everyone went still after that, and I heard Avery mutter under her breath, “Oh, no.”
“Wait.” Their first friend snapped to attention as she looked from Kevin to Claudia and back again. “You two hooked up?”
Kevin shot Claudia a look. “That wasn’t known?”
“Nope.” She made a grumbling sound in her throat. “Thanks for that.”
“Oops.” He sent me an apologetic look. “Did you know?”
“I—” was so fucking busted. I felt Avery’s attention at the same time Claudia looked at me. I had one second to cover my ass, and Avery’s. I feigned surprise and shook my head. “I shouldn’t be surprised, but I had no idea.”
Avery muttered next to me, “Seriously?”
Claudia snorted. “Don’t ever do theatre, Summer. You suck at it.” She gave Avery a scorching look before heading to the door. “Thanks for sharing that private information, which I told you not to tell anyone.”
Avery jumped to her feet. “You didn’t like her in the beginning. I thought it would help smooth the way.”
“It did.” Claudia yanked my door open. “It smoothed the way for me to not hang out with you again.” She left, letting the door slam shut behind her.
Kevin smiled, looking relaxed and cheerful. “I just had an epiphany.”
“What?” the second friend asked.
“This is why I like girls so much. You guys are way more entertaining than guys.”
“What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “Guys are all about sports, sex, or beer. Girls are about everything else. That kind of dramatic exit would never happen with guys. If it did, there’d be a beat down involved, but nothing like this. No wonder I date so much. I gravitate more toward girls in general. I’m a straight guy, with this face.” He gestured to himself. “No wonder I have girlfriends all the time.”
He stood, smoothing out his jeans and shirt. “Thank you, Summer. I’d been thinking I was messed up, but I’m not. I just like girls, a lot.”
“So are you coming this weekend?” The question came from Avery.
“Nah.” Kevin glanced at me. “I think it’d just cause problems for this one.” He bent and collected his bag, putting his notebooks and textbooks back into it. “You take off tomorrow, don’t you?”
I nodded.
He threw his bag over his shoulder. “Let’s catch up when you come back. I want to hear how it went.”
Avery groaned, collapsing on the bed. “Claudia is going to be so pissed at me.”
The first friend laughed. “She already is.”
Avery gave her a dark look. “I mean for a long time. She’s going to be pissed for a loooong time. What am I going to do?”
“She’ll get over it. Claudia’s just mad because now we all know she should’ve been honest with us in the first place.”
The second friend chimed in. “Yeah. Shell had no idea about Claudia’s past with Kevin. She should’ve been upfront about it, unless it happened afterward. If that happened…” She fell silent as her eyes widened. “Shit.”
The first friend shared a look with her. “Claudia broke the girl code.”
“Now, we don’t know—” Avery paled. “She didn’t know Shell that well when it happened.”
The first friend frowned in fierce disapproval. “Shit’s going to hit the fan when Shell finds out. You don’t have to worry about Claudia. She’s going to be clamoring for your support in no time. She’s got some damn explaining to do.”
The two left, leaving Avery behind, and a tear fell down her cheek. “They’re wrong. Claudia will just leave the group. What do I do, Summer?”