Page 87 of I Don't Need Your Love

“Of course you’re going with us,” Avery says, squeezing my bicep. April sighs heavily and shuts her eyes, as if she’s using my chest as her pillow.

“Can’t make any promises, girls,” I tell them.

“But youhaveto go with us!” April insists. “We have, like, so many guys lined up, but we want to go with you.”

I tilt my head, letting my hair fall away from my forehead. “Hmm. We’ll see. I think Felix is calling me.” He’s not really. I just need to get away from them.

He’s at the other end of the room, talking to the girl he’s trying to get with. The poor guy doesn’t realize she’s bored outof her mind and keeps looking at her phone. My buddy deserves better than that.

I latch my hand around his arm, yanking him to his feet and dragging him out the back door. There are many kids here, but not as much as back there.

“What the heck, dude?” he demands. “I was telling her about the time I fell off my bike when I was like seven and got a scab on my arm. I was just getting to the good part.”

I raise my eyebrow at him.

“Darn it. I was being a nerd again, wasn’t I?”

The guy wasn’t popular before he attended this school and became a jock. When I became his roommate, he instructed me to tell him whenever he “defaults” to his nerdy side.

“You know that’s not a bad thing,” I tell him. “Some girls like nerdy guys.”

He scoffs.

“Anyway, you were boring her out, so I came to rescue you. And to run away from the Parker twins.”

He straightens up. “What? You ran away from the Parker twins? Are you out of your freakin’ mind?!”

I shrug. “Dude, I can have any girl I want in this school, and I don’t want them.”

He studies me. “What do you mean ‘want’? You’re not interested in a girlfriend.”

I don’t say anything.

His mouth nearly drops to the ground. “You want a girlfriend?”

I roll my eyes and turn toward the house. “Of course not.”

“That didn’t sound very confident.”

I run my fingers through my hair and release a breath. “No, I don’t want commitment. You know how I feel about girlfriends or long-term relationships. They’re fake and a waste of time.”

He nods slowly. “Okay? So go hang out with the Parker twins.”

“They want to go to the school dance with me.”

“Awesome.”

I want to tell him that it’s not awesome, but he won’t understand. I don’t even understand it myself. I don’t want a girlfriend, but the thought of just having fun with girls doesn’t appeal to me anymore.

So where exactly does that leave me?

Felix watches me for a bit. “You’re the luckiest guy at school, man. You’ve got every single girl chasing after you.”

“Not all.”

“You know what I mean. The ones that matter. You can have a new girl every week if you want.”

I face him. “Yeah, that’s true.”