Page 54 of Infatuated as They Come
“Hey!” I heard Nate say next to me as he took a seat. “How’s my baby doing?”
I nodded at him. “You should have it back by tomorrow. It’s just a small alignment problem. No big deal.”
He threw an arm around me. “Oh, thank God. Dealership mechanics aresneaky. Can’t trust those guys.”
All of my focus was on Holly who was talking to the other cheer girls and still avoiding me completely. She’d usually give me a wave or blow me a kiss or something. I looked forward to those things, to seeing those pretty eyes on me. “Glad someone’s happy,” I muttered.
“What’s wrong?”
“Uh…” I wasn’t sure if I should have been confessing any of my relationship problems to Nate, just in case it got back to Holly’s dad, but he had been cool enough so far. “I don’t know, actually. Holly looks kinda pissed at me. Maybe I’m being paranoid.”
Nate hissed. “Oh, I saw her when I got back to campus. Imayhave told her that you weren’t going to that art studio…”
Turning to him, I let out a groan. “Why didn’t you let me tell her? I was gonna tell her.”
He threw his hands up. “It just slipped out. That was my bad. I didn’t know she’d get pissed at you. Holly usually doesn’t get pissed at people.”
“I was gonna tell her later tonight. She just really wants this for me. She wants it more than I do.”
“Well, you’re good. Why don’t you just do it?”
“I’m just too busy with work to focus on stuff like that.”
“Oh, right. You have a job.”
“Yes. I have a job.”
“Just work less days.”
“It’s not that easy. I can’t just give it up for some art thing that might not even go anywhere.”
“Sometimes you gotta take risks, man.”
“I wish I could,” I muttered. Taking a risk meant not being able to take care of Holly the way I so badly wanted to do. “And now Holly’s pissed at me. She looks like she wants to throw something at me, and she probably fucking will, so watch out.”
“I’ve never seen Holly get angry. You ever see her angry?”
“Uh… Once or twice.”
“How long do you think she’sgonna be pissed at you for?”
“I dunno. You know, this is what I get for falling in love with a rich girl. Everyone thinks I’m the problem, but rich girls are fuckin’ troublemakers,” I said. “Nobody warned me about that.”
Nate blew out a breath of air, slapping a hand to my shoulder. “Oh, my friend, you have no idea.”
The game finally started and in a millisecond, Holly plastered some fake, too bright smile on her face. It wasn’t real in the slightest. I could see that from where I was sitting, how it didn’t reach her eyes even the tiniest bit. I didn’t focus on the game. All I looked at was her, and that was how it normally was, except she was completely avoiding my gaze this time. Fun.
When the game finished up, Nate apologized to me one more time before taking off. I made my way through the crowd that was slowly scattering out and got settled down on the field, watching as Holly shoved her cheer stuff into her bag before she turned to some of the other girls.
I stood there awkwardly, waiting for her to turn around and snap at me or just keep avoiding me altogether. I wondered which option she was going to take.
“I think Holly might be mad at you!” Claudia said as she skipped over to me.
“Thanks,” I muttered, my eyes still stuck on Holly. “I had no idea.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
