The Way to Game the Walk of Shame (16 page)

“Okay.” Taylor got out of the car, careful to close her door gently instead of slamming it like she usually did. “Text me later.”

“I will.”

As I drove away, I glanced down at the petal she left behind in my ashtray. I half wished that I
had
asked her to go with me. Even though I was pretty sure she wouldn’t, since she had a quiz in history later, she might have skipped if she’d known how much I needed it. How I didn’t want to be alone right now.

But my pride kept me from turning around.

*   *   *

By the time lunch rolled around, I was back at school and almost back to normal. I didn’t talk to Mom. She hadn’t picked up any of my calls, and I sure as hell wasn’t desperate enough to call Brandon.

And I was fine. There wasn’t anything I could do, even if I wasn’t. What was I supposed to do? Sit at home and pout and cry like a sissy until Mom came home?

Instead, I concentrated on my surprise for Taylor. Since I had already dropped the ball and forgot about her flowers this morning, I figured I could get lunch for her at least. And as usual, my brilliance stepped up. Along with Aaron. He even cut fourth period to help me set up the surprise. Although that was probably more because he wanted to avoid our Spanish test than out of best-friend duty.

I’d never done anything like this for a girl before, but it was kind of fun trying to figure out a way to surprise her.

As I leaned against the cafeteria doorway to wait for Taylor, a group of junior girls giggled when they passed me. I gave them a wink out of habit, and one of them blushed. It was nice to see that I still had it.

Finally, Taylor appeared with Carly and Brian. Their arms were all loaded down with art supplies and sketchpads. “’Bout time you showed up.”

“’Bout time you got to school,” she quipped in response. She looked relieved for a moment until an irritated expression crossed her face. Scowling, she nodded toward my fans, who scattered into the cafeteria at the sight of her. “Friends of yours?”

“You could say that. Jealous?”

“Ha! You wish.”

Despite her snort, I could see the pink-stained cheeks that she tried to hide. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and leaned in to whisper in her ear. “Don’t worry, I still remember the rules of our agreement. No screwing around, remember?” I glanced over her shoulder at Brian, who was pretending not to watch us. “Or is it you who needs the reminder?”

Taylor rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Come on, I’m starving.”

My arm shot out to stop her when she started to go in. “Actually, I was thinking we could eat outside.” I shot a look at the other two. “Alone. Sorry, guys.”

Brian opened his mouth, but Carly just pushed him aside and smiled brightly. “Of course. It
is
Valentine’s Day.” She juggled her stuff in the crook of one arm and took everything from Taylor. “You guys go ahead.”

I cocked my head toward her. “I always knew I liked you, Carly.”

“That’s because I’m so understanding.” She let out a dramatic sigh and flipped her dark hair over her shoulder. “It’s both a blessing and a curse.”

Brian rolled his eyes and scowled. “Whatever. Come on, I’m starving.”

Taylor waited until they left before turning back to me. Her left brow arched up. “So why are we eating outside?”

I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and steered her down the hall. “Because it’s nice.”

“It’s pouring.”

“I didn’t say the
weather
was nice. I just said eating outside was nice,” I said, quickening my step. “Come on.”

“That makes no sense.” Taylor shook her head and hitched her backpack higher on her shoulders. “What is it with you and nature?”

“You’ll see.”

“Gee, you’re being so mysterious and—oh!” Her jaw dropped, and she stopped in her tracks.

A long piece of clear tarp was draped from branch to branch of the trees outside. And beneath it, right in the center, was the long picnic table that Aaron and I had dragged over from the other end of the yard. It looked like a large tent in the middle of the yard. A large pizza box, along with paper plates and napkins, was right in the middle of the table, weighed down by a large rock I had found. Even the steady stream of rain falling from each corner of the tarp made the little shelter look more intimate and romantic.

I had to admit, I was pretty proud of myself. Yep, I couldn’t do better if I tried.

Damn, I was good.

Ushering her forward, I used my hands to shield the top of her head from the rain. “Come on.” I didn’t know how long the tarp was going to hold, so we had to make it quick.

