***
The next day in first period, I sat taking notes about linear approximations when I got a text from K.C. Covertly sliding the screen to bring up the message, I completely lost my attention to Calculus.
Jared texted me last night.
I swallowed hard. Before I had a chance to respond, she’d sent another message.
He wanted to make sure I was o.k. See? He’s not all bad.
What the hell did he want with her? K.C. was pretty. Definitely. She was also my best friend, and that had to factor in somewhere with him.
I texted back: He’s up to something!
Maybe, maybe not. was her response.
That was the last I heard from K.C. until lunch. Physics, P.E. and French passed in a blur as I fought the urge to text her again.
“Hey,” she said as we met in line to grab our lunch.
“Hey, so talk to me.”
“Well, like I said, he texted to see how I was doing, and we exchanged a few more texts after that. I just thought it was nice that he checked up on me.”
She thought he was nice? We exited the line after paying and made our way outside, while I tried to sift through how the hell K.C. went from agreeing with that Jared was a dick to thinking he was “nice.”
“Well?” I was trying hard to seem like I didn’t care. “What could you two have talked about after that?”
“Oh, not much…other than you cut the electricity to his house?!” She laughed it off, but I could tell she wasn’t as amused as I thought she’d be. Maybe she was pissed that I didn’t tell her myself.
“Um, yeah.” I was fighting for words. Jared complained about me to her? “The a**hole’s party was too loud, so I shut it down.” I cleared my throat. It didn’t sound as good saying it out loud.
We took our seats at a picnic table and began digging into our food. She stayed quiet, but I caught her glancing at me between bites.
“What?” I asked, annoyed. “You told me to play the game, remember?”
“Did you at least ask him to turn it down first?”
“No.” It came out more like a squeaky question. “Well, yes. On a different occasion I did.” It started to feel like I was on trial.
“And how’d that turn out?” She paused, water bottle in hand.
“Well, he wasn’t cooperating. So…I incited a panic and yelled ‘cops.’ People kind of left after that.” I tipped my head back and gulped some water to keep from meeting her eyes. I was still proud of that night, but K.C. clearly didn’t find it funny.
Instead, she rolled her eyes. “Tate, when I said to play his game I meant—”
“You meant play his game!” I blurted out. “You didn’t say to kill him with kindness. You’re defending him?” What had happened here? It was like I was in the Twilight Zone, and K.C. had been body-snatched.
“All I’m saying is that Jared has talked to you.” Her voice was calm, the opposite of mine. “That’s it. You look like the bully now. You’ve broken up two of his parties, broken his friend’s nose, and kneed that same friend in the balls.”
Great! Fucking great! He’s coming off looking like the victim?
“He’s not telling the whole story,” I sputtered. “He broke into the girls’ locker room while I was getting dressed.”
K.C. frowned, looking confused. “He just talked to you, though, right? He didn’t touch you?” Thankfully, she showed some concern for me, finally. I was ready to rip her head off.
“Well, he didn’t attack me, of course,” I snapped defensively. For a moment, I considered telling her that he’d broken into my house, but that would just send her back to him with questions that he’d answer…his way.
“He has issues,” K.C. conceded, “but I told you, there’s something going on between you two that you haven’t dealt with. I’m just not convinced that he’s such a bad guy after all.”
Sweat beaded my brow, and I took a deep breath. “K.C., Jared is bad news. You know this. I mean really, he’s a jerk, and I don’t want you making excuses for him. He’s not worth it.”
She shrugged, probably not wanting to argue but definitely not wanting to give in. The discussion was over, and for the first time, I wanted to throttle my best friend. My only friend, pretty much.
“So, have you talked to Liam at all since Saturday night?” I changed the subject before ripping a bite out of my chicken sandwich.
“No, and I couldn’t care less,” she snipped and concentrated on her phone.
“Uh huh,” I muttered, not convinced. Liam and K.C. had been together longer than any other couple I knew. I had a difficult time wrapping my head around the idea that K.C. didn’t care about his betrayal and losing him. If I were her, I probably wouldn’t be able to forgive him, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t hurt.
“Hey, Tate. How are you?” Ben Jamison plopped down on the bench next to me, looking as good as always. We had zilch in common, but he was cute and made me laugh.
“Hi. I’m good. You?” I had spoken to Ben a few times lately. He seemed not to notice the rumor about Jared and me in the locker room.
“I’m good…” He strung out the “good” like he was nervous and looking for what to say next. “There’s this Mexican restaurant, Los Aztecas, that opened up while you were away, and I was wondering if you’d let me apologize for being a dick and not asking you out a lot sooner by taking you to dinner this week?” He raised his eyebrows and waited.
A surprised laugh jumped out of my throat. Well, he was refreshingly honest.
“Um, well…” I searched for words. “How do I know you won’t be a dick on our date?” I challenged him. K.C. giggled beside me.
