Page 42 of Landon & Shay: Part One

Still, I let her.

And even though I didn’t know how it was possible, my ugly, damaged heart still continued to beat.

11

Shay

Days passedwithout any interactions with Landon. He’d missed a few days of school, and when he came back, he was distant—and not just from me, from everyone. He descended the hallways like a fallen angel. Dark, moody, wounded, shattered in ways I hadn’t known people could be shattered. Had he rested at all over the past few days? Gosh, it was exhausting just looking his way. I wanted to fall asleep for him.

I took a step toward him, but recoiled. I wanted to ask him what was wrong, but also, I knew that wasn’t who we were. We didn’t check in on each other. We didn’t care about our emotions. We were just playing a game. Nothing more, nothing less.

Curiosity rocked me as I scribbled about his disconnection in my notebook. Each time I had a character in mind, I filled up a notebook with information about them. With the way things were going with Landon, I was already on my third notebook.

I felt foolish waiting for Landon to take notice of me again. I’d become used to his snarky comments, crude remarks, and childish pranks, and now that they were missing in action, a knot formed in my gut.

Was he over it?

Over me?

Over our bet?

Because I wasn’t. I still wanted to play, wanted to watch him, wanted to explore.

Just when I thought all hope was lost, a deep voice whispered behind me as I grabbed my books from my locker.

“Those jeans make your ass look huge.”

My heart pounded against my rib cage, and chills raced over my body, and I hoped he didn’t see my shivers.

I smirked, shaking my head, knowing Landon was the one the rude remarks were coming from. “Yeah? Well, your ears make you look like Dumbo,” I replied, trying to act cool as a cucumber even though my hormones were at a ghost pepper level of heat.

Of course, my comment about Landon’s ears was a lie. Everything about Landon’s body was perfectly proportioned, and if there was a flaw, I hadn’t yet found it.

I turned around to face him, pressing my back against the lockers behind me as he hovered over me. I was reminded of how tall he was when he was inches away, and I had to tilt my head up to make eye contact. He looked tired, like always. A bit sad, too—like always.

“I got a nice Dumbo-sized member down below, too, if you want to see,” he joked, placing his left hand against the locker, looking slick as ever. I tried my best to ignore the increased heart rate I was experiencing in response to his flirtation.

“Sounds like elephantiasis. You should really get that checked out.”

He smiled.

I hated it because Landon’s smile made me want to smile, too. It looked so good on him. He should’ve done it more often.

He placed his right hand on the other locker, boxing me in. “So, when are we going out?”

“Out?”

“Yeah, like on a date.”

I laughed. “You don’t date people, Landon, and you definitely don’t date me.”

“Listen, if you want to skip straight ahead to the banging part, by all means…” he offered.

I rolled my eyes and bent down to slip under his arm. I started off toward my next class, and he hurried beside me.

“Okay, no banging, but I’m serious—when are we hanging out? How am I supposed to make this bet come to a conclusion if we don’t see each other outside of school?”

“Well, isn’t that a shame? Looks like you’re going to lose your little bet.”

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