Taylor didn’t say anything. She just followed me as though still in a daze. Her head whipped back and forth before she sat down. She didn’t even seem to realize that the end of her ponytail was wet.

I opened the pizza box with a flourish and bowed like a waiter at a five-star restaurant. “Voilà! Made especially just for you, madam.”

Her laughter practically filled the yard. She pulled the box toward her, and her eyes shone with tears as she stared inside at the large pizza, piled so high with mushrooms that you could barely see the tomato sauce and cheese. “Exactly how I like it.”

“This is the first-ever mushroom pizza where there’s more mushrooms than bread.” I handed her a plate. “Everyone gave me a weird look when I ordered this. They made me repeat myself three times to make sure I wasn’t joking. One guy even took a picture of it when they were done.”

“But this is totally worth it.” Taylor bit into her slice, and bits of mushrooms fell on her plate. She picked up each of them and popped them in her mouth. A look of ecstasy crossed her face. “Yum! It’s like I’ve died and gone to heaven.”

“You have a pretty weird idea of what heaven is like.”

“It’s whatever you want it to be.” She shoved another bite in her mouth. “So for you, it’d be a beach filled with girls and Rudy right in the middle.”

I grinned. She acted like she knew me so well. Although the idea she painted
did
sound pretty good. “You forgot video games.”

“Right, the zombies and aliens.”

For the next few minutes, she was so absorbed in her pizza, it was like she forgot I was even there. I didn’t mind. I just kept watching her as I dug in. And I couldn’t help comparing her to the other girls I’d dated. A lot of them were used to doing what they wanted and played games with me. Like it was a challenge to keep me interested. Which it was. But Taylor … she could be happy with a dandelion or even a few extra pieces of mushrooms. And I never grew bored with her.

Even though I bought a large pizza, Taylor was able to eat almost as much as I did, despite the fact that she was a third of my weight.

She let out a satisfied groan and wiped her mouth with a napkin. “I’m dying, and I still want more.”

“There’s still one slice left.”

“Jeez, don’t tempt me. I’m this close to having you carry me to class.” She held her thumb and her index finger an inch apart.

“We could still do that. I mean, now that our relationship’s old news, we have to do something to spice it up again.” I flexed my arms and grinned. “Even with the pizza, I think I can still handle you.”

Taylor laughed and closed the pizza box. “I thought the point of us being together was to make the gossip die down?”

Was it? Sometimes I forgot why we were pretending in the first place. Being with her was so natural. It was easy and fun. I almost didn’t miss the lack of bed action these days. Almost.

“I have something else for you. Sort of,” I said, changing the subject as I pulled the packet of papers from my book bag and waved them in front of her face.

“More?” She took the papers from me with a confused look. “But these are the applications that I gave to you…”

“Except now they’re filled out.”

Her brown eyes widened with shock, and she fumbled through them. “Wait, what?”

I couldn’t help but grin with pride at her surprise. It was Aaron’s idea. Sort of. I was going to get flowers with the pizza, but he told me to do something that was important to her. And the college applications just popped in my head. Still, I tried to play it off with a shrug. “I had nothing better to do earlier, so I figured why not?”

Her eyes shone with excitement. “This is way better than roses. Even better than jewelry!”

I rolled my eyes and laughed. “You’re really weird, you know that?”

“I prefer the word
special
.” Taylor gave me back the applications with a huge smile. “So you’re going to mail these out, right? Like today? Right after school?”

“Yeah, but that’s it. No promises after that.” I still didn’t know if I wanted to go to college. Hell, maybe Taylor was right and it was already too late. But if it wasn’t … it was kind of nice to have the option. Keep the door open, at least.

She lifted her legs on the bench and leaned back on her palms. “I can’t believe you did all of this for me.”

I shrugged and mimicked her stance on the other bench. “It’s not a big deal. It wasn’t that much trouble.”

Her voice grew so soft that it was hard to hear her over the rain. “No, it i
s
a big deal. It’s a
huge
deal. I—” She broke off and looked away.

“What?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to say thanks.”

There was more that she wasn’t saying, but I wasn’t going to force it out of her. I doubted that I could. Not only because she was a girl, but because sometimes she could be one of the most stubborn girls I’d ever met.

