Page 66 of Stick It
“Oh,” she drawls, lips curving in a cruel mockery of a smile. “It’s the bench bunny.”
Giving her a deadpan stare, I flick my gaze purposefully to Finn before fixing her with a look of faux sympathy. “Could youbeany more obvious?”
Her lips curl. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” I gesture between her and Finn. “You’re laying it on so thick it’s actually painful to watch.”
Her eyes narrow, her hand sliding up Finn’s arm. “Jealous much?”
I bark out a laugh. “Of what, exactly?”
Her nails tighten on Finn’s bicep, and I swear, for just a second, he winces. “Oh, I don’t know,” she says airily. “The fact that some of us don’t have to degrade ourselves for attention?”
I freeze. The entire table goes silent, and I can feel them all listening in.
She smirks, taking my silence as an opening. “I mean, I can’t imagine how humiliating it must be. No talent, no real skill—just a girl desperate for a spot on a team full of guys who don’t even want her there.” She taps her finger deliberately against her chin. “You have to wonder what she did to get it.”
There it is. The implication. The nasty, ugly rumor Kyle tried to start at the roster party.
Heat rushes through me, fury burning up my spine. I feel Ethan go rigid beside me, his hand coming up like he’s about to cut in, but I’m already moving, clapping my hand over his as I lean forward, voice deadly soft.
“You think I slept my way onto this team? Into my position?”
She shrugs, fiddling with the end of her hair. “Well, it’s not like you earned it.”
A slow, vicious smile spreads across my lips. “And yet here you are, plastered against Finn like a human leech, trying to suck your way into relevance. Tell me, what’s it like being the living embodiment of a cliché?”
Her face reddens. “Bitch.”
I tilt my head. “No, see, if I were really a bitch, I’d point out the fact that Finn isn’t the least bit interested in you. You fill a void for him. You’re a distraction. A toy.” Her lips part in a protest. “And you know how I know that? Because he wasn’t paying you a lick of attention until I sat down. Because, despiteall your desperate little touches, he hasn’t reacted once.” I throw my hands wide. “And here you are, talking to me instead of sitting in his lap like you so badly want to be.”
Smacking her hands against the table, she rises, glaring at me a final time before storming off.
I wave my fingers at her retreating back. “We always have the best conversations.”
Hand clamped over her mouth, Wren giggles. “That was badass.”
I flash her a triumphant grin, before my face scrunches. “I should really learn her name.” I turn expectant eyes on Finn, who gapes at me.
“Uhh, Linda? Or Laura? Lisa?” I’m pretty sure he was asking himself that last one. Shaking my head, I turn away from him, only to be met with Ethan’s unimpressed stare.
“Really?” he says dryly.
“What?” I ask innocently.
“You antagonized her on purpose.”
“She started it.”
“You escalated it.” I roll my eyes, finally digging back into my wrap, but Ethan isn’t done. “This isn’t middle school, Dylan.”
“No, because in middle school, I would’ve shoved her into a locker.”
Ethan pinches the bridge of his nose. “Always such a thorn in my side.”
“Relax, Captain,” I soothe, rolling my eyes. “I’m not actually going to fight your puck bunny.”
“She’s notmypuck bunny!”
