Page 38 of Connectio

Chapter Seven

Carly places my herbal tea on the benchtop as I enter the kitchen. “You’re not wearing that today.”

I look down at my overalls and flannel shirt. “What’s wrong with it?”

“Is it Old McDonald had a Farm Week at school? Did I miss the hillbilly memo?”

She has a point—albeit a rude, insensitive point.

“It is a bit ‘rural.’ I’ll give you that.” I shrug and pick up the mug, cupping it in my hands. “But I like it. It’s comfortable.”

“And there lies your problem.”

“What problem?” I take a sip and scald my tastebuds. “Ffff, that’s hot.”

“No shit! It’s just boiling water with a tiny bag of fucking gross steeped in it.”

“Green tea isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, Carly.” Supercilious fuzzies wave over me, and I smile, a slight wobble to my head. “Ha! See what I did there?”

She deadpans, “Back to your ridiculous outfit. It’s comfortable, which is a bad thing.”

“How is being comfortable a bad thing?”

“Because comfortable equals slob.”

“Are you calling me a slob?”

“Yes.”

I glance at the coffee granules she spilled on the bench and the teaspoon she has no plans to put into the dishwasher.

My eyebrow hitches.

“What?” She looks down at her mess.

“And I’m the slob?”

“You’re a fashion slob. I’m a domestic slob. There’s a difference.”

“There’s no such thing as a fashion slob.”

Carly sighs. “How many times were you dropped as a child?” She tosses the teaspoon in the sink, swipes the coffee onto the floor with her hand, and nudges me toward my room. “Come on. Let me unleash your inner erotic sex slave.”

“What?” I stumble and latch onto the doorframe for dear life. “No! Wait! I want to be a hillbilly.”

* * *

Fidgetingwith the tight-as-fuck leather pencil skirt stuck to my legs, I shuffle in heels toward the school office building. “I can’t believe I let you do this to me. I feel ridiculous.”

“You look insane! I’m talking librarian fantasy.”

“What’s a librarian fantasy?”

She winks, her smile increasing.

“Ladies!”

The sound of Will’s voice behind me sets every nerve ending in my body into a state of panic, and I almost don’t turn around.