Unexpected Arrivals(14)
“I want to be mad at you. I look like an ass to everyone on campus, even though I know how she is.”
“If you look at my face, you’ll see my expression is directed at Coach, and my left arm is limp at my side—not embracing her the way I always do you.”
“I don’t care to look at it. I just want to be pissed off for a while. And maybe make you wander around school doting on me and turning your nose up at the likes of Tiffany. You should probably carry my books, too. Oh, and I might have drawn a few mustaches on papers left in the student center.”
“On me? Why?” I pushed her back to see her expression.
“No! On Tiffany. Don’t worry, I used a light blue Sharpie to keep with school spirit.” Her laughter filled the air around us, and I quickly became aware of people staring in our direction.
Seconds after we seemed to have moved past the uncomfortable photograph, Tiffany wandered up as though she’d been waiting for the perfect moment to destroy my day…more than she already had.
“Hey, Carp. Did you see our picture on the front page this morning?” It was like she was oblivious to the fact that Cora was stuck to my side. Hell, Cora could have had her hands down my pants and her tongue in my mouth, and it wouldn’t have deterred Tiffany.
“Not cool, Tiffany. Do you have any idea how many problems you’ve caused?” I hadn’t run into Todd yet, though I was sure I’d have a pissing contest on my hands with him, as well.
She flipped her hair over her shoulder and adjusted the books in her arms. “Oh, calm down. It was just a victory picture.” Tiffany turned her attention toward Cora, yet she continued to speak to me. “If anyone has an issue with it, maybe they should have been there or not be so insecure. Confidence is so much more attractive.” Her eyes flitted to mine. “Right, Carp?”
“What are you trying to pull, Tiffany? You’re not endearing yourself to anyone on the team. All this is going to do is make people angry. Not only have I had to explain your actions to Cora, I’m sure I’ll also have to face Todd this afternoon in practice. Not a great way to build team morale.”
“You guys are too uptight.” She hit my arm playfully while Cora and I stared at her like she’d lost her ever-loving mind. “See you on the court.” She didn’t even bother saying goodbye to Cora, and for some reason that pissed me off as much as what she’d done the night before.
As we watched her saunter across the commons, I had no idea what to say. She’d done me a favor by giving me the chance to deny what it appeared had happened, and she hadn’t countered that it had been anything more. Although, at the same time, I felt the tension ebbing off Cora, and that made me want to hit the bitch—Tiffany, that is.
I leaned down to take Cora’s mouth, distracting her from the heinous beast that had just left us, before breaking away and to lighten the situation. “Maybe we should go buy a pack of light-blue Sharpies and get all the guys together to do some more artwork on Tiffany’s cover shot.”
She looked up at me with humor in her eyes, and then we set off to the bookstore and tagged every copy of the paper we could find. Throughout the day, we noticed people had joined our plight in disfiguring Tiffany’s image and laughed with each new rendition we found. There were some really talented artists on campus.
4
James
Other than kids, the one thing Cora and I had avoided like the plague was our plans after graduation. Neil and I had talked openly about buying a small financial firm and joining their team once we had our diplomas in hand, but Cora planned to go to grad school—although she hadn’t said where.
“We’re going to have to talk about it at some point, Cora.” I tried to reason with her when she walked in on Neil and me discussing businesses to consider. He politely excused himself, leaving the two of us alone.
“Why ruin the end of our senior year when we don’t have to, James?” She flitted about the kitchen putting away the groceries she’d bought. I loved the way she hummed a song I’d never heard trying to placate me into denial. It was endearing even though ineffective.
“It doesn’t have to ruin anything.” I followed behind her in a perfectly choreographed dance, taking items from her to put them in places she couldn’t reach in an effortless display of teamwork—we worked together like peanut butter and bananas. She was the flip to my flop. The basket to my ball. The nut to my sack.
She stopped and turned unexpectedly, nearly knocking me over. “Don’t make life decisions based on my whims. You and Neil clearly have a plan outlined, which I think is fantastic. I never believed he’d manage to graduate with us—he’s worked hard to pull this out. Regardless of what happens, or where either of us ends up, we’ll figure it out.”
“If you’d tell me what schools you are considering then we can look at investment firms in that area so we can all stay together.” My tone had taken on a plea that verged on whining, and I neared a point I wanted to put myself in timeout.
“You are aware we aren’t a ménage, right?” Her laughter filled the small space.
I pressed her against the counter with my hips, swaying slightly. “Brother husbands—like sister wives in reverse. You into that kind of thing?” Cora was about as modest as they came; the mere question was laughable.