Page 32 of The Promposal

Ella frowned at me. “I’m pretty sure every stalker thinks they really love the person.”

It was only two days ago that I was at Kenyetta’s birthday party, sarcastically telling Mercedes that I belonged to Stalkers Anonymous, and now I probably needed to apply. “I’m just verifying his whereabouts. Without him knowing it. That’s on the low end of the crazy scale.”

She started going through her purse. “You’re so far past crazy you couldn’t get back there with a map. You should just get him chipped like people do with their pets, and then you’ll always know where he is.”

“Whoa, what is up with you being all Miss Snarktastic?” I was both annoyed and proud at how much my sister sounded like me.

“I was looking for books online on how to get over a breakup, and I found thatEat, Pray, Loveone, and I thought that sounded good, but I’m stuck on the first part. And I’m snarky because I’ve recently discovered that I have OCD.”

“OCD?” I repeated. Wouldn’t someone have told me if Ella had been diagnosed with something that serious?

“Obsessive Chocolate Disorder.” She pulled out a bag of M&M’s and held it up triumphantly. “Right now all I want to do is eat candy until my kidneys explode.”

“That doesn’t sound like the best plan,” I warned her, but she shrugged me off.

Jake pulled into a gas station, and I parked my car on the street, where I could see him and he hopefully wouldn’t notice us. He got out of his car and entered his credit card, then put the nozzle into his gas tank. He leaned against his car, staring at the pump.

“Why is he on this side of town at a gas station?”

“To get gas?” Ella offered sarcastically in between tossing M&M’s into her mouth. “You were right. He’s obviously up to no good with his nefarious schemes to put gas in his car.”

“I think you may have a sugar addiction that turns you into a not nice person. Admitting you have a problem is the first step.”

She swallowed her mouthful. “Says the girl currently stalking her boyfriend.”

Well, she had me there.

“I’m going to call him and ask him where he is. Let’s see if he lies to me.” I dialed his number and waited.

I watched as he took his phone out of his pocket, looked at the screen, pushed a button, and then put it back in his pocket. I heard his voice mail on my end. I immediately hung up.

Gasping in outrage, I said, “Did he just do that? Did he seriously just do that? He sent me to voice mail?”

“I saw this news report that said it’s bad to talk on cell phones around gas. Something about them making the pumps blow up.”

She was not going to make excuses for him. “Isn’t it like one of those Ten Commandments? Thou shalt answer the phone when thy girlfriend calls?”

Ella started sorting out her candy by color. “I’m pretty sure those are about not killing people and stuff like that.”

“Exactly. Because when you deliberately ignore your girlfriend’s phone calls she might kill you!” I took out my phone and started to text him. Send me to voice mail, would he?

Ella grabbed my cell out of my hand.

“Hey!” I protested. “I want to text that idiot and tell him that I saw what he just did.”

“You need to curb your textual impulses because if you tell him that you saw him do it, you’ll also have to tell him that you’re watching him like a psycho. And that won’t go over well, and you’ll blow your entire operation.”

Wasn’t she the one who didn’t even want to come? “I thought you didn’t want to be a part of this.”

“Well, now I’m invested, and I want to see how it all turns out.”

I crossed my arms and huffed once or twice. She was right, of course, but I still couldn’t believe he’d sent me to voice mail. Jake finished pumping his gas and walked into the convenience store. “He just paid for his gas. Why would he go inside?”

“To use the restroom? To buy some gum? To rob the place? There could be all kinds of reasons.”

“Or because the girl he’s seeing works there.”

Ella squinted at the store. “It’s a woman old enough to be his grandmother at the register. And I don’t think he’s into that. It looks like Jake’s buying snacks.”

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