I raised my eyebrows. How could I, the biggest male slut at Lincoln High—at least, according to Gina—help her reputation? She saw my expression and almost lost the smoldering look she’d been using on me.
“I call bullshit,” I shot back.
She knew this tactic hadn’t worked. She went a different direction, one I had no real defense against.
“Okay, I could really care less about my reputation. People are going to believe what they want, and no matter how much I deny it, they’ll never change their minds. There’s one thing neither of us can deny, though: you think I’m hot. I see the way you look at me. There’s no denying you want me.”
I bit my bottom lip. She had me there. If I thought I could get away with it, I might just throw her against the wall and have my way with her. It wasn’t just me, either. I think every guy at Lincoln High had fantasies about Lisa Felton. There was something about her that woke your inner animal. Right now, Mr. Happy was trying to wrest control of the body from the big brain.
She gave me a little pout and caressed my arm. She knew what effect she had on me when goose bumps appeared on my arm and I shivered. I jerked my arm back and cracked my funny bone on the wall. That was enough for the big brain to retain control.
“Lisa, we both know that when we get together it’s going to be something special. We might actually miss a week of school,” I said, and she gave me a doubtful look. “I think you’re not looking for a torrid weekend.”
“No, that’s not what I want,” she confessed.
“If that’s the case, do you really want to be the rebound girl?”
I was surprised it sounded logical. I had pulled the argument out of my butt as a Hail Mary attempt. It stopped her for a moment so she could think about it. Then her eyes snapped up and stared me down. She got a big grin.
“Have you ever heard the term ‘sexual healing’?”
Mr. Happy, the sneaky bastard, caused me to lean down and kiss Lisa. Lisa hit me like a runaway linebacker who Bert forgot to block and slammed me against the wall. I may have blacked out a little because I had no idea Coach Hope had watched our byplay until he physically pulled us apart. He had an amused look on his face.
“About the time I think you might be acceptable to date my daughter you do something like this. Go wash your face,” he ordered me. “You have lipstick all over it.
“You, young lady, need to go to lunch, and I better not see you anywhere near Mr. Dawson. If I do, you both will be getting detention,” Coach Hope added for good measure.
I ended up doing something I’d only done once before: I found the handicap stall and beat Mr. Happy into submission. There was no way I could walk around the rest of the day with him standing tall. When I finally got to lunch, I found it was vegetarian day. I wasn’t happy when all the sack lunches were gone, so I grabbed three apples and two bananas. I then went to the vat of peanut butter and scooped out a healthy serving onto my plate. I just prayed Maryanne Webber hadn’t licked the spoon.
I found Mike and Gina and pointed at them. They followed me to an empty table—well, it had three freshmen sitting at it, but they decided to leave. I wasn’t normally a bully. I made a mental note to make it up to them later.
“Gina tells me you did a photo shoot with Hannah Minacci and Adrienne,” Mike ventured.
I pulled out my iPad and put in the password, then handed it to Mike so he could see the pictures from the weekend. While he flipped through the pictures, I cut up my fruit and dipped it into the peanut butter. Gina gave me a funny look but kept her peace. When Mike was done, Jeff darted over and stole my iPad. I figured it would keep everyone else busy so I could talk to these two.
“I’ve decided it’s time,” I said.
Mike was always a good straight man.
“Time for what?”
“It’s time that the two of you go out,” I said, and they both gave me a look. “No whining. Gina, you think Mike’s cute. I’ve heard you comment on his butt more than once.”
Poor Mike went beet red.
“And I’ve heard Mike say you’re okay,” I said with a straight face.
Gina went from shocked to pissed in under a second. She glared at the two of us.
“I never said that,” Mike complained. “I’ve always said she was good-looking. You were the one who said she was just so-so.”
Gina turned on me, as I held my hands up.
“I had to say that. You were dating my best friend.”
I don’t think she bought it, but she had bigger matters to worry about. I would need to watch my back for the next few days.
“Anyways, it doesn’t matter what I think. What matters is Mike has it bad for you. Do a guy a favor and take him to the Valentine’s Dance,” I said to change the subject.
I kicked Mike under the table. He got the hint.
“Gina, will you go to the dance with me?”
She gave me a hard look and then turned to Mike and smiled. My work was done. I went to find the freshmen, invited them to our table, and showed them pictures from my weekend. Cassidy pointed over at Mike and Gina smiling at each other and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
WHEN I WAS DONE WITH practice at State, I went straight to Tom and Mary Dole’s house, since I hadn’t gotten much news about Tracy. I figured they would tell me face-to-face, and feed me. When Mary opened the door, her face lit up.
“Have you eaten?” she asked.
If Mary was cooking, it wouldn’t have mattered. I would have had a second dinner with them. Luckily, I hadn’t. I called Mom to let her know I would eat at the Doles’. Mary made fried chicken with all the fixings. During dinner, we just caught up on what was going on each other’s lives.
Tom said he’d received the first cut of my ads for the single-mother campaign. He showed me the shots they planned to use for the first wave of advertising. Adrienne and Hannah both had come alive with their raw emotion.
“How could you? Sorry,” Mary said, getting caught up in the image which had me turn my back on them.
“I think if either of them was carrying David’s baby, it would have been a whole different shoot,” Tom said, coming to my defense.
Mary just nodded. We went to the living room and I brought up what I came over for.
“I want to see Tracy.”
Tom and Mary looked at each other. Finally, Mary nodded.
“Right now, only family can see her. Let me call Dr. Hebert and see if we can get you in.”
“Can she leave the facility?” I asked.
“Why do you ask?” Mary questioned.
“Saturday is Valentine’s Day. I thought maybe I could spend the afternoon with her and then take her to dinner.”
I could tell they weren’t sure.
“Tell you what, talk to Dr. Hebert. See what she thinks. I’ll abide by whatever she decides. I just miss my friend.”
WHEN I GOT HOME, DUKE was a wild child. He and I were sent to my apartment for being too rowdy in the house. I’d planned on going to the Dole’s so I hadn’t taken him with me today. I didn’t realize how much the girls wore him out while I did sixty minutes of hell. I would have to bring him tomorrow.
Just before I went to bed, I received a text from Tami. I jumped onto video chat.
“Tell me everything,” she ordered.
I looked at the clock and figured it had to be in the middle of the night in the UK. Tami must have been worked up to want to talk about it when she should be asleep, so I told her everything. We spent the next two hours and talked about everything from Peggy dating Mitch, to Lisa Felton, to Halle, to my Valentine plans with Tracy. Tami, to her credit, just listened, and every once in a while, asked a question to clarify something. She never made a judgment or suggestion until the very end.