And I liked girls.
But I wasn’t some creep who hit on every female who moved, and I had no idea what I’d done to make this girl so skittish around me. It was a thought that had been bugging me for some time now. For years, actually, ever since I’d transferred to Lakeview High and started sitting at the same lunch table with this girl and sharing some classes with her, too. No matter how nice I was, how personable…she acted like I was the boogeyman. But why? Most girls liked me.
I’d said that already, didn’t I?
But it was a point that ought to be reiterated because it made Simone’s obvious dislike of me that much more confusing.
Right now she was staring down at her feet looking for all the world like she’d rather be anywhere else, talking to anyone else. Anyone but me.
I crossed my arms as I eyed her from head to toe. We had nothing but time to kill, it seemed. Maybe it was time to find out what her problem was. “Tell me, Simone, what did I do to make you so nervous around me?”
She stared at me with wide eyes, her lips slightly parted. It was pretty cute, actually.
“Did you hear stories about me that I’m unaware of?” I continued, shifting against the ledge as I entertained myself. “Maybe that I eat babies or collect human skulls or something?”
She blinked rapidly in surprise. No doubt at the fact that I’d made a joke. This girl didn’t seem to expect much from me, and certainly not a sense of humor. But after years of listening to her conversations with Jax, I knew she lived for movie references. It couldn’t hurt, right? I leaned forward and dropped my voice two octaves. “Hello, Clarice.”
“W-what?” she stammered.
Huh. Maybe Silence of the Lambs wasn’t on her radar.
“Did you...did you…” Her eyes grew impossibly wide. “Did you just quote Silence of the Lambs to me?”
She sounded so shocked and her voice was so high-pitched it was kind of hilarious. Then she blinked and her tone was back to normal. “It’s actually good evening, Clarice,” she said, lowering her voice like she was channeling Anthony Hopkins. “People are always misquoting that one.”
I felt my grin spreading despite telling myself I wouldn’t laugh at this odd little duck with her weird impersonations and her jumpy behavior.
I shrugged, unapologetic. “I’m not a big horror fan. I just wanted to lighten the mood. Help ease your nerves a bit.”
“I’m not nervous,” she said quickly. It came out sounding more like a question than a statement.
“No?” I said.
She shook her head.
I stood upright, leaning in slightly. What was I doing? I had no idea. I’d just never had a chance to talk one-on-one with this girl before, and I couldn’t seem to resist the urge to tease her. “So I don’t make you nervous then?”
Her eyes fluttered rapidly and she licked her lips. “N-no.”
I held her gaze evenly. I couldn’t have stopped my smile if I’d tried. “You’re a terrible liar.”
The pink in her cheeks turned a dark red and she shut her eyes briefly. “Flames,” she said in a weird high-pitched voice. “On the side of my face.”
I started to laugh and her eyes shot open. “Sorry, bad habit. That was from—”
“Clue,” I said. “Yeah, I know.”
She blinked three times fast like I’d just shocked the life out of her because I recognized a totally recognizable movie quote.
She shifted from one foot to the other. “Sometimes I quote movies when I’m nervous,” she mumbled.
I grinned. “From what I can tell you quote movies all the time. You’re really into impressions, right?”
Again with the wide-eyed shock.
Seriously, how was she so surprised? I didn’t know whether to be amused or insulted. Amusement won out. It typically did. I’d learned a long time ago not to take life too seriously. Or at least, not to take non-serious things seriously. But this girl…
Either she thought I was truly stupid or she just thought I was deaf. “You do know I sit next to you at lunch almost every day of the week, right?”
She blinked. “I sit next to Jax.”
I arched a brow. “And I sit next to you.”
It wasn’t like I’d intended for us to sit next to each other all the time but more often than not, that was where I ended up.
“And?” she said warily.
“I hear you guys talking.”
I seriously saw the air rush out of her. It was like I’d popped a balloon and heard the helium squeak out. “Everything?”
I shrugged.
She moaned as she lifted her hands to cover her face. “This day can’t get any more humiliating.”
“Why? Because I hear you do impersonations and cast people in this school as though someone is going to make a biopic about Lakeview High some day?”
She groaned again and I laughed. She was really kind of cute when she was embarrassed.
She was cute when she was doing impersonations, too, even though they were usually terrible. But if I were being honest, listening in to Simone and Jax bickering like an old married couple or squabbling like siblings every afternoon had become the highlight of my school day.
It just would have been nice if one half of the bickering duo didn’t treat me like I was some terrifying devil incarnate. “So?” I asked.
“What?”
“Why are you so nervous around me?”
“I’m not nervous,” she said automatically.
I met her gaze in silence, calling her out on her lie with a simple arch of one brow.
She groaned again, this time with a roll of her eyes. “It’s not you, it’s just…you’re just…” She waved a hand in my direction. “You’re so…you.”
I let a heartbeat pass as we both absorbed that statement. “I apologize for that.” I kept my voice even and her lips trembled with a near-smile that made it hard for me to stay serious.
“I just meant that you’re…you.” She said again with another flail of
