Fallen Crest Alternative Version (Fallen Crest High #2.1)(67)

He shot me a dark look. “Whatever, Sam. I’m thinking long picture. She deserves better.”

“Then give her the common decency and allow her to make that decision. Sorry to say, but I think she deserves a guy who enjoys her company and who’s not ashamed of her.” I fixed him with a meaningful look. “Unlike some people.”

He wrinkled his nose and stepped back again. “Whatever.”

“Whatever, my ass.” I poked him in the chest. “And you might want to rethink him. Mason and Logan like him.”

“They’ve met him?”

I nodded.

“They liked him?”

“A lot.”

He made another disgusted sound and shook his head. His hand raked through his hair and he grimaced. “I can’t believe this. I’m living in the twilight zone. I know it. Where are the zombies?”

“I’m not sure your metaphor’s right.”

“I’m not sure yours is,” he shot back with a twitch to his eyebrow.

With the smirk on his face, if I hadn’t known better I would’ve thought he was trying to flirt with me. Everything went flat inside of me. An image of Mason flashed in my mind, how his head was nestled into the pillow beside mine when I got up this morning.

I forced a polite tone in my voice, polite but distant, “Don’t you have your first hockey game tonight?”

He grimaced and pulled the collar of his shirt away from his neck. “Uh, yeah. You’re right.” He sighed and rolled his eyes. “I love sports. I do, but I’m getting sick of always being on the go, you know? Between work and practice…” Then he eyed me up and down again.

I shifted back and smoothed down my shirt.

“Did you still want that job at the Country Club?”

“Not really, but I might have to reconsider. I wanted to ask Logan if he knew of a job for me, but that never happened.” I didn’t want to go into the details of why not so I rushed forward. “So yeah. I think I might be up for that job.”

“Great.” His smile was blinding. “My boss asked me yesterday about it and I need a replacement tonight. Would you be willing to fill in?”

I couldn’t breathe. “Are you serious?”

“No.” He bent over in laughter. After one, then two hand slaps to his knee, he looked back up, but doubled over again. “You should’ve seen the horror on your face. I swear you would’ve rather take a pie to the face than work.”

I scowled as he continued to laugh. “It’s not that funny.”

“Oh, but it is.” Then he tried to wipe his smile away and he coughed to stop the laughing. “Sorry, just…sorry. Anyway, yeah, you can still have the job. You don’t mind being a server?”

“Can I bartend instead?”

“Uh…”

“Kidding.” The Elite always had their lunches together. My time to pay was coming up, if it wasn’t already there. I just hoped the bill wouldn’t bankrupt me. “I’ll take whatever.”

“I might get you behind the counter sooner than you think. Your bio dad’s been around a bunch. Did you know that?”

I stiffened.

The girl next door to me opened her locker and Adam leaned on it. He threw an arm over it and crossed his legs. She squeaked when she saw who was leaning on her locker and buried her head inside. I didn’t miss the blush.

“Garrett’s been around?” I averted my eyes and forced my tone to remain normal. I had to be normal.

“Yeah.” He had no clue and he continued, “I guess the new caterer was his wife, or something. I’m not sure what’s going on there.”

“She’s his wife.” My heart started to pick up its pace, and I moved to open my locker. I needed something to do while he told me this.

“Yeah, I guess. Anyway, she’s really cool. Nice, you know? Mrs. Carmella hates her now, but it doesn’t matter. The staff already rallied around her. They love her. I heard a couple of the prep cooks saying that she knows her stuff and she’ll pitch in to help, no matter what the deed is. No clue what that means, but they like her. Maybe it’s the dishes. I saw her doing the dishes one night.”

I forced down my anger. It wasn’t her fault that I was kicked out because Garrett wanted his wife back home with him. At least, I hoped it wasn’t her fault.

“Yeah.” He laughed.

The sound was so carefree, it grated on my ears.

He continued, nonplussed, “You know she asked me about you. She remembers that day I introduced you to Mrs. Carmella. She asked if I was your boyfriend. Can you believe that?”

I swallowed over a thick piece of bark. Really. He couldn’t believe that? I shut my locker with more force than I needed and stared at him. “Tell me you corrected her, right?”

“What?” He straightened from the locker.

My eyes felt dead as I held his gaze. “Tell me you told her you weren’t my boyfriend because you’re not. Mason is. Tell me you set her straight.”

“Of course, I did.”

I saw the guilt. He hadn’t. My jaw hardened and I hugged my book bag to my chest. “I have enough lies and rumors going around about me. I don’t need you to add to them.”

“But—Sam!”