What the hell?
I mean, okay, we’re not really together. But we are exclusive, aren’t we? Isn’t that the deal? I swear that’s the deal. It’s my deal, anyway. We agreed that a relationship would never work between us, but that doesn’t mean I want to be one of the many busty blonde girls warming his bed.
Oh. My. God. They probably have sex in a real bed.
He probably doesn’t have to sneak around to be with Rapunzel over there. He’s not even sneaking right now! I am less than ten feet away and he hasn’t even noticed.
The stress I’ve been under means my emotions are always near the surface, just waiting to bubble over. Tears threaten as I stand and gather my things, shoving them into my bag with clumsy fingers. I’ll sort it all out later. Right now, I just need to get out of here before I confront him.
Or throw up.
Because it really could go either way.
CHAPTER 25
JT
With a few clicks,I’ve finished the multiple intelligences inventory that our Psych professor assigned. Fallon had hers done already, no surprise there. I thought Booker was the hardest-working person on campus, but his sister has him beat.
As a freshman, Fallon is also fulfilling her gen eds and we ended up in the same Psych class. We gravitated toward each other because hockey is an equalizer like that, even if you’re a player’s sister and not actually on the team. We sit together and partner up because we know we’re both reliable, but there’s more to it.
I have four years of ASL under my belt. As a fourteen-year-old kid, I put it on my schedule because it sounded way easier than French or Spanish, but I kept taking it because it’s a really useful skill. If I ever do have to hang up my skates and pursue a career as a physical therapist, knowing ASL will be just as handy as knowing any other language.
Fallon likes working with me and tolerates my general grumpiness because we can communicate easily. She doesn’t have to read my lips or type everything into her phone just to have a conversation with me.
We’ve become friends, for sure, which is cool, especially because it drives Ollie up the damn wall. He’s been crushing on her since he saw her at a game his freshman year, but Fallon won’t give him the time of day. Watching them go at it is one of my favorite pastimes.
I hit the Submit button and turn back to Fallon. “What’s next?” I sign. “Do you want to go over notes for the test next week or start the research project?”
Fallon taps her chin dramatically before signing back. “Research project. If we submit our proposal early enough, maybe we’ll get our first choice.”
I nod because she’s right. “You got something in mind already?” I sign.
“Oh, yeah. I want to do a comparison between Freud and Westermarck.”
“Have you been reading ahead?” I sign.
“Nope. But I’ve been fascinated by incest taboos since I read Oedipus in high school. He’s my favorite literary character,” she signs back.
“Are you fucking with me right now?” I sign back, laughing.
“No. He’s great. The original motherfucker.”
Her joke lands and I laugh out loud, momentarily forgetting I’m in a library. Fallon is the queen of dad jokes, and she does not share her brother’s aversion to swearing.
She elbows me and I’m wondering what the hell she’s going to come up with next. But instead of telling a joke, she points over her shoulder and signs, “Do you know her?”
I turn to look in the direction she’s pointing, but all I see is the back of a blonde woman as she hauls ass out of the room.
Luckily, I’m familiar with the sight of Maggie running away from me, so the pieces fall into place pretty quickly.
I start to sign that I need to leave just as Fallon shakes her head and shoos me off, but not before signing that this girl must be the reason I’ve been in such a good mood lately.
She’s right on both counts. I need to get to Maggie, and she is the reason I’ve been a goddamn delight lately.
It takes me longer than it should to catch up to the little blonde bombshell who’s turned my world upside down in the best way possible. . Her legs are a lot shorter than mine, but she’s dodgy, and her steps are fueled by anger and embarrassment, no doubt.
Fallon and I are just study buddies. That’s all we are and all we looked like to anyone in that room.
