Page 22 of The Devil's Tattoo
“Do you like him orsomething?”
Her skin was so pale it was totally obvious when she blushed. “I’ve known him for years,” she said. “But we haven’t been that close. Notuntilnow.”
“You should tell him,” I said, offering up advice I couldn’t take myself. “He’s a good guy. Askhimout.”
“But what if he doesn’t feel thesameway?”
I didn’t know what to say to that without sounding like ahypocrite.
“Could you say something to him?” she went on. “I mean, to see how he mighttakeit?”
“Like an undercover cop?” Ijoked.
She laughed, and I was glad my joke had succeeded in cheering her up a little. “It’s just I’m firmly in thefriendzone.”
“And you don’t know how to get outofit?”
“Totally. Would youaskhim?”
“Sure. I’ll scopeitout.”
“Covertly.” She grinnedatme.
“Covertly.”
We merged onto the highway behind the bus, and it was smooth sailing until we hit the beach. We both laughed when ‘Walls’ came onto the radio, and she made me sing along. It always felt weird hearing my own voice coming out of a set of speakers, but it was slowly growing on me. So far, Simone hadn’t brought up the coffee incident, but I should have known she was biding her time to bring up boy chat again. It seemed to be her favorite topic other thanmusic.
“What’s with you and Will?” She peered at me with one eye ontheroad.
“What are you talking about?” I said a little tooquickly.
She laughed at my reaction. “You like him,” sheteased.
I rolled my eyes, knowing the reality wasn’t so light and fluffy. “Not gonnahappen.”
“Whynot?”
“Why would it?” Igrimaced.
“He’d be stupid not to goforyou.”
“I don’t want a fling,” I said,annoyed.
“Hmm,” Simone said in thought. “He does have that reputation,doesn’the?”
“Which is why it will neverhappen.”
“That was awkward as hell backthere.”
“One of the more stupid reactionsI’vehad.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Zoe,” Simone said kindly. “I’ve seen him lookingatyou.”
“People do that when I’m onstage.”
She scoffed. “No,notthen.”
I frowned. When was he lookingatme?
