Page 10 of Becoming Us
Honestly, I wasn’t all that hungry anyway.
I caught my breath as I watched the curve of her back. She sat on the bed, facing away from me, snapping her bra into place. Dana was beautiful.
“I swear I have a million things to do. I can’t handle the stress. Mr. Briggs gave us another essay on top of everything, and I still have that blood drive campaign to organize,” she said, breaking through my haze.
“What?”
She looked over her shoulder and flashed me a quick, playful glance. “You weren’t listening to a word I said.”
“I was, I swear.” I tilted my head toward her, aiming for an easy, teasing tone. “Just…in this moment, I was maybe expecting pillow talk, not politics.”
She rolled her eyes as she slipped back into her pants. Dana was a year older than me, and definitely smarter, considering everything she did. She volunteered at every shelter, signed up for every event, and was top of her grade. She was a catch. I was still a little stunned she’d agreed to go out with me.
Though, technically, we never actuallywent out. At the two parties we’d gone to together, she stuck with her girlfriends and gave me maybe five minutes of her time. The rest? Spent in this room. I’d been here a lot the past few weeks, and this week, we’d seen each other every day, so things were finally looking up.
“Well, I’m still stressed. I need to start working on that essay. Why do they always pile things on at the last minute? I swear I’m going to lose it if I have to add one more thing to my list.” She pulled her shirt over her head and started digging through her stuff.
“Are you going to do it right now?” I leaned back slightly, thrown off.
“Noah, I have so much work to get done.” She pulled her hair into a messy knot, loose curls flying in every direction.
“Day, it’s almost nine. Do it tomorrow.”
“I should probably work on the form for the shelter too…” she mumbled, distracted.
“Babe, why don’t you come back to bed, and I’ll do my best to de-stress you?”
She let out a sharp, startled laugh and turned toward me. Her eyebrows arched, and something twisted in my stomach.
“Babe?”
I let the corners of my mouth lift. “What’s wrong with that?”
She smiled back before turning to her desk again. “It’s weird coming from you.Babeis a boyfriend–girlfriend kind of thing. That’s definitely not us.”
Her words landed like a gut punch. Small mercy she wasn’t facing me—she didn’t see how fast my expression dropped. I didn’t know how to answer. The first thing that slipped past my lips was a quiet, “Right.”
“I mean, don’t get me wrong, Noah. You’re so much fun to be around. But can you imagine me asking you to come meet my parents? You’d hate it, wouldn’t you? They’d probably kill me if I did.”
My mouth went dry. I sat up and started pulling my clothes back on.
“Plus, do guys like you even have girlfriends?” She spun in her chair just as I zipped up my pants.
Guys like me.What was that supposed to mean? I couldn’t bring myself to ask.
I shrugged. “If you’re going to work, I should probably leave.”
“Wait.” She stood quickly, grabbed my arm, and pulled me back onto the bed beside her. Her expression softened, and I stilled, tense. “I wanted to ask you something first,” she said, lacing her fingers through mine.
“What?”
“Well, you know this whole stress thing. I figured you could help me make it better.”
I met her eyes. “How?”
“Well, those people you hang around with—the models—could they sell you Adderall? Or tell you who does?”
A hollow feeling sank into my gut. “Why the hell would I know that, Dana?”
