Two Outta Three (Two Outta Three #1) (4 page)

“Uh, sure,” I replied absently. “Why not?”

***

“What do you think his problem is?” Stephanie threw a popcorn kernel in her mouth, crunching loudly. She grabbed the remote and flipped on the TV before settling into her gigantic couch.

It was Wednesday night and time for our show, and as weekly traditions went, I had come over in pajamas bearing cupcakes and lattes. It was one of my favorite days of the week and one of the many times I visited Stephanie. In fact, I was over at her apartment more than I was at my own home and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

“He’s been acting all strange,” I complained.

“How so?”
Crunch, crunch, crunch.

“I don’t know…like proper, almost. Definitely not the Jesse we used to know.”

Stephanie nodded her head. “Well, we all did grow up.”

I snorted. “Are you sure about that? Sometimes I feel like I’m faking adulthood.”

Placing the bowl of popcorn down, Stephanie pushed herself off the couch and sat down next to me. “Silly rabbit, don’t you know that as you get older you start figuring out that nobody knows what the hell they’re doing? Everyone’s just faking the funk because they think that it’s what they have to do. We’re all children playing pretend.”

“When did you get so smart?” I teased.

“I was always the smart one of the group, remember? One outta three.” She poked me in the ribs so hard that I felt a bruise coming in.

“Ow! Bitch!” I slapped her hand away and leaned back into the couch. I eyed her phone, which was perched on top of her coffee table. It sat dormant, the blank screen taunting me. “So he hasn’t even attempted to call you?”

“The answer is still no, home girl. He probably doesn’t even want to see me. Unless…” Stephanie paused and grew a wicked smile.

“Uh, oh. What?”

“I think I’m going to pay Rossi’s a visit tomorrow during my lunch break.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Yup. I never had a problem calling Jesse out on his bullshit before and I sure as hell don’t have a problem now.” Just then, the telltale music of the opening credits came on, causing Stephanie to snap her head towards the television. “Now enough of this melodramatic bullshit, Mr. Haynes is on!”

I rolled my eyes and settled in for an hour of yummy eye candy.

Chapter 5

“
What are you two doing out here?” Stephanie yelled accusingly. She gripped her royal blue dress, careful not to get it wet as she trudged across the moist grass.

“Just having conversation,” Jesse replied, sounding tired.

“Conversation? Jesse, you shouldn’t even be here right now! I was there when they pounded the gavel on you, remember?”

“Ah, yes. You were busy snooping around.”

Stephanie’s mouth dropped open, revealing two rows of aquamarine colored braces. “Snooping? I was checking to see if you were okay!” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Now it looks like I have to check on Rocky too.”

“I’m not doing anything,” I argued. My face began to heat up. Leave it to Stephanie to cock block.

“And what’s that flask I see there? Rocky?” Stephanie sounded like a school teacher at best, a grandma at worst.

“It’s mine,” Jesse sighed. “Did you really think Rocky would drink? Damn, how’d I get stuck with two dweebs like you for friends?”

My heart instantly plummeted. I had always wondered why Jesse chose to hang out with us. He was the stereotypical troublemaker and Stephanie and I were…well, an art geek and honors scholar. We definitely did not meld well with one another.

“You should consider how lucky you were to be assigned to our biology group. You would have flunked if you didn’t have my big brain or Rocky’s artistic prowess. You have to admit our replica of the mitochondria was tops.”

My eyes glazed over. It was actually the first day I ever really spoke to Jesse, though I had known of him since elementary school. Even back when I was seven I thought the shy, quiet kid with the dingy clothes was pretty cute, but as school hierarchy went, I never really had a reason to speak to him.

Until then.

As usual Stephanie and I paired up for the project faster than the teacher could even assign it. We sat plotting out who was doing what (of course I’d take care of the visuals and Stephanie the research) when Mrs. Harris dropped a huge bombshell.

“Girls, do you mind taking Jesse Tyler in your group?” It was obviously more of an order than a question.

Though I didn’t really mind, Stephanie was appalled. “Our duo was never meant to be a trifecta. Mrs. Harris, that is so unfair!”

However, as soon as Jesse walked over with his silky brown hair bouncing with each step he took, I was ready to elbow Stephanie in the ribs. Who wouldn’t want this eye candy in the group? Unfortunately, it seemed as if Stephanie wasn’t the only one apprehensive about the grouping.

