Ceaseless (Existence Trilogy #3)(6)

“Is your cell number still the same?” Jay asked. Dang it. Did the boy not take a hint? I was not interested in him. He had moved on. Jeez.

“Yep. Her number hasn’t changed,” Miranda replied when it was obvious I wasn’t going to.

This time I kicked Miranda.

“Ouch!” she squealed.

“Get rid of them,” I whispered to Gee who was sitting there surprisingly quiet watching the whole thing.

She winked at me and turned her attention back to Jay. “Looks like Pagan isn’t up for anymore chat-chat, Jay Jay. So you and your girlfriend can get back to humping on the dance floor. It was entertaining us earlier.”

I covered my face with my hands. Why had I trusted her to handle this?

Miranda burst into a fit of giggles and spun around on her stool away from them too. I kept my eyes closed tightly hoping they’d just walk away. I did not want Jay to think I’d been watching him dirty dance.

“They are gone. You’re welcome.” Gee announced and raised her empty glass in the air and rattled the ice around. “He’s kinda cute but I’m thinking that chick he has hanging on him has silver tipped nails ready to slice open anyone who gets close.”

“I picked up on that,” I replied and drank the last of the soda in my glass.

“He is so still into you,” Miranda said nudging my arm. Was she blind? Jay was very taken. He had always been polite and friendly to everyone. Of course he would be to us. We’d all done everything together from the time we’d been freshman to the year he graduated before us.

“No he isn’t. Besides, I’m not looking.”

Miranda sighed and made a pouty face. “You’re never looking. You weren’t even aware of the sexiness that is Dank Walker today.”

That was where she was wrong. I was very aware of how sexy Dank Walker had been. It would take a blind person to miss that fact and even then they would probably be able to tell. His voice was hypnotic. But he was a lead singer in a rock band. Not my type. His kind wanted a girl long enough to get her naked and in bed. Then he moved on.

“I noticed. I just didn’t care. I don’t do rockers. That’s your thing.”

Gee cleared her throat and I turned my attention to her. “What you got against musicians?”

“The fact that they want a different girl every night. Sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll,” I replied.

Gee studied me a moment then nodded her head slowly as if she agreed. “Maybe, but Dank isn’t your typical lead singer.”

“Sure he isn’t,” I replied letting the sarcasm drip from my tone. “I’m not in the mood to talk about this. How long do we have to stay here?”

“We just got here, Pagan. A cute guy hasn’t even asked me to dance yet,” Miranda whined, glancing over both her shoulders for any males who may be checking her out so she could pounce.

“Okay, fine. We’ll wait until you get to dance, then can we leave?”

“You got boring Peggy Ann,” Gee mumbled.

What was it with her calling me Peggy Ann? She knew my name was Pagan. And why did she keep referring to me as if we had known each other for longer than half a day? Did she do drugs? She had been on the back of Dank Walker’s motorcycle today. Maybe she was a groupie. Didn’t groupies do drugs and sleep with the band?

“Oh, boys!” Miranda squealed quietly and tugged on my arm. Two boys were standing behind us. One of them looked familiar; I must have seen him somewhere before.

“It’s nice to meet you, Nathan,” Miranda said in her sweet voice. The one she thought was sexy and only used when an attractive guy was talking to her. The familiar one was very focused on her. He ran a hand through his dark brown hair that curled on the ends giving it a messy look. I liked him. I wasn’t sure why exactly, but I approved.

“This is my friend, Pagan,” Miranda announced to the boys. “Pagan this is Nathan and Kent. They both go to UT.”

Kent took a step toward me. “If you dance with me, I think your friend will dance with Nathan, and if you’ve noticed he’s practically drooling. He hasn’t taken his eyes off her since y’all walked in here.” The teasing grin on his face as he looked at Nathan alleviated any worry I had. He wasn’t hitting on me. He was here as Nathan’s wingman. I stood up and took the hand that Kent had held out to me.

“I’d love to dance,” I smiled back at Miranda, “throw the boy a bone.” I told her causing her to laugh as she stood up and slipped her hand in Nathan’s. He was staring at her as if he’d just been gifted some rare jewel. I liked that. A lot. So far Nathan had my approval.

“By all means, you two run along and dance. I’ll just sit here and drink.” Gee said reminding me she was there. Feeling guilty I looked back at her, but she had an amused smirk on her face so I knew she was teasing. Besides, Gee was a rock band groupie. She didn’t do college boys.

“We’ll be back soon,” I assured her.

She held up her newest drink, “I’m fine and dandy right here. Please go entertain yourselves. Maybe you’ll lighten up Peggy Ann.”

I rolled my eyes at her continued use of her nickname for me. I realized that I would always be Peggy Ann to her. She wasn’t going to stop calling me that.

“Let’s dance,” I said turning to Kent.