Wrecked Book 4 (6 page)

He shook his head.
“
Yes, you definitely are. And everyone knows it, too.
”
He reached across the table to take my hand in his. He was warm, his hand soft in mine, but strong.

I bit my lip as a warm feeling of affection spread through my body. My heart started beating faster and I couldn
’
t stop smiling.

The school clock chimed, letting me know that my lunch period was almost up. I got up and Derek followed suit.

“
Midnight for Cinderella?
”
he asked lightly, still holding on to my hand.

I laughed at that.
“
Yeah. This is where I have to run home and turn back into the maid.
”

He grinned at me and we both fell silent for a long moment. He stepped closer to me and I started to breathe harder. We were so close together that there were only inches between us.

“
I
’
ve got class,
”
I told him finally, my voice soft as I stared up into his brown eyes.
“
I should go.
”

He nodded his head, but didn
’
t say anything. Instead, he leaned forward slowly, hesitantly. Gently, his soft lips pressed against mine. I closed my eyes and leaned up into the kiss. His free hand went to my hair, his fingers slipping through it softly.

After a moment, we broke apart, both of us blushing and grinning.
“
Dinner?
”

I nodded my head.

“
I
’
ll text you,
”
he said.
“
So charge your phone.
”
He winked at me and then turned away, heading off to his own class. He looked back at me, still smiling, then continued on.

But I didn
’
t move. I was frozen in place as soon as he mentioned my phone. Why? Because my phone wasn
’
t dead. It was off, because I didn
’
t want to check my messages. Because as soon as I did, I knew I would see at least one there from Logan.

Give me a chance.

I had one of those reusable grocery bags slung over my shoulder as I walked with my head down towards the store. We were out of groceries and I volunteered to go before anyone could say anything
—
or Kass could ask me how things were going with Derek.

Honestly, they were going great with Derek, except that he wasn
’
t the man I was having hot and heavy dreams about.

Logan was on my mind more than ever, and between my own traitorous thoughts and his barrage of text messages begging for a second
—
or were we on the third?
—
chance, it was no wonder that I couldn
’
t forget him, no matter how much I needed to.

The walk to the store was in the opposite direction from campus. It wasn
’
t downtown or anything, but it was on the way there. I could have taken the bus, but it wasn
’
t that long of a walk, and I wanted the cool air around me. It made it easier to think, I figured, especially if I was going to be thinking of Logan.

Which I was, despite my best efforts.

Why was he still trying to get ahold of me? After what I told him last night? After overhearing what I
’
d said to Miranda the first day she popped up on my doorstep? Surely he wouldn
’
t want anything to do with me after that, right?

But no, he
’
s still convinced that he loves me, I realize. And he thinks that his love is enough to win me back.

“
How can you win someone back when you never had them in the first place?
”
I asked myself aloud. A guy passed me just as I said it, giving me a funny look as he did.

I pulled my coat tighter around me, feeling my cheeks blush slightly in embarrassment. Now I was sharing my problems with random strangers, albeit inadvertently.

I walked the rest of the way to the store as quickly as possible. I stopped at the corner, waiting for the light to turn. When it did, I glanced both ways to make sure that it was okay to go. When I
’
d deemed it was safe enough, I went across the street to the opposite corner where the store was located.

There were several cars in the parking lot, but it wasn
’
t packed. I
’
d gotten here early enough
—
or late enough
—
that most people had already picked up their groceries and gone home. I went inside, the automatic doors opening as I stepped up to them. I didn
’
t bother with a cart, but picked up a hand basket.

I didn
’
t have a list or anything, because I
’
d run out of there so fast to avoid any questions I might get from Kass. As a result, I was going to have to wing it. I headed to the dry foods first. Pick the things up that didn
’
t need to be refrigerated and that weren
’
t liable to get bruised or broken if they were on the bottom.

Mostly, it was pastas, crackers, and peanut butter. Just the essentials. Then I picked up a few sodas
—
no packs, because I wasn
’
t interested in carrying that home with me
—
then headed to the fresh foods section. I wasn
’
t going to worry about the frozen stuff. I was fairly certain that we still had enough stuff in the freezer, that we were fine.

I looked at the apples, trying to find the good ones. I hated getting the prepackaged ones, because they always tasted too waxy. Fresh, hand picked ones were always better. As I was examining apples for the best ones, I heard Lexie
’
s voice.

Instinct was to move on and get the hell away from her, but I didn
’
t really want to do that, because it meant that I was going to draw attention to myself. I didn
’
t want her to know I was there, so I held my ground.