I could tell by the way he gripped his binder tightly against his body like a shield that he didn’t like the arrangement any more than we did. Initially, I just assumed that this “cool” dude hated the thought of being grouped with nerds, but that assumption completely flew out the window once I saw his face. There was a certain sadness to it I’d never noticed before. Then again, how could I? Jesse never interacted enough for me to actually look at him. Like a lightbulb going off in my head, I realized Jesse wasn’t as much of a loner as he made himself out to be. I could tell deep down that he wanted a friend.

“Hi, welcome to the group,” I told him. The moment his eyes flashed over me, I knew I was a goner. He looked at me in a way nobody had before. I couldn’t explain it, but it made me feel special. From that one look alone, I practically devoted myself to him.

Then on the other end of the spectrum, we had Stephanie. She eyed him in annoyance and whispered, “We’re still keeping our original assignments, right?”

“There are three of us now,” I hissed back. “Less work.”

She shrugged. “Hey, two outta three ain’t bad.”

***

“Are you still speaking?” Jesse glanced over at me and jutted his thumb to the right. “Is she really still speaking?”

I groaned. “Can you both just enjoy the night? It was peaceful out here before your bantering.”

“She started it.” Jesse kept his thumb pointed at Stephanie. The thick ring, which wound underneath his knuckle, sparkled under the moonlight.

Pursing my lips, I changed the subject. “Steph, where’s Daniel? When I left, you two were the textbook definition as to why chaperones are needed.”

“Ah, he’s a jerk.”

“You just figured that out now?” Jesse snickered.

Steph rolled her eyes. “Caught him sneaking a peek at Chastity’s boobs.”

“He’s a guy. Guys look at boobs.” Jesse leaned back, causing his shoulders to touch mine. I snuck a peek at him and wondered if he ever snuck a peek at my boobs.

Blushing, I gazed back at Stephanie. “I have to agree with Jesse. It’s not as if you two are married or anything.”

“You always agree with Jesse.” Stephanie huffed, taking a seat on the bottom bleacher. She looked up at us and scowled. “Do you know how much it sucks to be the third wheel?”

“Third wheel? We’re all friends,” I insisted.

Stephanie began plucking bobby bins from her own ridiculous updo. Shaking out her hair, she snorted. “Keep telling yourself that, sweetie.”

***

The sound of laughter caught my attention.

“You are so full of it!”

“You were always a smartass!”

Stephanie appeared from behind the lotion aisle looking as if she were having the time of her life. Jesse trailed behind her, laughing as if hearing the world’s funniest joke. I felt an unjustified pinch of envy watching the two interact. After three days of working together, Jesse hadn’t given me anything more than a cordial smile and greeting, yet here was Stephanie enjoying him the way I should have been all along.

Once the pair was close enough, I called out, “Having a good time?”

It didn’t take a genius to tell that at least one of my friends caught something in my voice. Stephanie frowned slightly and replied, “Oh you know. Just catching up.”

“I bet.”

Jesse lost his smile. “I guess I’ll be heading back to work. Nice seeing you again, Steph.” His voice was suddenly icy.

Very odd.

“Yeah, nice seeing you.” Stephanie watched him walk off and once she was sure he was out of earshot, she leaned over the counter with a shocked look on her face. “What the hell was that all about?”

“See, I told you he was acting weird!” An inexplicable coldness washed over my body along with something much more negative. “Looks like you two had no problem catching up.”

Oh. It was jealousy.

“I hate to say it, but I think his problem has something to do with you,” Stephanie clucked, ignoring my blatant envy. “Are you sure nothing happened between you two?”

“I think I would know!”

Stephanie shrugged and glanced up at the tin clock mounted just above my head. “Well, sorry, but I have to jet. Looks like the store is getting busy now anyway.” She slapped her hand across the counter. “Let me know if anything changes.”

“Like that’s going to happen,” I muttered, looking longingly at The Dungeon.

As soon as Stephanie left, the after Christmas shoppers began to pile in tenfold. I had a hard time keeping up with the growing line and found myself having to call for reinforcements. As I scanned about twenty individually wrapped boxes of soap, I turned on our intercom system, practically begging for somebody to take over the second register. After five minutes of no response, I was getting ready to turn on the speaker system one more time to
yell
out my demands when a sulking Jesse came stomping through the crowd. He was missing his usual orange apron, which helped showcase his low hung jeans. I couldn’t help but lick my lips at the sight of his tight fitting white undershirt, which he wore as his main top.

