Page 19 of Backroom Boy
We all raced inside and I gave them a quick tour. All the girls in the sorority came from wealthy families, so my house wasn’t super exciting for them. Plus, I didn’t care to show off whatever my parents had purchased. It had nothing to do with me and my contribution to life. Not yet, at least.
When I’d pulled on a cute sundress and let one of the girls do my hair, I looked like I fit in with the group once again. “Anyone going to tell me what you’re doing here?”
Natalie, the unofficial spokesperson of the group, leaned forward from her lounging position on my bed. “Ava tells us you are behind on your rush planning, which didn’t sound like you at all, so we planned a little road trip to come see you. Pull you out of whatever funk you found yourself in that distracted you enough to neglect the sorority.”
Well, that pissed me right off. “Wow. So Ava decided to spread some rumors—that aren’t true, by the way—and you assumed I was in a funk?”
Courtney, the quiet one, spoke up. “Well, aren’t you? We show up and you look like you’ve been working your fingers to the bone. I mean, girl, look at your ruined mani.”
I looked down at my nails to see a few of them chipped, but I’d hardly call them ruined. Funny how one month could change your whole perspective when you weren’t looking. A month ago I would have turned my nose up at chipped polish. Now, I figured there were more important things in life than a perfect mani/pedi.
“Let’s go get some dinner and I’ll fill you in on what’s going on, huh?” I waved at the door to my bedroom to get them going. “There’s a great little sushi place downtown I know you’ll love.”
As we filed out of the house, the whole group of us nearly ran into Lukas outside my front door. He was dressed in workout clothes, his hair adorably messed up. He glanced over the girls until he found me and then smiled, his eyes looking more at ease when they connected with mine.
“Hey. I take it our run is cancelled?” He glanced down at my dress and heels, the same outfit I’d worn the first night we met.
The girls all turned to look at me and I knew what they were thinking. Lukas already looked weary, like he wasn’t sure who I was with these new people all around me. This was awkward.
“Um, yeah, sorry. We have dinner plans. I’ll see you tomorrow though.”
I hit the unlock button on my car keys and practically pushed the girls into it. I glanced back to see Lukas with a frown on his face, his jaw clenched like he was pissed. I couldn’t blame him. I hadn’t exactly been the nicest rushing off without introducing everyone.
“Bye, hottie motorcycle guy!” Natalie said out the window, fluttering her damn fingers at Lukas.
I threw it in drive and sped off, needing to put lots of space between my girls and my secret boyfriend. Having seen my friends in action at a frat party, I knew they only needed about ten seconds before they were able to turn a guy’s head. Flirting was their superpower. Not that I thought Lukas would be that easily swayed, but why put that temptation out there, you know?
I dared a final glance in the rearview mirror and the sight nearly broke my heart. Lukas stood there by himself, staring after my car, his jaw hard as granite. The imposing stone facade of my house so counter to his casual T-shirt and shorts. His resting bitch face was back and this time it was directed at me.
* * *
“I seriously think the fresh air has gotten to your brain, D.” Natalie kept stealing glances at me the whole time we ate dinner.
Little did she know it wasn’t the fresh air. It was the small-town boy working for my father that had stolen all my attention. She was right. I was distracted by the churning in my stomach. I knew I hadn’t handled things well back at home when Lukas came by and it didn’t sit well with me. I just wanted to hurry up dinner and go talk to him. Which was crazy because I hadn’t seen my friends in a whole month and normally I’d jump at the chance to spend time with them.
“Okay, let’s focus, girls. We need to help Delta pick the main colors for bid week. That’ll get Ava off her back.” Anna, at least, was trying to help me.
I sighed while they all launched into an argument over the two best colors to convey their excitement over the new recruits. It all just seemed so trivial and shallow. Only a month ago I would have been arguing with them, just as excited by the prospect of a party, but now, it just didn’t grab me. I wanted to talk about how I was making my software interface all pretty and ready to sell to the public. Maybe even chat about the possibility of falling in love at the tender age of twenty. The kind of stuff that made my heart pound.
“Hey, girls?” I asked quietly, the rest of them quieting down immediately.
The sounds of the restaurant faded into the background. I was going to break protocol and talk about something beyond parties, sororities, and the latest fashion. I wasn’t at all sure how they’d take it, but they were my friends. I should be able to share my life with them.
“I wanted to tell you that I’ve been working on a side project and I’m really excited about it.”
Natalie tipped her head to the side. “A new project?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I built some accounting software. And I think it’s good enough to start selling it.”
The silence stretched out while I fidgeted in my chair. This had been a bad idea. Sharing my programming with this audience was just stupid. What had I been thinking?
“Well, well. We have a boss bitch on our hands!” Natalie was the first to break the silence. “Congrats, girl. That sounds amazing. And confusing.”
I giggled, relieved beyond belief that she supported me even though she probably didn’t understand why I loved programming. The rest of the girls congratulated me and asked some questions about the software, which I answered, my heart glowing with pride. I’d underestimated these friends of mine and now I knew exactly what everyone else saw when they looked at me. I bet each of my friends had way more going on under the surface too, and when I went back to school, I intended to dig into what that was.
We also picked colors for bid week, sending that info off to Ava so she’d get off my back. The wait staff probably wanted us to leave so they could turn our table, but we all wanted to stay and catch up. I made a note to tip well to make up for hogging a table all evening. When we were just about to go, I decided to share one more thing with them.
“So, you know Lukas?” At their nods and Natalie’s waggle of eyebrows, I continued. “We’re kind of seeing each other.”
