The Way to Game the Walk of Shame(43)

“Uh, yeah.” Her frown deepened until finally I turned off the phone and tossed it on the coffee table. “So if I didn’t tell you already, your idea of a Saturday night is awesome. Way to be wild.”

Her gaze stayed on the laptop screen, but a smile tugged at her lips. “Thank you. And I do know how to be wild. Just in a responsible way. I’m doing this work now so I can be free to go to a play with Carly and Brian tomorrow.”

My hands rose up in mock surrender. “Whoa, wild and responsible. Maybe I should call the police.” I waited a minute for her to finish laughing. “So a play, huh? With Carly and Brian?”

“Yeah, one of Carly’s theater friends is in it, and she was hoping to meet the director. Maybe act in a couple of his other plays this summer. We’re just going to give her some moral support.”

I nodded. “Thanks for the invite, by the way. I like plays, too, you know.”

She looked up at me in surprise. Even I had to cringe at the jealousy in my voice. “I figured you’d be busy. You told me you had some epic boys’ night planned with Aaron tomorrow, right?”

Shit, she was right. I was supposed to be his wingman. I’d been so busy with Taylor these days that Aaron had pulled the best-friend card to get me to help him with some chick he was crushing on. Although epic wasn’t the word to describe what he had planned. The girl Aaron liked only worked at the bowling alley on Family Sunday Funday, so we’d be spending the night with parents and their kids. I didn’t want to go, but he blackmailed me with embarrassing stories about my first time. Let’s just say I was nervous and shaking so much that the girl asked if I was having a seizure.

Still, the thought of Brian and Taylor together in a dark theater made my stomach clench. Who cares about bro code and stories that could ruin my reputation?

Taylor was still staring at me, so I flipped through the pages she handed me before changing the subject. “You know, I should just ditch you. You’d never be able to catch me with your short legs. And by the time you walked to my house to yell at me, I could have at least twenty minutes of game time. Even longer, if my mom doesn’t let you in.”

Taylor’s grin was wide and beaming over the top of the screen. “But you know that she will. She loves me. And don’t even think about locking your bedroom door, either, because I know how to pick locks.”

“Whatever.”

“It’s true. Kimmy used to accidentally lock herself in her room all the time when she was small, so I learned how to pick the lock. I could do it with a credit card or a bobby pin. Heck, I could even do it with a fork.”

My eyebrows rose. “Really? A fork?”

“Seriously.” She lifted her arms and made a popping motion with her hands. Her lips even smacked together to make the popping noise to emphasize it. “A few seconds, and you’d have nowhere to hide.”

I laughed and shook my head. “And just when I thought you couldn’t surprise me anymore, I find out about your burgling talent. I guess that’s something you could fall back on if the lawyering thing doesn’t work out.”

Her lips pursed together, and she shook her head. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen. There’s no falling back on anything.”

Jeez, we couldn’t even joke about her failing. Even though Taylor wasn’t a stuck-up, stick-in-the-mud Ice Queen like everyone said she was—and believe me, this was the nicest thing they said—she never joked about her aspirations to be a lawyer. Her determination was annoying, but admirable at the same time. Like Taylor herself.

Although some days, she was more annoying than others.

My toes poked Oreo in his side as he lay beside the coffee table, gnawing on a chew toy. At first he didn’t move, but after a couple of jabs, he growled, grabbed his toy in case I was going to steal it, and scooted back a few feet until he was out of reach.

Taylor rolled her eyes and laughed. “Yeah, you’re working really hard.”

“Well, harder than I’ve ever worked on a Saturday.”

“That’s not saying much.”

Her sarcastic tone made my mouth jerk into a half grin. “That’s true, but that’s because I’m usually enjoying myself on Saturday.”

She snuggled deeper in her seat. Her feet were crossed on the table between us. “Yeah, I can imagine exactly how you enjoyed yourself with other girls. But doesn’t that get boring after a while?”

“Not if you’re doing it right.” Taylor didn’t say anything and went back to typing on her laptop. “And I did plenty of stuff with them.” And on them, I silently added. “Lauren was a pro. Maybe you should ask her for some tips.”

Her hands froze. Finally, that got a reaction out of her. She sat up straighter and glared at me. “Like what?”

I wasn’t sure why this irritated her so much, but I couldn’t resist pushing her even more toward the edge. “Anything, really. She really was something else. I mean, you’re great and all, but it’s not like you have me eating out of the palm of your hand.”

She cocked her head to one side and crossed her arms. “Oh really?”

Another push. “You could try, but I doubt you could pull it off.”

And over the edge she went. Her dark eyes flashed and narrowed until they were small slits. Taylor snapped the laptop shut with one hand. “There’s one more thing you need to learn about me.”