Page 60 of Best I Never Had

I shake my head. While Jenny and I had indeed set plans to go to prom together before we broke up, I assumed I was the last person she wanted to go to prom with. Especially when her parting words after I told her things weren’t working out were: “You’re a real grade-A asshole, Hayden.”

“I didn’t know you two were friends,” I comment.

“Trust me,” she says, her eyes wide as her hand comes up between us, her palm facing me to deny what even I can’t believe, “we aren’t. She just mentioned it in passing.”

“I don’t know. We talked about going before we broke up, so I guess she just assumed we were still going.” I clear my throat, taking the pipette that’s sitting next to her and squeezing iodine into the cell sample.

“Maybe I should just skip the whole thing,” she says. “Tell my mom I got the flu at the last minute or something.”

“I don’t know why you won’t go with me,” I tease. “I may have to tweak some of my break-dancing skills, but it can’t be that bad.”

“Hayden,” she huffs, placing her own pipette down. “I’m glad that you find my drama so amusing, but I don’t need a pity date. Plus, if you’re going with Jenny, how’s that going to work out? We each take an arm?”

“That actually doesn’t sound too bad,” I joke.

She snarls in response, and I laugh. “I’m messing with you, Marquez. Come on?—”

Just then, we both look up to see Alex approach our table. Alex Spencer, known for being the rich boy on campus. Everything handed to him was doneso by his daddy, like his silver BMW and expensive shoes. I honestly don’t think he’s ever heard the word “no.”

“Hey, Nat,” he calls before nodding a greeting to me. “’Sup, Marshall.”

“Hi, Alex,” she answers, pulling her gaze away with a last second warning glare in my direction.

Alex looks at me again and then back at Natalia before we both set down our equipment, giving him our attention.

“Uh, so I was wondering…” he says, his voice cracking. He coughs into his fist, causing a few heads to turn in our direction. “If you didn’t have a date for prom yet, I was thinking maybe you would want to go with me.”

I smirk as Natalia looks at me. Her eyes peer up through the scratched goggles as she purses her lips together, her brows scrunching her face into a cute scowl. Then she turns to face Alex, her mouth shifting into a fake smile before saying, “Sure.” She pauses, quickly glancing at me again before smiling even wider at Alex. “I’d love to go with you.”

Alex smiles proudly. “Great,” he says before lightly punching my arm and walking away.

“Problem solved,” I whisper, unable to hide the little bit of resentful snark seeping through my voice.

Really? Alex Spencer?She couldn’t have picked a more mismatched prom date for her if she had randomly plucked one out from the cafeteria with her eyes closed.

She ignores my comment, focusing her attention on our lab project instead.

I nudge a little closer, causing her arm to slip and accidentally squeeze out an extra drop of iodine. She finally looks at me, practically glaring.

“Great,” she deadpans. “Now I have to prepare my sample all over again.”

But I don’t apologize or make some kind of annoying joke. Instead, I keep my eyes on her.

“What?” she asks, wiping the iodine that dripped on the tabletop before grabbing a new slide. She raises her goggles and looks up at me.

I shrug. “Don’t forget to save me a dance,” I say as nonchalantly as possible. “You know, when Alex disappoints you with his embarrassing dance moves.”

Our movements synchronize, our heads lifting to look in the direction that Alex walked to. He pops the collar of his too-white polo shirt that fits a little loosely on his thin frame beforerounding the corner back to his table where his own lab partner waits. He makes some quipped joke, to which his lab partner giggles with her hand covering her mouth.

I scoff, looking back at Natalia, watching her hands move across her neatly organized side of the lab table while I stand nearby, taking on the role as doting assistant. “I’m holding you to that dance.”

Her eyes glare through an eye roll. And yet her lips tell a different story, one that says,Test me, Marshall. I dare you.I see it in the way one corner of her mouth twists while the other suppresses a smile, fighting what she wants to hide but can’t.

I feel a small, challenging fire light through me, suddenly unable to wait to hit the dance floor just to prove to her that I would have been the better date to prom over Alex.

“I’ll take that as a ‘Yes, Hayden. Please save me from Alex when he embarrasses me and steps on my toes until they’re bloody,’” I mock in a high-pitched tone meant to imitate hers. My voice rings a little loudly, and I know people are looking, including Alex. She pinches my side, causing my body to bow. “Ah!” I flinch.

“You’re going to get us into trouble!” she hisses, her face turning a shade of crimson, the tips of her ears redder than the rest of her face. She turns to face the table again, adjusting her goggles so they sit squarely on her face. But even from her feigned annoyance to her stern scolding, I can see that twist of a smile around the apples of her cheeks as she shakesher head.

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