Page 132 of Slumming It

As I pulled out of the driveway, I looked to Emily in the passenger's seat and said, "Hey, you owe me."

"I do?" Her brow furrowed, but then her expression cleared. "Oh, right." She turned in her seat to face me. "Thanks again for giving Vivian —"

I held up a hand. "Stop."

"Stop what?"

"That's bullshit," I said with a smile. "I'm not looking for a thanks."

"Yeah, but—"

"Andyou thanked me already.Repeatedly. That's not what I’m getting at."

"Oh." The furrowed brow was back. "So I owe you something else?"

"Yeah," I said with a chuckle. "I want that story you promised me at the club."

"What story?"

"The story of how you became enemies with those two girls."

"Ohhhh," she laughed. "You mean Morgan and Nikki?"

"What, you got more enemies than them?"

"Let's hope not," she said. "Those two are all I can handle as it is."

No shit.I'd seen some of that firsthand, and I hadn't liked it, which was part of the reason I wanted to know. "So spill it," I said. "How'd you end up on their bad side?"

"It was just kid stuff, really. Are you sure you want to hear this?"

"Hell yeah." I flashed her a quick grin. "And Iwouldhave gotten the story sooner if a certain someone hadn't distracted me on the dance floor."

In the late afternoon sun, a faint blush appeared on Emily's cheeks, but she gave me a saucy smile and said, "Well maybeyoushouldn't have been so distracting."

I smiled. "So I distracted you, huh?"

"Not just me," she said. "You distracted Morgan and Nikki, too." Her mouth tightened just a fraction. "In fact, if they were anymoredistracted, they would've been dropping their panties right then and there – well, assuming they were wearing any."

"Jealous?" I teased.

This made her laugh. "Heck yeah, I was jealous. You weremydate not theirs." But then she paused. "Okay, we both know that you weren't my date for real, buttheydidn't know that." Her expression grew serious. "That's one of my pet peeves, actually."

"What is?"

"Like…when somebody knows that someone is taken, and they hit on them, anyway. It's just kind of thoughtless, you know?"

Ididknow. And I liked the fact that it bothered her. It showed the kind of integrity that I always appreciated – in businessandin life. "Yeah, well, I doubt anyone would callthemthoughtful."

"No kidding," she said. "They've always been mean as snakes – Morgan in particular. Do you know, I went to school with her for thirteen whole years?"

Thirteen, huh?"Sounds unlucky."

"Yeah, tell me about it," she said. "Our school system is pretty small, and I was stuck with her all the way through the twelfth grade plus kindergarten before that."

"So when did you first run afoul of her?"

"Second grade, which means that I spent a decade on her bad side – and that was onlybeforewe graduated. Afterward, shewent to U of M and only came home during the holidays and summers, so at least I had a few breaks. But now she's officially back – you know, like the Terminator, but in a slinky dress."