Page 39 of Good Vibes Only
With that, Dakota skated off.
“Damn,” I murmured, feeling like I’d been hit by a ton of bricks.
“How the hell didhebecome so jaded all of a sudden?” Brock asked. “Has he even had a single girlfriend in his life?”
“I dunno, but I like this new version of Dakota.” Connor snickered. “Now he’s Dark Dak. And Dark Dak is spittin’ hot fire.”
“You only like it because he sounds likeyoubefore you finally grew up,” Brock said with a roll of his eyes.
Connor didn’t deny it. He just laughed and bobbed his head. “Yup, yup.”
“How can you laugh at that?!” Brock asked.
“Because even though I don’t think that way anymore, I still think it’s funny.”
Brock groaned.
I didn’t think it was funny, either.
“What if Dark Dak is right?” I muttered, my head spinning. “I wasjuststarting to think that McKayla was different, too. Holy shit.”
“That’s how they get ya,” Connor said, playing the devil’s advocate—and earning a quick rabbit punch from Brock.
“Fuck,” I groaned, fearing he was right regardless. “Should I even meet her for lunch today or should I bail?”
“Calm down.” Brock sighed and steadied me by the shoulders. “Let’s think this through. Suppose for a minute that Dak’s right, and McKayla really is a gold digger.”
“Okay …”
“If she was some gold digger mastermind, do you really think she’d cut Dakota off because he was messing around with some other chick?”
I thought it over. He was right—it didn’t add up.
“No,” I said.
“Right. No. If she was a determined gold digger, she’d put up with his crap for as long as it took to secure his bag. But that’s not what she did. She dumped him because he wasn’t honest. Are those the actions of someone who only cares about money and fame? Or someone who cares about honesty and loyalty?”
“See,thatmakes sense, too,” I said. “Now I don’t know what to think.”
Connor had a sudden outburst, sounding annoyed. “Stop listening to what other people say, fuckface, and start listening to your own heart for once. Damn.”
Brock, surprised, shot Connor a look. “Con-man. That’s really wise, dude. I’m proud of you.”
“Tsk.Whatever,” Connor said, and abruptly skated off.
“What’s he so mad about?” I asked.
“Don’t worry about it. He gets all embarrassed whenever his inner softie comes out,” Brock explained. “But listen, Showtime. We’ve known McKayla for a couple years now. She’s a smart, solid girl. And I can give you my personal word; she’s not a gold digger. So if you actuallylikeher? Go for it. But if you’re just trying to get your dick wet? Then yeah, Dakota’s right, you’re just wasting your time. Because she’s not like that.”
“Okay. Good to know.”
“So which one are you? Are you serious about getting to know her, or are you just trying to get laid?”
“I mean. She’s hot as hell. Of course I wanna get with her.” I went quiet as my thoughts turned deeper. “But … you know … she’s fun to talk to. I like that she has chirps. And I like that she’s making me work for it, too. I guess what I’m saying is, so far, I like what I know about her.”
Brock nodded. “Sounds good. By the way? I know it’d mean a lot to her if you could figure out some way to help with the construction noise issue.”
“Yeah … I’ll see what I can do.”
