Page 11 of Heartbeat

“I’m in your English lit class. I still have no clue as to who Lucy Bell is.”

“We kind of have a thing,” he said awkwardly

“That I got.”

“Only it’s not an actual thing, as much as it’s just—”

“Undefined?”

“It’s more like this casual, random hookup that usually occurs before a competition starts.”

“Sounds like a thing.”

“It’s not a thing,” he said defensively. “How about you and Casper?”

“Summer. Ex.”

“That explains the vodka.”

“No.” I smiled. “It’s not like that.”

“You mean the same way Lucy and I don’t have a thing? Like that?” He smirked.

“No. We broke up months ago. We’ve actually been friends our whole lives; we just hadn’t seen each other in a while.”

“You’re friends with your ex?”

“Yeah. She’s great.”

“With just that one or, like, all of them?” he asked, intrigued.

“I’ve only ever dated her.”

“Huh.”

“What?”

“Not to get into the fact that being friends with an ex is absolutely foreign to me,” he said. “It’s kind of interesting how you say you’re friends with her and yet go straight for the vodka after bumping into her.”

“Well—”

“Not to mention calling her a ghost.”

“Yes, I get how that would seem confusing—”

“Look, I’m not saying it’s bullshit—” he said, half-smiling and clearly enjoying it a bit too much.

“It’s not bullshit.”

“Exactly. I’m not saying that.” He shook his head.

“Right.”

He was totally calling it bullshit.

“It just sounds…tricky.”

“You’ve no idea.” I shook my head.

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