Chapter 5
It took me a moment to realize I was crying – not the loud, sobbing kind, but the quiet pathetic kind, with a lot of tears and sniffling. I stood there for the longest time, staring at his empty parking spot.
He'd left. He'd actually left. And with those other girls, too.
I was so lost in my own wretchedness that it took me a moment to realize that someone was talking to me. Startled out of my trance, I whirled around to look.
It was the same guy as before. He said, "Man, you took it hard."
I gave a confused shake of my head. "What?"
"I mean, I've seen girls disappointed before, but you're the first one to cry about it."
I swiped at my damp eyes. "I'm not crying."
"Uh-huh. If you say so."
"Well, I'm not crying anymore. I just, uh, stubbed my toe."
I stubbed my toe?Seriously, couldn’t I do any better than that? Still, it wasn'tquitea lie. Ihadstubbed my toe, but that was three days ago, and I hadn't cried about it.
The guy gave me a wolfish grin. "Want me to kiss it and make it better?"
I drew back. "No."
"Good thing." He shrugged. "I'm not a foot person, if you know what I mean."
Ididn'tknow. And I didn't want to know. I glanced around. It suddenly struck me that I was outside in a crappy part of town, alone with a stranger, after midnight.
On the other side of the building, the hum of voices and cars had grown eerily silent. Just as I noticed this, the big overhead lights flickered off, making everything go suddenly dark.
Well, that wasn't ominous or anything.
I bit my lip. Where was everyone? Gone? Already? The way it looked, I'd been standing out here longer than I realized.
At something in my expression, the guy said, "Yeah, no shit."
"What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean." He flicked his chin toward the other the parking lot. "You got a car over there? C'mon, I'll walk you over."
I hesitated. I'd be an idiot to trust him. But I'd be an even bigger idiot to keep standing out here by myself.
So reluctantly, I moved forward, keeping what I hoped was a safe distance between me and the stranger. Following my lead, he turned and began walking alongside me toward the other parking lot.
We were halfway to my car when he said, "Ten bucks he'll be back."
I reached up to rub at my still-damp eyes. They felt warm and swollen, like I'd been crying for hours. Lost in thought, I mumbled, "What?"
"Joel," he said. "Ten bucks he ditches them and circles back."
It was a nice story, but I didn't believe it for one minute. I kept on walking. "Whywouldhe?"
"My guess? To findyou."
I gave a bitter scoff. "Yeah, sure." There was no way on Earth that I'd be taking such a bet. Not only did it seem incredibly far-fetched, I didn't evenhaveten dollars.
"Alright, how about this?" the guy said, "I'll give you two-to-one odds. Your ten to my twenty."
