Page 7 of Love Wasted

His nostrils flare as he glares down into my eyes. I can see a raging battle in the depths of his gaze, and I wait for his final push. It doesn’t come. We remain locked in this war while everyone else around us watches, wondering what our next move will be. The girls who were ogling him earlier are whispering to one another, and the guys look to be divided on what move they should make if Pax and Johnny get in a fight, but I won’t let it get that far.

“How about that drink, Johnny?” I say, my eyes never leaving Paxton.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” he responds, sounding unsure. I’m still not sure what just happened, but there is always some kind of fight when it comes to Paxton and me.

“Great,” I say sweetly. Turning to face Johnny, I catch a glimpse of Paxton shaking his head as he grabs his drink from Matt and tosses it back.

When I notice him later, watching me from the corner of the room as I talk to Johnny, I’m overcome by a dull ache in the pit of my stomach. It’s the same feeling he always leaves me with—a hollow pang of sadness deep inside.

I spent most of the night watching her. Matt tried to get me to go outside with two sophomore girls who wanted to “talk” in the pool house, but I blew him off. I didn’t talk to anyone unless they came to me.

I also lost track of how many beers I had after she walked away with him.

The worst part of this whole situation is I’ve seen Johnny do this before with an incoming freshman—more than once. He turns on his charms and uses his jock status and popularity to lure them in. Cass wants me to leave her alone? Fine, I will, but she can’t stop me from watching his every move so I can make sure he doesn’t try anything.

He’s trying all right, Cass just hasn’t needed me to rescue her.

Every time he rubs his fingertips across her shoulder, she causes his hand to fall off subtly by turning away from him and looking around the room. It’s obvious she isn’t really into it, yet she stands and flirts with him all night and he keeps on trying.

A slow smile crosses my face as it dawns on me: Johnny Ryan may have met his match in Cass Porter. This five-foot-nine-inch gorgeous freshman girl waltzed into her first high school party and gave the most popular senior in our school a dose of his own medicine.

Man, that girl…her confidence and fire would knock any guy off his feet. I almost pity Johnny, but then I remember he’s the one she’s standing with instead of me.

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