Complete Nothing (True Love #2)(8)
I tugged Peter’s large class ring out from under the collar of my shirt, where it hung on a gold chain, and toyed with it. It wasn’t as if I could blame the girl for her confusion. Honestly. It had been fifteen months, three weeks, and two days since Peter had first asked me out, and even I sometimes found myself wondering how and why it had happened in the first place. We’re talking about Peter Marrott here, people. He was the hottest, most popular, most athletic guy in the senior class. Girls had started crushing on him in kindergarten. He’d been voted best-looking in eighth grade by a landslide (I was in charge of counting the votes, so I knew). Before me he’d gone out with Aura Sen, who was a year older than us and the hottest of Lake Carmody’s legendary Hot Sen Sisters. (There were five of them, and the youngest had already won some pageant that put her on the cover of the local paper last year.) But they’d broken up after the junior prom scandal two springs ago. (Rumor was there was vomit involved. Lots of vomit.) Three weeks later he’d come to his sister’s dance recital, which had just happened to also be my dance recital, and afterward he’d waited for me—yes, me—to come out of the dressing room and now here we were, sitting at Pizza City together for the hundredth time with his superhot and popular friends.
Lester excepted, of course. From the hot part, anyway.
So yes, I’d been surprised when he’d first asked me out. While I do have good hair and a tight body, I’m not Aura Sen–level beautiful. But now that I knew Peter so well, I wasn’t surprised we’d been together as long as we had. We didn’t have any classes together and we hung out with different crowds at school, but opposites attract, right? And besides, when it came down to it, we had more in common than anyone could imagine. We were both family-oriented athletes with responsible natures, and we supported each other. Would little miss cleavage-shover understand any of that? My guess was no.
“What do you want to do this weekend?” Peter asked me as I leaned into his side. Gavin launched a grape tomato at Lester, and Lester caught it in his mouth. Orion, meanwhile, texted on his phone with a crease between his eyes, like whatever he was doing was super serious.
“I don’t know,” I said, smiling up at him. “The usual?”
“You mean sit around and be boring?” Lester said with a cackle. A grape tomato hit him in the temple and bounced along the floor.
“Dude. Back off,” Peter said, reaching behind me to shove Lester’s head.
“Don’t bother. I’m used to it,” I told Peter, rolling my eyes with a smile. Nothing was going to bring me down today. Not even Lester’s relentless mocking of me and my boring life and straight As. After almost a year and a half of being Peter’s girlfriend, I was used to it. And besides, today was the big day. I was going to find out if I’d gotten the audition at the Lafayette School of Dance. I was so excited I’d had to use the bathroom between every single class. If I got that audition, my future was practically set. Then we’d just have to figure out Peter’s.
“Are you ready for your meeting with Mr. Garvey tomorrow?” I asked him.
His leg started bouncing under the table, just like it always did whenever the subject of college came up.
“Um, yeah. I think so.” He fiddled with the straw in his soda cup.
“Did you fill out the general application?” I asked. “Because if you want, I can come over after ballet and help you with it.”
“What’re you, his mom?” Lester asked.
Gavin kicked him under the table. We heard the pop, and then Lester bent over, rubbing his shin.
“It’s cool. I got it,” Peter said.
“Are you sure?” I asked. “Because he said he wanted you to have it done before you met. It’s no problem if you want me to—”
“I said, I’ve got it,” Peter snapped.
I looked down at my salad, feeling as if I’d been slapped. Every time I offered to help Peter with his applications or his school search, he got tense with me. I just didn’t get it. Didn’t he understand that I was trying to help? That I wanted to be part of his decision and his future? I loved him and I wanted him to have the life he deserved, but it seemed like he didn’t want me involved. At all.
Maybe he didn’t feel the same way about me as I felt about him.
“So, what does a booster do, exactly?” Orion asked me, putting his phone away. I could have kissed him for breaking the awkward silence. Except then Peter would have pounded him. Except, then again, maybe he wouldn’t. Either way, I decided it was safer to spear a cucumber slice with my fork. Peter, meanwhile, wolfed down another slice of sausage pizza as if nothing had happened.
“We basically make you feel like a superstar,” I explained, and Orion grinned. “I’m sorry you got stuck with that klepto, though. What was she even doing in the bleachers during practice? Stalking you?”
Orion shrugged and glanced out the window at the packed parking lot. “I don’t know, I kinda like her. Did you know that she randomly kissed me this morning? Out of nowhere?”
My jaw dropped. “See? Freak!”
Orion laughed and blushed, reaching for a pizza slice. I wished him luck with that one. What kind of person just takes something out of your bag when you don’t even know them? And then she didn’t apologize when I confronted her about it. Weird.