Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 129986 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129986 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
My heart stalls. “Oh. Um…” I clear my throat. “I don’t really… I don’t really have people over.”
His eyebrows rise and he indicates us, right now, in my bed.
“You came in through the window and are only in my room. You’ll probably think I’m crazy, but as soon as I get home from school or work, I go straight to the shower. I’m extremely careful. I don’t even want to risk bringing germs in on the clothes I’ve worn out in the world all day.”
“All right, so I’ll bring a spare change of clothes. We can shower together,” he teases.
I grin. “We are not showering together.”
“Fine, I’ll shower alone and think about you. It’s not a big deal. I can do your little cleanliness routine, then I can help you make dinner.”
“That would be really nice.”
“It’s settled, then.”
I stay under the covers as he pushes his back and climbs off the bed. My gaze travels, pausing so I can admire his muscular back and perfectly rounded butt.
Just looking at him, I get another hit of yearning like I had last night, but there’s no time for that now. As much as I’d love to stay in this bubble with him, I have to get ready for school, and he needs to get out of here.
While he gets dressed, I slip my pajamas back on and creep out of my bedroom to see if Mom is awake.
She’s not in the living room, so when I see the coast is clear, I go to retrieve Dare, hauling him down the hall and practically pushing him out the door.
He laughs at my paranoia about getting caught, but clearly our parental situations are not the same. Maybe his dad wouldn’t care if he got caught sneaking a girl out of the house early in the morning, but my mom definitely would.
He gives me a kiss before he goes, and I lean in the open doorway, watching him walk to his car.
I hate to see him go.
I wish last night would have lasted forever.
It may not have been deeply reassuring, but this morning was.
I’m afraid that going to school today could ruin all of it.
I tell myself only an illusion can be ruined by reality, so I shouldn’t be afraid.
But I am.
Illusion or not, I like what I have with him. I like how he makes me feel, and I love how I made him feel last night.
I don’t want to risk reality shining a light on us and blowing it all away.
I don’t want to see him with her.
I swallow, giving him a little wave as he backs out of my driveway, then takes off down the road.
I tell myself he’ll be back later this evening. We made plans. He’ll help me cook and meet my mom. Everything will be fine.
I just wish it felt more like the truth.
Chapter twenty-five
Aubrey
Because last night went the way it did, I think I underprepared for my first day back at school.
People smirking in the halls, knowing they saw that picture of me? Sucks.
Some openly calling me a skank and a whore as I walk past? Not great.
When I open my locker and a whole ream of paper with the screenshot of her video (including the “pathetic”) showing my picture spill out into the hall and cause everyone in the vicinity to stare?
Zero out of ten, do not fucking recommend.
I tell myself to shake it off and pick the papers up as quickly as I can, but they’ve spilled everywhere. They’re covering the ground in front of the lockers. People are stepping on them as they walk past. Some guy stops and grabs one, then keeps walking.
“Hey, give that back,” I call after him as I hurry to pick up the others before anyone else grabs one.
“Suck a dick,” he answers. Then, turning around and smirking, he says, “Oh, wait, you’re already sucking Dare’s, aren’t you?”
His friend laughs, he smirks more maliciously, and they turn and disappear down the hall with my picture.
Assholes.
I’m late to homeroom by the time I get every last stray paper out of the hallway. Seats are assigned in this class, so we always sit at the same one.
When I hurry in, a couple minutes late, and get to mine, I find another copy of that screenshot picture taped down on top of my desk, and next it is a printout of the haiku I deleted from the comments on my post.
Face burning, I tear them off and sit down while the teacher gives me the evil eye for coming in late and being so distracting.
By the time I get to English class, I’m so tired of having that picture thrown in my face and insults hurled at me, I just want to leave.
Especially because this is the class I have with Dare.
He hasn’t realized I’m in this class yet. He’s already seated in his usual seat with his friends around him by the time I get there. The guy who stole my picture in the hall is one of them, and he’s sitting right next to Dare.