Page 31 of Ruled Out

I side-eye her again. “I hope you aren’t expecting details because I have none to give.”

She visibly deflates and sticks out her bottom lip. “Does he have a name? I assume it begins withJ.”

In my head, I cycle through possible names starting withJ. I feel like I have to offer her something to at least not raise suspicion.

“Jay,” I hiss.

Fucking Jay? Imaginative, Mia.

She balks. “What?! As in Jay Macintosh, the football player in his senior year? Well, he is always in the library, so that wouldn’t surprise me. You two probably hook up near the Historical Romance section.”

My brain whirls in panic. Christ, is that the guy who smiled at me that day I saw Jessie?

“No. No, not him,” I rush out quickly.

The professor stops talking, throwing daggers our way. He begins speaking again, and I duck down slightly.

“You don’t know him. He doesn’t go here, hence why we were sneaking around.”

“Like, an older guy?” she whispers back, her eyes wide.

“Yeah, exactly.” I cringe. “But it’s nothing serious. I doubt I’ll see him again.”

“Ohh, a one-and-done type of arrangement.” She leans back in her chair and chews on the tip of her pen. “I didn’t have you pinned as someone who does that, but fair play, girl.”

I can’t help it; a smile spreads on my face, but not for the reasons she’s thinking. If only she knew the truth …

“We’re all headed out on Thursday night. There’s this bar in town that Leo keeps saying is really great. Wanna come? If you aren’t seeing Pancake Boy, that is.”

“You mean Jay?” I correct her, feeling ridiculous for keeping up the lie.

She taps her pen against her lips in thought. “No, I think I prefer Pancake Boy. Anyway, are you coming or not?”

I would rather stick pins in my eyes, but unfortunately for me, Thursday isn’t a night I have a shift at the florist, so my excuses are running low.

“Is it better than the place we went to for New Year’s?”

She shrugs. “Apparently. It’s got a private area in the back, and Leo is talking about booking a booth since it’s his birthday this weekend.”

“It is?” Shit, I didn’t know that.

She nods. “I had no idea what to get him, so I just picked up a gift card for the record store he likes downtown.”

I don’t think flowers will be his thing, but cash is really short right now. “That’s really thoughtful. I haven’t gotten him anything.”

“Well, if Pancake Boy really was a one-and-done deal, I’m pretty sure I can think of a couple of things Leo would thank you for,” Tara adds.

I press the pen harder into my pad as I continue to try to focus on the class and take some kind of meaningful notes. “Oh, yeah?” I ask innocently.

She scoffs quietly. “Oh, come on. You know he has the hots for you.”

“He does?” I continue to play along.

“Yes,” she hisses, garnering another seething look from the professor.

“You’re going to get us kicked out of this class in a minute.”

She leans forward and begins writing. “And we couldn’t have that, could we? Good girls don’t get kicked out of lectures.”