Ben’s eyes smiled, and he bit his bottom lip, clearly turning over something in his head. He took out a piece of paper from his notebook and started writing. After about a minute, he handed the paper to me and walked off. Looking over his shoulder just once and offering a winning smile, he turned and disappeared into the cafeteria.
“What does it say?!” K.C. peered down at the note in my hand before taking a bite of her chicken wrap.
Opening it up, I immediately smiled. He had written a contract.
To Whom It May Concern,
I promise to take Tatum Brandt to dinner. She is pretty, smart, and lovely. I should consider myself lucky if she says yes.
If I act like a dick, then I am a stupid, brainless a**hole. All who see this note have my permission to retaliate in any way necessary.
The Most Attractive, Humorous, Wealthy Superhero in School,
Ben Jamison
I passed the note to K.C. and watched as she tried not to spit out food during her laughter. Not three seconds later I got a text.
Tonight, pick u up at 7?
He wasn’t giving me much time to think about it, was he? I had been using my dad’s car since returning, so I texted him back and told him I would meet him there. I’d rather have the option to leave when I wanted.
Sounds good! he shot back right away.
I couldn’t keep the smile off my face, and K.C. was looking at me curiously.
“Well?” she asked with her mouth full.
“He’s taking me to dinner tonight.” Even though I was excited to be on an actual date, my tone was cavalier. Ben seemed like nice guy, but I noticed that my heart didn’t beat faster when he was around. Wasn’t it supposed to? “I’m meeting him at seven.”
There had been a few dates while I studied abroad, but none of them turned out to be more than friends. Ben and I had different interests, but it wasn’t like guys had been pounding down my door lately. I could go on one date with him. Hey, maybe he’d surprise me.
“That’s awesome. Call me tonight after you get home. I want to hear how it goes,” K.C. probably knew I was still apprehensive about the attention I’d been getting. After so long of not trusting people and being ignored outside of my small circle, my head fogged at the idea of one of the best looking guys in my class asking me out.
Paranoid! I chastised myself.
After the latest rumor, things seemed to have calmed down, though. Apparently, Mr. Fitzpatrick, the Drama teacher, was caught in a rendezvous with senior Chelsea Berger, so I was old news…for now.
Chapter 13
Dinner with Ben started off with him clearing the air, so to speak.
“I never believed that crap about you, Tate. I’ll admit, I was one of the ones to laugh at first, but after a while all I had to do was look at you or see how you acted in class to know that something wasn’t adding up.” He took a sip of soda and added, “Plus, you look too clean to have lice.”
I shook my head and smiled at those stupid rumors. “Well, you’d be one of the few to think differently of me, then. But be honest. It was the picture of me in my towel that got you, wasn’t it?”
Ben nearly choked on his chip as he laughed. Blowing off all the shit of the past few years seemed like the best idea right now. Jared was drama. K.C. was drama. I wanted Ben to be easy. I just wanted to have fun tonight.
We ate enchiladas, and he joked that if they made a Mexican-Sushi restaurant, he would never eat anywhere else again. Even though I wasn’t a fan of sushi, I snorted at the hilarious concept.
“So why did you ask me out?” I dipped one of the remaining chips from our meal in the salsa and took a bite.
“Honestly? I’ve been wanting to for a long time. I never had the guts, though. You’re kind of on my bucket list.”
I wasn’t sure whether that was a compliment or an insult. “How do you mean?” This date might be ending sooner rather than later.
“You know, one of those ‘I-simply-must-do-this-before-I-die’ type lists? I needed to get to know you better. I was always interested. Then, when you came back from Europe, and I saw you the first day of school, I just couldn’t get you out of my head.”
I narrowed my eyes, listening to him. I’d kept my head down for most of high school, not knowing that Ben had a crush. I couldn’t help but think how different school would have been if Jared had never turned on me?
“So you’ve been scared away by rumors all these years? What a coward.” I chastised sarcastically. What surprised me was that the barb came out of my lips so easily. I wasn’t nervous around him, and my shoulders relaxed. It nipped at the back of my mind that it also meant that I didn’t care what he thought either.
He leaned in, his full lips turned up. “Well, I hope I’m remedying that tonight.”
“So far, so good.”
We left the restaurant and laughed as we walked around downtown, talking about plans for college. On the way back to our cars, I sucked in a breath as he leaned in to kiss me. Surprisingly, his lips were soft and gentle, and his warmth willed me to lean into him. I placed my hands on his chest as he wrapped his arms around me, and he didn’t try to force his tongue into my mouth. It was safe …comfortable.
Definitely not what it should be.
I hadn’t experienced any of the thrill K.C. talked about when being close to a guy you’re attracted to. Definitely not the kind of excitement I read about in the books about high school girls and fallen angels. And not the kind of pulsing heat I feel when I’m around….no, no!