Complete Nothing (True Love #2)(25)

“Excuse me for a second,” I said to Tasha.

“You’re gonna have to pay for that one too!” Tasha said needlessly.

I rounded the counter and approached the boys. They stopped talking as I walked up, and one of them slapped another on the arm to get his attention. They clearly liked what they saw. After two weeks of being considered an odd troll at Lake Carmody High, it was a good feeling. But I wasn’t here for me. I was here for Claudia. And there were a few things she wanted to know about a guy before she decided to use him.

I mean, date him.

I tossed my long black hair over my shoulder and smiled at my target.

“Congratulations! You’re the winner of tonight’s free cupcake!” I told him.

His brow knit. I saw that he had a tiny scar over one eye, and the clearest skin I’d ever seen outside Mount Olympus. Up there, skin was clear as a matter of course.

“Um, great!” he said. “Why?”

“Because you’re our hundredth customer of the day!” I improvised, lifting my shoulders.

“But he didn’t buy anything,” a scrawny boy with plain features protested. “I paid for everyone. So technically it should be my—”

“Fine. Take it,” I said, dropping the plate in front of him with a clatter. I slipped out my order pad and a pen from the pocket in my apron. “Now let me get your name.”

“My name or his name?” the handsome boy said with a grin.

He laced his fingers together and sat back, and I realized he was that guy. That guy who’s completely comfortable in his own skin. The one who seems to be born with confidence oozing out of his pores. The guy every girl fell for because he knew who he was, what he wanted, and what he was going to do with it when he got it. He was cocky, no doubt, and cocky boys were often players, but that was fine. In fact, it was perfect. If he was into the quick and casual relationships, then I didn’t have to worry about him falling in love with Claudia and her breaking his heart when she got back together with Peter.

“Your name,” I replied. “And age. And school affiliation.”

“Why do you need his name?” scrawny boy asked. “I’m the one who—”

“Zach, shut up,” one of the other guys said. Zach did.

“I’m Keegan Traylor,” the handsome boy said. “I’m a senior at St. Joe’s.” He leaned toward me and smirked. “If you want to go out with me, you can just ask.”

I smirked back. Definitely a player. “I’m not interested. But I do need to know a few things about you,” I said as I made a mental run-through of the requirements Claudia had mentioned back at the diner.

“Such as?” he asked, straightening his jacket.

“What sport do you play?” I asked.

“Football,” he replied, reaching for his soda cup. “I also run track in the spring.”

I made a note of it. “What’s your favorite subject in school?”

“History.”

“Your religion?”

He raised his palms like duh. “Catholic.”

“Do you like to dance?” I asked.

He and his friends cackled. “You know it.”

“Got a job?”

“I work for my dad at his office some days,” he said. “He’s a PT, like I’m gonna be.”

“Got a girlfriend?” I asked.

Keegan Traylor gave me a long, lazy, self-satisfied smile, like this was the question he’d been waiting for. He took a sip of his soda through the straw and looked me up and down.

“Not at the moment, no.”





CHAPTER THIRTEEN


Peter


I sat down in the gym bleachers, near the end of one of the benches, surrounded by my teammates. Claudia, Lauren, True, and the rest of the boosters were sitting right across the aisle, behind the JV cheerleaders, and I tried my best not to be distracted by Claudia, but it was next to impossible. She looked gorgeous in a navy-blue dress, her hair down around her shoulders, and she was wearing more eye makeup than usual. She was right there and I couldn’t touch her. Couldn’t even talk to her.

“Okay, everyone! Listen up!”

The varsity cheerleaders stood in a straight line at the center of the basketball court, with their captain, Liza Verdanos, at the center, demanding our attention. Tall and curvy with wavy dark hair and a birthmark over her lip, Liza was the most untouchable girl at Lake Carmody High. Rumor had it she only dated college guys, and I believed it.

Next to her stood Casey Catalfo, Claudia’s little sister, and she was looking right at me as if imagining the best way to murder me. I bent over to retie my sneaker.

“Let’s pay attention so we can do our run-through and get back to lunch,” Liza shouted. “At the start of the pep rally, the football team will be gathered in the locker room, waiting for your entrance. . . .”

I tuned her out as Gavin loped down the bleachers to sit next to me, forcing me to jostle inward and everyone else in my row to move too. It wasn’t like we hadn’t done these pep rallies before. At this point, I was an expert. He nodded to Orion, Lester, and Josh Moskowitz, who were sitting behind me.

“How’s it going, man?” Gavin put his backpack down between his feet and glanced over at Claudia. “You going over there?”