One side of his mouth hitched up higher than the other. “Yeah, interesting.”
I tilted my head to the side as I studied him. “Is that just another way of saying weird?”
He let out one of those low, soft chuckles that was more of a vibration than a sound. I had this crazy urge to press my cheek to his chest to see what it felt like when he laughed.
Weird. Me. Yes.
Before he could confirm that fact, I hurried on. “Anyways, why are you so interested in helping me?”
He didn’t answer right away. “I was actually hoping we could help each other.”
“Oh yeah?” Was that wariness in my tone. You betcha. I should have known he was being too nice. No one was this nice without wanting something in return. “How can I help you?”
I don’t know what I was expecting. Maybe help studying or...I don’t know...a sobriety budy for AA meetings. Have I mentioned I’d seen a lot of movies? My mind didn’t always leap to the most logical conclusions. But even with my wild imagination, I did not see this one coming.
“You can hang out with me.”
I blinked. “Pardon?”
He gave a huff of laughter at my shock, not even a little awkward about the fact that he was asking me to…what, exactly? “Hang out with you? What does that mean?”
He arched his brows and pointed to me. “You. Me. Hang.”
“Thanks, that really clears things up,” I said. “I guess a better question is...why?”
He shrugged. “I’m bored.”
I stared at him to see if he was being serious.
He was.
Once again, I had questions. So many questions. But before I could ask a single one, the bell rang and he was pushing his chair away. “When do you see this guy of yours next?” he asked.
“Um…outside of band practice?”
He nodded as if that was a given.
“They’re playing a gig at a club this weekend and everyone will be hanging out afterward,” I said.
This time I promised myself that I wouldn’t leave without at least attempting to talk to Tony.
“Then we don’t have much time to waste,” he said. “I’ll be by tonight.”
I stared up at him. “Ummm….”
What was happening here?
He laughed and shook his head as he reached for my phone which had been tucked under my notebook. “Not even a movie quote, huh?” He held my phone up to my face so facial recognition would unlock it and then he was tapping away on my phone like it was the most normal thing in the world to be exchanging numbers.
“Text me your address,” he said, picking up the magazine from the table and thrusting it into my arms. “And study up. I can’t wait to be the recipient of some of these ‘flirting techniques’.”
He used air quotes when he said ‘flirting techniques’ and that made me laugh…
And then he was gone. There one minute and gone the next.
Like some sort of sexy superhero.
I found myself standing there for a full minute as my heart resumed a normal pace and I was left with just one question that sounded way too loud in the silence of the library. “What on earth is going on here?”
9
Andrew
“Where are you going tonight, Andy?” my mom asked as I headed out the door.
“Studying with a friend,” I said.
Her response was to full-on beam at me. Her face was glowing with the force of her smile. “A friend?”
Ugh. Here we go. “Don’t get too excited, Ma,” I said. “We just have some classes together.”
She pressed her lips together but the resulting smile was beyond patronizing. “That’s so sweet.”
Sweet. Ugh.
Well, at least she hadn’t asked if it was a girl—
“Is this a girlfriend?” Her hope was almost too much to bear. It seemed to bother my mom more than anyone else that I hadn’t made any good friends since we’d moved, let alone had a serious girlfriend.
I didn’t care—I had plenty of buddies on the team and in the hallways, and girls? I’d never had an issue there either. No girlfriends, maybe, but I wasn’t here to make deep and meaningful connections, just get through high school and into college.
And then…?
I shook off the nagging voice that wondered what life would look like when I was done with the obvious—baseball, high school, and college. I’d long since realized those questions didn’t even bear considering. Who knew what life would throw at me before then?
“See ya, Ma,” I said, already closing the door behind me without bothering to answer.
It was for her own good. I didn’t want to give her false hope. I might have developed a soft spot for Simone, but it didn’t mean anything. I just didn’t like seeing a good girl get hurt.
She might not have been my responsibility, but what kind of guy would I have been if I sat back and let a naive, sheltered young thing get used up and spit out by a notorious player?
Not the kind of guy my father would have been proud of, that was for sure.
I was just doing the right thing, that was all.
I told myself that as I drove to her house, and again as I knocked on her door.
“You must be Andrew.” An older man who must have been her father answered the door and gestured for me to enter. Judging by the big grin on his face, he was as pleased to see me as my mother was to learn I was going over to a friend’s.
He had Simone’s dark hair and eyes, but that was where the similarities ended. Where she was all introverted and walked the halls like she was trying to hide, her father took up all the space around him, talking loudly and familiarly as he led me down the narrow hall to a small living area with a beaten up couch and more DVDs than I’ve ever seen in my life.
“You know, Sims didn’t think you were really coming,” he said.
I just barely registered what he’d said because my brain
