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He slid his hands out of his pockets and curled them around his backpack straps, lifting his brows in a knowing way. He was turning out to be far more confident than I ever would’ve pegged him for.
“So, you don’t? Like me, then? Okay.” He shrugged and turned to walk away.
Dammit.Dammit.I waged a war inside my head for all of three seconds. “Wait!” I shouted.
He turned around—again, way too confident for his own good.
“Maybe I do like you,” I admitted.Shit.What the hell was I doing?
His smile hitched higher. “Maybe I like you too, Liv.”
I nodded, silent. An uncomfortable warmth was filling the cold spaces in my chest, and I think it had something to do with Neil and the way he was looking at me, but I couldn’t be sure.
“Maybe you should take me out on a date, then,” I decided to say. My mouth was clearly running the show here.
He laughed, a breathy laugh that was mostly just filled with air. “Maybe I will,” he finished, smiling as he turned to walk away—for the second time in as many days while leaving me totally reeling.
I shook my head as he disappeared around the corner of the building. Shrugged my shoulders. Scoffed at no one but myself.
Freaking Neil.
I bit down on a traitorous smile and shook my head again.
Neil Summers: he was a plot twist of epic proportions.
For the record, I went into work later that day, walked straight up to Jax, and punched him square in the arm. In that nice, meaty spot right between his shoulder and elbow that gave him the perfect dead arm.
“Hey! What the hell was that for?” he screeched, all feigned shock and flabbergast.What a joke.
“You told Neil?!” I screamed at him—I mean, as much as a scream can be executed through clenched teeth, anyway.
“Ohhhhh.” Awareness dawned on him. “Yeah, about that.” He rubbed at his arm with a wince.Good.“I thought that maybe you could use a little nudge. I was just trying to help my girl out.”
“By giving him more power?”
“More power? What is he, a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger?” he joked. As if this were the time for jokes. My fingers twitched with the urge to punch him again. “Is the power held in a vial or in the essence of his being, you think?”
“Be serious, big mouth. That was confidential information, ass-wipe.”
He held his hands out in a half shrug. “Well… he asked you out, didn’t he?”
“No. He didn’t. I mean, not technically. Wait… how do you even know about that?”
He smirked.
“You’re such a dick!”
He grabbed my wrists and set them back down at my sides. I hadn’t even noticed they were hanging out in front of my face, ready to duke it out like Rocky freaking Balboa. “Chill out, Olivia. If it makes you feel better, Neil is as stupid over you as you are for him… In fact, I think he might’ve giggled when I told him he made you nervous.”
“Shut up. No, he didn’t.” Neil wasn’t a giggler. Not even close.
He laughed. “I’ll never tell.”
“Oh, I’m sure you won’t, loose lips,” I threw out, sarcasm coating every curve of those words. That was the last time I was telling him anything.Like, ever. “I’m actually mad at you, you know. Total violation of our friendship code.”
“Aww, come on. He’s my cousin. And I told him with only good intentions; that has to count for something.”
“Yeah, we’ll see.”