“No problem.” I glanced at my watch and frowned. Damn it. It was already almost time to go. How did the hour pass so quickly? “We should get back. Don’t want to be late for class.”

“Nope, don’t want that.” She laughed to herself.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just think it’s weird to see you worried about class, that’s all.”

It
was
weird. But I wasn’t worried for myself. I was worried for her. I snorted at the irony and tucked the box beneath my arm. “Well, stranger things have happened.”

“You mean, like us getting together?”

“Just about.” We stood on the edge of the shaded tarp and peered out at the rain. “Maybe we should wait for the rain to die down.”

In response, a streak of lighting tore across the sky, and the rain pounded down even harder than before.

She chewed on her lower lip. “We’ll be here forever.”

“Is that so bad?” Without waiting for her answer, I grabbed Taylor’s hand, and we raced across the grass. Our shoes made wet suction noises with each step. Even though we ran as fast as we could, we were both drenched when we got to the door. Taylor didn’t seem to mind, judging by her laughter, which grew louder when I shook my head. Droplets flew at her.

“Evan?”

“Yeah?” My breath got caught in my throat. Her hair glistened with raindrops. Dark strands were plastered to her face. And her cheeks were pale from the cold. I don’t know how I ever thought she was plain. She’d never looked more gorgeous to me.

Taylor grasped the top of my arms, and I froze. I could only watch wordlessly as she lifted on her toes to gently kiss my lips, even though there wasn’t anyone around to watch. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

13

-Evan-

There was a surprise waiting for me onshore after my morning surf that Saturday. Lauren was lounging on a huge beach blanket with a carton of fresh strawberries and a brand-new jar of Nutella. Her long-sleeved cream dress barely skimmed her thighs and was so sheer that I could see her blue bikini underneath. Small, stringy, and fitting in all the right places. And definitely not leaving much to the imagination. She lay on her stomach with her feet kicked up in the air behind her. “Hey, stranger.”

“Hey.” Propping my board on its side, I dropped down beside her with a surprised grin. “Why are you here so early, bearing gifts?”

“I just thought we could hang out and have breakfast.” She bit into a strawberry and licked at the juice that ran down her fingers. “Maybe sweeten you up a bit so you won’t say no.”

I grabbed a strawberry and used the tip to scoop up a huge chunk of the chocolate spread. “Say no about what?”

“About going on a date tonight.” She reached out and swiped a little bit of chocolate off my strawberry with a grin. “I have some concert tickets at the new club downtown. I figured we could have a couple of drinks before heading over there. And then, who knows what happens next.”

It sounded tempting. Really temping. Especially because I knew that Lauren’s idea of “what happens next” would probably have us in bed somewhere. Or in the back of a car.

I whistled low under my breath and turned away, avoiding her gaze. Her offer was so tempting, and god knows it had been so long since I’d had sex that I had practically forgotten how to do it. But I couldn’t do that to Taylor. Fake relationship or not.

I had thought that having a steady, routine relationship would be the most boring thing in the world, and I’d rather jump off a cliff than be in one. Regular dates. Hand-holding. Seeing the same person every damn day. Kissing the same lips all the time.
God, kill me now.

But it was … nice. And more fun than I expected it to be. I was even looking forward to the next time I would have dinner with Taylor’s family. It was nice to sit through a family dinner. Mom tried to get Brandon and me to eat together all the time, but just seeing his face gave me indigestion.

At my hesitation, Lauren pursed her lips together in annoyance. “Let me guess, you’re busy tonight?”

I took a bite of the strawberry before answering. “Yeah, I actually am. I have a date with Taylor.”

She rolled her eyes. “Figures. What’s wrong with you?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you’re always busy these days.” Her blue eyes narrowed, and she sat up. Her arms crossed across her chest. “Everybody knows about that picnic you two had at school. I thought you had a sacred rule about not doing anything on Valentine’s Day?”

I popped the rest of the strawberry in my mouth and tried to hide my goofy grin as I thought about our picnic. And the sweet kiss Taylor gave me afterward. No need to get Lauren even more pissed than she already was.