Page 38 of Strong Side
“Let me see if I can get it.” I’m a tall guy, so I should be able to grab it, but it’s slid to the very back of the deep shelf. “Fuck. Okay, let’s do this.” I squat and hold up my arms. “Get on my shoulders.”
She laughs. “Casey, I am not getting on your shoulders.”
“Yes, you are if you want that cereal. Come on. Hop on.” I take one of her hands and pull her closer.
She moves behind me, grabs my other hand to steady herself, then straddles my shoulders. “Oh God. Do not drop me, Casey King.”
“As if I would ever. You ready?” I tilt my head to look at her.
“I’m ready.” She squeezes my hands.
We both start laughing when I stand. I walk us closer to the shelf, and she leans forward to get the box.
“Urgh, I still can’t get it. Can you turn to the side?”
So, I do.
“I got it!” She shakes the box in her hand.
When I turn us, we see her old roommate, Zoey, and some other girl I’ve never met standing at the end of the row. Noelle squeezes my hand she’s holding.
“Oh, hey, Noelle.” Zoey waves as if she didn’t get caught fucking Trey. “How are you?”
I hear Noelle whisper, “You can’t be serious.”
I look at the other girl, and she’s staring at me.
I look at the other girl and she’s staring at me. “Don’t I know you?” she asks.
“That’s Casey King. He’s on the football team,” Zoey tells her.
“Right! I knew you looked familiar.” The girl’s smile widens.
I bend down low enough for Noelle to get off my shoulders. Once she’s on the ground, I take her hand and pull her in close to me and wrap my arm around her waist. I still don’t respond to either of their comments.
“Good game yesterday, Casey. That was an awesome catch,” Zoey says.
And just to fuck with her, I say, “Oh, yeah? Which one?”
She stares at me, mouth open. “The one when you caught the ball …”
“In the first quarter?” I ask her.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Noelle look up at me.
“Yes! That’s the one.” She smiles and nods.
“Yeah, that wasn’t me.” I look at Noelle. “You got what you wanted?”
She smirks at me, then looks over at Zoey. “Yep. I sure did.”
As we pass them, I hear the girl I don’t know ask Zoey if we’re together. I don’t wait to hear Zoey’s reply because I really don’t fucking care what she says. I never liked her, and then after what she did to Noelle … yeah, she can fuck right off.
I grab Charlie’s coffee, and then we finish getting what I need and move toward the registers. We see Zoey and the namelessgirl walking in the same direction, heads tilted toward each other, whispering, but I catch some of it.
“I thought it was a lie. Like, I didn’t really believe Greer when she told us at the party at Trey’s house yesterday, but I guess it’s true. I wonder if Trey knows. Should I tell him?”
When we get to our line, I move Noelle in front of me and turn her so she’s leaning against the bar of the buggy.
