I gaped at her. “She thinks I’m what?”
Desi crossed her arms, looking smug. “Don’t look all shocked, dude.”
My heart hammered in my chest again, but not in a good way. I turned to leave before Dez could see how much her words had pissed me off. And hurt.
A posse of middle school girls ran into the store, giggling. They stopped to stare at me, giggling even louder, then pelted Desi with shouted orders.
“Don’t give up, Edmunds!” She called after me. “She’s worth it.”
As I spun around, I almost crashed into Trey.
“Hey man.” He gave me a high-five. “You scamming my girl for free food? I hope you left some for me.” He grinned.
“Yeah,” I said, forcing a laugh. “I left you a few crumbs.”
Trey jangled his keys. “You going to Jackson’s party tonight?”
I shrugged. Maybe I should. Anything to get BB off my mind. “Maybe. You?”
“Yeah, as soon as Dez gets off work. Text me if you decide to go. You should bring Trina.”
I froze. “What?”
Trey punched me on the arm. “Mary Poppins. Drag her along. That girl needs to get out more. Dez and I try to drag her to parties and stuff, but she hardly ever goes.”
“I…uh…why do you think I can drag her out if you and Desi can’t?”
He shrugged. “I dunno. You’re working together, right? Isn’t your golden boy glam working on her?”
God, he was as bad as Alex.
“She’d rather stay home watching documentaries than go out with me. Trust me.”
Trey laughed. “Same ol’ T. She’s like seventeen going on seventy.” He tossed his keys in the air and caught them. “Whatever, dude. Maybe I’ll see you tonight.”
“Maybe. Catch you later.”
But as I walked to my car, I knew that I’d be the one staying in tonight, watching lame movies by myself.
My stomach twisted as I thought of what Desi said Trina thought about me. I didn’t care. Not really. She was just a coworker.
Nothing more.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Trina
Saturday, June 15
My phone pinged, rousing me from my couch doze.
Call me asap!
Desi.
I dialed her number. “911. What’s your emergency?”
She giggled in my ear. “Are you sitting down?”
“Technically I’m lying down.”
“Perfect. Now close your eyes. Ready?”
I rolled my eyes, but closed them. Not like she could see, but I’d play along.
“Slade is totally into you.”
My eyes flew open and my heart flew around inside my chest, looking for somewhere to land.
“What?” My voice was a whisper.
“Slade! Oh my God, Trina. He totally stalked me at the mall asking a million questions about you. He’s mad crazy in love with you, girl.”
I closed my eyes, not daring to believe it.
“Maybe you misunderstood. Maybe he was just—”
“Just what?” she snapped. “Since when does he go hunting for girls? Trust me, this is big. I know his style. Slade never works at getting girls. They just line up, and he picks who he wants.”
“Then clearly you’re wrong,” I said. “If there’s a line of girls wrapped around the block, why would he care about me? He probably just stopped in for free pretzels and made small talk with you.”
I tried to believe the words as I said them, but my stupid heart was still flying around inside my chest like a caged bird trying to burst free.
Desi snorted in my ear. “He blushed, Trina. Slade never blushes.”
I kicked the blanket off my legs. I was burning up.
“So you embarrassed him. You’ve made me blush before.”
“You’re damn right I embarrassed him—when I accused him of falling for you.”
“You what?” I jumped up and paced around the living room.
“To quote, I said, ‘Slade Edmunds. I never would have guessed you’d fall for her.’ And he said he hadn’t fallen for you, but his face totally gave him away.”
My heart sank back into place. “Desi, you’re contradicting yourself. If he said—”
“You didn’t see his face when he said it. Trust me, girlfriend, you’re the brightest light on his radar right now.”
No way.
“What did he want to know?”
She hesitated. “Oh, just stuff. You know.”
“Now you’re going to be vague? You could quote him thirty seconds ago, but now you don’t remember what he asked?” What was she hiding?
She sighed in my ear. “Trey’s waiting for me, Trina. I’ll call you tomorrow. Maybe I’ll remember better then.”
“You suck at lying, Desi.”
“I know.”
“Just tell me.”
She sighed. “He’s trying to figure out…he wants to know why…”
“Why I’m such a freak?” I flopped face down on the couch and buried my head in the cushion.
“He never called you a freak. Or any other name.” She paused. “Honestly, Trina, I’ve never seen him act this way before.”
A loud car horn sounded through the phone.
“I’ve gotta go before my dad kills Trey for honking.” Desi’s voice was rushed. “Call you tomorrow!”
I tossed my phone on the coffee table and buried my head deeper in the couch cushion. Slade figuring out the Freaky Trina show was not going to happen. No way.
Why did he care, anyway?
I headed into my bedroom and booted up my computer. I stared at my screen, willing it to swallow me whole and send me into its circuitry, like that weird Tron movie. I’d rather battle video game characters who could kill me than write my weekly report for Slade’s mom.
Or think about why Slade was asking prying questions about me.
Even worse, another paycheck had arrived in the mail from Dr. Edmunds. I’d shoved it in my desk drawer because I couldn’t bring myself to deposit them anymore. Not when my feelings about Slade were such a jumble.
The cursor blinked at me, daring me to put on my “mentor” hat and document all the things Slade had done wrong. Or right.
What about me? What about all the things I’d screwed up? Maybe I should write a report about myself. I sighed heavily and started typing.
The kids are bonding well with Slade.
I paused. What about Slade and me? Were we bonding? Something had shifted at Jungle Fever. There’d been that moment under the tree, when I thought maybe….
This was the problem with me going so long without dating, or going on blind dates from hell courtesy of Desi. I’d forgotten how to be normal around guys.
I jumped up from my chair. Mom was working a twenty-four hour shift, so the rest of the afternoon and night were completely mine. I needed to do something to get out of my head. I didn’t want to turn into one of those stupid obsesso-girls who couldn’t talk or think about anything but some guy.
The bus ride to the shelter would put me there in less than an hour. Sharon was always happy to see me, and there had to be something constructive to do there. Maybe it would absolve a little bit of my guilt about those stupid paychecks sitting in my drawer.
And keep my mind off Slade and his prying questions.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Trina
Monday, June 17
I woke up exhausted. Besides a nightmare about my brother, something I hadn’t had for a long time, I’d also dreamt about Slade. We’d sat under the tree at the park and he’d kissed me, but then he’d pulled away, laughing, and suddenly we were surrounded by a bunch of kids from school, laughing and pointing at me.
Yesterday, before he’d stalked Desi at the mall, Slade had texted me his idea for the day. He wanted to take the kids to a park that had outdoor rock walls for climbing and fountains that shot out of the ground. He’d surprised me by suggesting he pick me up first, and then we’d get the kids.