Get a hold of yourself, Rocky.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one susceptible to his male beauty. About a handful of women, ages eighteen to eighty-four, watched him hungrily, all hoping to be checked out by him while they continued to check
him
out. There was only one problem.

“Um, you’re not trained to handle the register.”

Jesse rolled his eyes and stepped up to the computer next to mine. He punched in his employee I.D., waking up the sleeping machine. “Trust me; I’ve handled plenty of registers before. It doesn’t take a genius to swipe barcodes over a scanner.”

“There isn’t anybody else back there?” I practically whined. After a few days’ worth of radio silence, working beside Jesse was nothing short of unbearable.

“They all called in sick. I’m your last hope. C’mon, do you really think your dad would have sent me out here if there was anybody else who can help you out?”

I pursed my lips. “Fine. Just keep up. This line is long enough as it is.”

“Whose fault was that?”

Without thinking, I reached out and kicked him in the shin, forgetting that I was wearing a pair of thick soled riding boots. I was just about to apologize when I heard Jesse chuckle.

“Still a little spitfire, huh? Well, why don’t you try your best to keep up with me?”

As hard as I tried to fight it, I couldn’t help but smile. It felt good to hear him laugh again. It felt good to hear him laughing with me.

I nodded my head coyly. “Fine. Bring it on.”

So began our unofficial
official
battle of the registers. Jesse wasn’t kidding when he said he knew what he was doing. Boy, was he as fast as lightning! I hated to admit it, but he was even faster than me. He went so far as bagging things behind his back and throwing winks at unsuspecting customers. One of the women even looked as if she were about to faint when his dark eyes landed on her.

“That’ll be twenty-four fifty, Miss,” he said with a smile.

“Miss? Oh, I haven’t been a miss in years!” The blue-haired woman dabbed her neck with a silk handkerchief. Her chest rose and fell quickly as if she were struggling to breathe. “Thanks for making an old lady feel young again.”

“You’re not old. Just
experienced.
”

“You have got to be kidding me,” I muttered, jamming a pineapple into a paper bag.

“Do you have a tip jar?” The old woman’s voice was raspy and sounded almost painful to hear. If I had to bet, she was probably a smoker in her younger age.

“No tip jar, Ma’am,” I replied in surprise.

“I was talking to him,” she snapped.

My eyes widened in shock as I watched her stick a folded up five dollar bill into the collar of his shirt. Since when did Rossi’s Novelties turn into a strip club? Oh yeah. Ever since Jesse came along.

For humility’s sake, at least he seemed surprised. He reached into his shirt, pulling out the money. A blush of pink crept up his skin, reddening his cheeks. “Um, we don’t take tips.”

“Trust me, sonny. You deserve it!” The lady grabbed her things and left before Jesse could return her cash. He ended up sticking the bill into his back pocket. I mean, it wasn’t as if he was gonna chuck it after her.

I caught his eye and lifted an eyebrow. “You were always good with the ladies.”

“Ha! You wish.” A troublesome expression washed over his face for a fleeting moment, before grinning at his next customer. This time it was a girl young enough not to have a valid driver’s license yet. Judging by the look on her face, she was in heaven.

I ripped the receipt from the printer and stuck it in my customer’s bag. Under my breath, I mumbled, “Yeah, I really do.”

Within an hour, the line started to die down. I was a bit disappointed that Jesse would have to return to The Dungeon. It wasn’t as if we even talked a lot during his hour with me, but it was still nice being together.

“Hey, beautiful.”

I yelped in surprise as Ethan’s arms wormed around my waist. “Ethan! What are you doing here?”

He was halfway draped over the little door. I inadvertently backed up, almost causing him to come toppling forward. He straightened himself before he became a splatter on the floor. “I couldn’t speak with your dad without seeing you.”

“Why were you speaking to my dad?” First Carbanaro’s and now this? It was too soon to ask for my hand in marriage…right?

“We were discussing marketing plans for first quarter.”

“Oh.”

Ethan glanced up as if seeing Jesse for the first time. “Hey there, my man. Looks like they got you trained on that thing.”

“Looks like it.” Jesse pressed his lips together in a firm line and looked away.

With a slight shrug, Ethan turned back to me. “Well, I better get back to the office. I’ll see you later?”

“Uh, yeah sure.”

It was obvious Ethan expected a goodbye kiss of some sort, but I was staying fixed in place. Comically, he even attempted to lean over the door again, but realizing he’d never reach me, Ethan succumbed to a mere wave of his hand and headed towards the front door.