“
Can you
believe
her?
”
I heard Lexie
’
s voice say in a deliberately bitchy, judgmental tone.
“
I mean, talk about no class.
”

I frowned. I wasn
’
t interested in overhearing her conversation. Eavesdropping was not my thing and neither was gossip. I
’
d listened to gossip when it came to Logan and discovered pretty quickly that it was all wrong. But I couldn
’
t help hearing her if I didn
’
t move, and I still didn
’
t want to draw any attention to myself, so I tried my best to just tune her out instead.

Green or red
? I thought, trying to distract myself by examining my apples.

It didn
’
t work, because the
next
voice I heard made my heart plummet down into my stomach.

“
No surprise there.
”
It was Miranda, sounding just as condescending as Lexie did.
“
I knew her a while back, and she was a total tramp then, too.
”

I frowned as I began to realize who it was they were talking about
…

“
Guess you can
’
t teach an old bitch new tricks,
”
Lexie commented viciously.

Anger began to swell inside me. How dare she talk about me like that? I felt like turning around and giving her a good, solid piece of my mind. Maybe throwing that lack of class comment right back at her
—
after all, she
’
s the one who
’
s flirted with every guy she came across and slept with at least half of them.

But Miranda
’
s next words stopped my anger cold.

“
The only thing she
’
s learned how to do is lie better than before.
”

My shoulders slumped and I dropped the apples down. I didn
’
t need them anymore. In fact, I put my whole basket down and turned to face Lexie and Miranda. They were both looking right at me, their smiles made of daggers and their eyes sharp like rusted nails.

They
’
d known I was there all along. Maybe that was even
why
they
’
d decided to talk to me. Their mutual hatred of me had brought them together and now I had to deal with two enemies determined to make sure everyone knew just what kind of a skank I was.

And the worst part was, I was pretty sure they were right. I
was
a bitch. I was messing around with Logan while I was trying to make something with Derek and it didn
’
t matter that I didn
’
t want to hurt either of them. Fact was, I was lying. Even if it was only by omission. Worse still than that was that I was lying to
everyone
. I was pretending to be this classy girl, this good girl, when inside I knew I was just born for trouble.

Pretending I was one thing didn
’
t change the fact that I was another.

I looked at the girls once more, then turned away and left the fresh produce section as quickly as I could. I didn
’
t bother with getting food or anything. I just left as quickly as I could, almost running out the automatic doors and down the street towards home.

Retracing my steps, I made it across the street, not even bothering to check the street signs or check either way before darting across. I heard horns honking at me, but didn
’
t pay any attention to them. I kept going, my speed picking up until I was running the rest of the way home.

Emotions swirled through me and all I wanted was to get to my room and pretend that the rest of the world didn
’
t even exist.

I reached the house out of breath, wheezing and coughing. Yanking open the door, I darted into the hallway and let the door slam behind me. I headed towards the stairs, eager to go to my room, but Kass was in the kitchen and when she saw me come in, she said,
“
Hey, Addy, where are the groceries?
”

I froze and for a moment I didn
’
t know what to tell her. I didn
’
t want to rehash what had happened at the store. It still hurt and I didn
’
t have any defense for myself
…
I was pretty sure they were right in what they were saying, which made me feel terrible. There was nothing anyone could say to change that.

“
What
’
s wrong?
”
Kass
’
s face had shifted to one of concern and she rushed over towards me.
“
What happened?
”

I didn
’
t know what my face looked like, but based on how concerned Kass suddenly looked, I knew it was bad. Doing my best to pull myself together, I took a deep breath and shook my head.
“
I just forgot my card,
”
I lied quickly.
“
We aren
’
t going to starve if I don
’
t go now
…
and I
—
I have some studying to do.
”

And before Kass could say anything or call me out on my blatant lie, I rushed up the stairs towards my room. I slammed the door closed behind me and locked it. Then I leaned back against it, slumping down to the floor as I finally accepted that I was crying.

For the rest of that day, I couldn
’
t get Miranda out of my mind. It wasn
’
t just the conversation she
’
d had with Lexie that was throwing me off, either. It was the fact that she was with Lexie at all. What was she
thinking
? That girl was so obviously trouble
…

I tried to push both of the girls out of my mind, but it was impossible. I lay on my bed staring up at the ceiling trying to think of anything else, but I couldn
’
t. All I could think about was the Miranda I knew from so long ago. That little girl who used to follow Beck around everywhere. The one who always begged to join in and was so sweet, so innocent.