Page 27 of Wanted Beta

She laughs. “I’m sorry. I’ve never been much of a mall rat. I don’t really come here unless I need something specific, and I know exactly where I’m going.”

“I’m not saying we need to hang out here all day or whatever. It would just be nice to spend a little time together doing something outside of the apartment.”

“You know what, you’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Wow. That was easy.

“So, we can look in the next clothes store we pass?”

“Sure. And we can go to the arcade after lunch if you want.”

“That sounds like fun.”

True to her word, she leads me into the next clothing store in our path.

It’s a little more her style than mine, so I suggest a few things for her closet.

She raises her eyebrows at the leopard print jacket. “Do you really see me wearing that?”

“I guess not,” I admit, putting it back.

She’s looking at a dark blue dress, and I realize it’s Saturday today and she told me she’s got something she needs to go to tonight. There’s no way that something is a work thing.

“So, this thing you’ve got to go to later,” I start, wondering if it might be with a guy.

“It’s a date,” she admits, putting the dress back. “I’m sorry, I should have told you, but I wasn’t sure how you’d react.”

“Why? What’s wrong with this guy? Is he your boss or something?”

“There’s nothing wrong with him,” she says. “We’ve been dating for a while. I just didn’t want to worry you, or make you think about what happened.”

“I’m pretty sure you have better taste in men than I do,” I tell her, smiling wryly. “So, I won’t be worried, and I’m over that dumpster fire of a last date.”

Right. Over it. That’s why your rope burns itch every time you think about that nightmare.

It wasn’t even a real date. It was only supposed to be a study date.

“It’s okay to feel things about stuff,” Catherine says. “I know you like to make jokes and blow it off when you’re hurt, but this isn’t the kind of thing you can pretend didn’t happen.”

“Well, I feel like an idiot for thinking a classmate was sincere about wanting to just study with me,” I admit, not liking how dumb those words actually sound when I say them out loud.

How could I think that’s all he wanted?

“You’re not an idiot, Beth. You were tricked by someone you thought you could trust.”

I shrug because I’m not sure I can agree with her.

I saw something in his eyes when he asked me to his parent’s place to study, and instead of reading that glint as a warning sign, I took it as a go signal.

He wasn’t boyfriend material, but as far as one-night-stands go, I guessed I could do a lot worse. Turned out, I was wrong about that.

The dumb mistake I tried to make turned into something more sinister and I know I’m lucky that he didn’t actually intend to hurt me or kill me, or whatever.

“He’s the asshole,” Catherine says, reminding me of Secret’s mom.

Leanne came to my rescue, and she kept me from going crazy while we had to sit around waiting for the police to come take our statements.

“You did nothing wrong, okay?”

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