Page 83 of We Shouldn't Be Together
She nods hurriedly. “Absolutely.”
With the suggestion of Shadow Quest, Jamie and I dash upstairs and boot up the console to play the next mission. I leave for my bedroom to carefully change out of this monkey suit.Phew. No blood oozed out of the bandage. Man, that girl really whacks me.
I circle back to the living room, and Jamie cues up a two-player mission. Guess our characters won’t be duking it out this time. Probably a good thing.
A few minutes into the mission, while Jamie angrily smashes the controller buttons to kill a nasty ogre, my phone buzzes in my pocket. My fingers hover over my controller buttons. There’s only one person it could be. I picture her soft, bouncy curls and hear that adorable giggle.
No, stop it. Game. Play the game.
But the images and sound don’t leave my head. They derail my focus from the game. Thatneverhappens.
“I gotta go,” I say, ditching my controller and rounding the couch.
Jamie retches. “Excuse me? What the heck?”
“Bathroom,” I mutter. “Keep playing without me.”
I move into the bathroom to read her text.
"Hi. I just wanted to say hi."
It takes me aback. I need to read it three more times, and then reply with"Okay?"
She texts back with,"What I was trying to say in the hall after English is, we can chat via text, but it feels so awkward in person."
With a sigh, I sit on the closed toilet seat as I text."You have to admit, we’re not exactly friends."
"I know. I know. But I’ve liked texting with you."
This is it. Do or die. Admit I liked it too, or shut her down.
Shut her down, Kai. What are you waiting for?
"What do you want me to do?"I text."I can’t start hanging out with you."
I’m not usually a fence-sitter. I either believe something, or I wholeheartedly don’t. But this…
With Tabitha, I can’t make a decision either way.
But I am texting her.
Don’t tell me I’ve made my decision.
"Yeah, I know. And my friends would HATE it,"Tabitha texts."But we can study together. I mean, we need to work on our hypotenuse, right?"
I tilt my head, looking at that word that sounds so wrong."You mean hypothesis?"
"Lol, whatever."
"Isn’t your word something to do with triangles?"
"Kai, get over the triangles. Do you want to study with me after school tomorrow?"
I clear my throat and ring a finger around my somehow constricting T-shirt collar. I’m pretty sure Jamie has to work tomorrow. But if she doesn’t, I can’t hang out with Tabitha. I mean, I want to hang out with Jamie more. I always do. That’s a given. Why am I trying to convince myself? It’s true.
I wander out of the bathroom and find Jamie’s head poking over the back of the couch. “James, do you want to hang out tomorrow?”
She groans, throwing her head back against the couch. “Yes, but I have to work.”
