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“Maybe I lost the invite,” Lance jabs before smiling. “I have a project I need to work on. And I’ve had so much going on lately, I needed a sober night to come and get it in. What’s your excuse? Shouldn’t the president be over there, setting up for his own party?”
“Not like my guys don’t know how to throw a party. And I’m in a similar boat. Taking on a lot this semester. Rush waskiller, so need to get some work in before bidding this week.”
His gaze lowers. “Dude,” he says, reaching out and placing his hand on my arm.
His touch catches me off guard, and I notice the dark bruise from banging my arm earlier. I should’ve iced it.
“Oh.” I tell him about the asshole, relieved to have someone to talk to about it.
“That sucks. People are pretty cool with me at the rec center because it’s people from school, but I used to work at the mall, and it’s amazing how shitty people think they can be to customer-service workers. Like we aren’t even human.”
“Right?” I say, the sting of that moment still affecting me, but my eyes are drawn to where Lance still has his hand on my arm.
He must realize it’s weird too because he pulls away.
“So…” I draw out as I sit in the chair adjacent to his. “How was that girl you were with at that party last weekend?”
“Angie?”
“Oh, are there others? Have you just been lining them up since the last time I saw you?”
Tension builds in my chest, which…what the fuck is that about? It’s really not any of my business, but if that’s true, why am I so curious?
He chuckles. “There haven’t been any others,” he says, not answering my first question about Angie.
“You seen her since then?” I press.
“We were supposed to meet up again, but she got sick, so I don’t know when that’ll be.”
“Told you,” I spit out.
“What?”
“All that fuss to prove me wrong, and you only proved meright. You didn’t just hook up with a girl and leave it at that. You got your little Lance feelings all over it, and now you’re gonna date her, aren’t you? You know it’s cool if that’s your thing. You didn’t have to try and prove anything to me.”
Why do I sound so worked up over this? And why is my heart racing? Feels like I’m pissed at him, but I don’t really have a right to be. It’s like there’s something twisted in my brain that thinks because I came on the guy once, that somehow he’s mine and shouldn’t be messing around with anyone. Which is wild because I’ve never had that feeling about anyone I’ve messed around with except him—
No, wait. What we did wasn’t messing around.
Fuck.
This must just be leftover jitters from that asshole at work upsetting me earlier.
Lance eyes me strangely, as though he can read these wild thoughts, which I know isn’t what’s happening. “Well, maybe you were right about that,” he finally says. “I was trying to get you back for the prank and winning the TaskFrat. And I guess it worked because it got on your nerves, didn’t it?”
He has no idea, and I don’t really either, considering this is a weird thing to be thinking about my Alpha Theta Mu rival.
“Sorry you had a shitty day at work,” he says, again catching me by surprise.
I appreciate that even though the number one person I would have wanted to talk to isn’t around anymore, at least I had someone who could hear me out.
“Thanks, man,” I say, probably the most sincere thing I’ve ever said to Lance Fehn, which makes me feel strange, so I groan. “Anyway, I’m done harassing you for now. Gonna find a spot and actually knock some of this shit out. Good luckwith your work. And hope you have a fun date with Agatha.”
I’m already walking away when he calls out, “Angie.”
“Yeah, whatever,” I say, trying to act like I care less than I do.
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