Page 101 of We Shouldn't Be Together
It works. Her eyes dazzle with delight, and her pouty lips curve upward at the sides. She slows, like she wants to talk to me. I look down, checking for signs of a limp, and there aren’t any. I lift my gaze, smiling at her, and she subtly lifts a thumbs up, smiling back.
Dang it. I check on Tyler again. If I say I want to tie my shoelace, will he keep walking? Man, it’s history. He’s in no rush to get there.
I turn my face more to the right, deciding what I could subtly mouth to her.
Concern falls over her face, picking up on my awkwardness. As her chin drops, her gaze flicks at Tyler, and then back to me. And then she hurries past me.
My feet drag against the floor. There has to be something I can do. Some excuse I can make in order to turn around and chase after her.
“Dude?” Tyler calls, stopping up ahead. “What are you doing?”
I shake it off and catch up with him. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
“You’ve been a space cadet all morning. What’s up with you?”
“No, nothing. I’m cool. Don’t sweat it.”
“You’re not worried about our upcoming game, are you? I know you’ve been trying to perfect those crazy skills, but Coach won’t bench you if you can’t do a freaking rainbow kick.”
I huff. “I’m not worried about my game, Ty. I’ve got that covered.”
“Then what is it?”
Yes, it’d be easy to cover with jitters over my game performance, but I can’t stomach that. No way am I having anyone believe I’m nervous about soccer. That’s never gonna happen.
“Kai?” he presses.
I should tell him. It’d be good to tell someone. I could at least admit to studying with Tabitha at Village Coffee. Ah, scratch that. None of my friends would approve of me going to Jamie’s competition.
I shrug as we turn into our history classroom. “Just something I was listening to on a podcast.”
“And it has you this rattled? Usually you’d be talking my ear off about a government cover-up or an underground celebrity mafia.”
My mind is still on Tabitha as we walk to our seats in the back row. “You know that case on the Crime Spree’d podcast, about the couple who kept arguing in a coffee shop and no one said anything?”
Tyler exhales hard as he takes his seat. “That was rough. I still can’t forget how they described that crime scene.”
“Exactly. Something yesterday reminded me of it. I can’t get it out of my mind.”
“Did you see a couple getting into it?” he asks with concern. “Do you need to say something? Like, to the police or something?”
Okay, he’s buying this a little too much. I fake a smile to calm his nerves. “Actually, someone did, and the police questioned them. Might be a good outcome.”
Tyler grins. “Sweet. Too bad it wasn’t good for the other couple, right?”
I nod. “Right.”
Is this really what it’s come to? Lying to my friends?
And for what? I don’t even know if this thing with Tabitha will amount to anything. And if it does, what then? I can’t lie about where I am and who I’m with forever. Eventually, they’ll need to know I’m spending time with her.
I clear my throat. “Well, umm, the weird thing was…” I huff a breath and decide to spit it out. “I was studying with Tabitha Jones yesterday. You know, we’re stuck together on that chemistry assignment? Anyway, she brought up the podcast.”
Okay, it’s done. I said it.
Tyler’s eyebrow pops, but the rest of his expression is neutral. “Tabitha Jones listens to Crime Spree’d?”
“See why I’m rattled? Who’d have guessed?”
