“I’m going to work something out, okay?” I said, trying to reassure her. “Please, just let me work it out. It’s going to be okay, and you don’t have to worry about it. Tomorrow will be a thousand times better. I just didn’t know what to expect
today, and I didn’t prepare so well. I’m fixing that now.”
At least she didn’t argue.
Nicole stayed silent the rest of the way to her house. I pulled up into her driveway and had a nice mental debate about whether or not I should turn off the car and walk her to her door, plan to stay awhile, or just leave her alone. I didn’t want to leave her, but I also hadn’t checked Dad’s schedule for this week.
For the chance to spend more time with her, I was willing to risk Dad’s beating me home. I turned off the car and came around to her side, but she had already opened the door and was starting to get out.
“I thought I was going to open your door for you,” I reminded her.
“We’re not at school, Thomas,” Nicole said. “There isn’t any reason to pretend here.”
I nodded, but I didn’t like it. I wanted to open her door for her even if there wasn’t anyone looking. I wanted to take care of her. I came up with an excuse instead.
“It’s good to stay in practice,” I said, hoping she would believe me. I had to move quickly to follow her up to the front door. “You know, so we don’t forget when there are other people around? This won’t work if it’s not convincing.”
“I think everyone is convinced,” Nicole said dryly.
“For now,” I said, but my mind was starting to spin a little bit with the other sorts of things people were going to expect. I mean, I would expect to end up with at least the threat of detention for PDA or something, not an actual detention—which no teacher in his or her right mind would give me—but at least the warning. The whole idea reminded me that I never did hear what Crystal’s exact transgression was.
“What did she say to you?” I asked.
Nicole didn’t respond for some time and then finally let out a long sigh.
“Are you going to tell me what you said to her?” Nicole asked.
“That conversation is not on my bucket list,” I admitted.
At least that got a bit of a snicker out of her.
“Let’s just leave it like that, okay?” she suggested.
“If you want,” I replied. I wasn’t really worried about it; I could always find out from someone else.
My pocket meowed.
“What the hell is that?”
“My new ringtone,” I said with a shrug. I checked the screen and saw a text from Jeremy but decided to ignore it for now.
“I’m going to finish my homework and get dinner ready,” Nicole said. She opened the front door and then turned to face me. “Thanks for driving me. See you tomorrow morning?”
“Yeah, of course,” I said. I had kind of hoped she would ask me to stay, but I reminded myself that this was all pretend. There wasn’t anyone watching her now, so there was no reason for her to be around me. The façade could continue again tomorrow.
The phone meowed again, and I pulled up the message app.
Took care of the girls—Jeremy
Good I don’t want any more shit from them
I shoved the phone into my pocket, not feeling any better about any of it. My stomach felt like it was turning to stone as I walked back to my car by myself, started the engine, and headed for my house. All the way there, I tried to figure out why it was getting me down. Even after fucking girls, I never felt bad about leaving them in the dust afterwards, and I had hardly touched Nicole.
I kind of wanted to, though. Maybe that was the problem.
Dad had beaten me home, so I mentally prepared myself as I approached the house.
“Why are you fucking with Harry Lloyd?” Dad asked as soon as I walked in the door.