Page 85 of Burnout
“Good. I’m not ready to date anyone.” Avery hops down from the truck and stares back at me, all sass and tease. “Let alone a guy who can’t even do a double nac four sixty or whatever.”
I lunge for her, jumping down fast and wrapping my arms around her waist before she has time to flee. She squeals and giggles in reply.
“It’s a Nac-Nac Double Backflip.”
“Just like I said.”
I burrow my head in the crook of her neck and bite her playfully. She wriggles around to face me and then bites me back on the chest. Her eyes are still lit up with humor.
As our laughter dies down, we don’t move apart.
“I’m not hanging out with anyone else right now,” she says, and the impact of those words takes a second to register. She’snot hooking up with other people. Thank fuck. “And I won’t as long as we’re…whatever we are.”
“No, me either.” I brush off the weird feeling as I realize I haven’t even thought about calling up another girl since Avery and I have started hanging out. Despite never having a girlfriend, I have had girls I’ve hooked up with exclusively before. Nothing that lasted very long, a month or two until one of us got bored. I can’t imagine ever getting bored of Avery, but that doesn’t mean anything. We’re just good together, that’s all. Besides, she’s said she doesn’t want anything serious either.
Her lips curve into a pleased smile. “I need to go. I promised Hope I’d stop by the gym tonight and help her.”
I drop a kiss to her lips. “All right. I should get out there and perfect my double nac four sixty.”
She laughs playfully. “Text me when you get back or I’ll see you Monday afternoon?”
“Yeah.” Reluctantly, I loosen my grip.
Avery walks over to her Bronco, then glances back and waves before she gets in. I watch her until the dust from her tires makes it hard to see her vehicle as it turns out of the track onto the road.
TWENTY-EIGHT
“I need to go out tonight.”
Quinn looks up from her laptop with a wide-eyed, confused expression on her face. “Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?”
I sit down on her bed and toss her pillow at her. “Do you have any plans or not?”
“No, but I heard the soccer team is having a pajama party.”
“Really? That’s perfect!” Some of the soccer team’s upperclassmen live in this big off-campus house. They only throw a couple parties each year, but they’re always amazing. Last semester they hosted a graffiti party where they covered the entire house in white cloth. Everyone wore clothes they could get messy and brought pens and paint to decorate everything from the ceiling to each other. People still talk about that night.
“Oh my gosh. I have so many outfit ideas.” I take off toward my room to rifle through my clothing options. Technically, the sweats I have on would work but the fun in these parties is really getting into the theme.
I’m in my closet tossing out outfit options when I hear Quinn shuffle in. “Does this sudden desire to go out have something to do with Knox being out of town?”
“No,” I say quickly, but the silence behind me forces me to turn and look at her. “It’s not. Well, not just about that.”
Her mouth pulls into a half-smile and she takes a seat on the bed, giving me her attention.
“I like him,” I admit through gritted teeth.
“And?” she asks, lips pulling higher.
“Shut up. It’s a problem. We’re hanging out and not hooking up with other people, but we’ve both said we don’t want a relationship so what the hell am I doing?”
“I don’t know, A-babe.”
Me neither. I thought about him all night and all day today. I’m totally obsessed with him. I wasn’t lying to him when I said I wasn’t ready to date again, but I can’t help liking him. I don’t know what to do, but I think I need to mix things up before I get way too attached. Keep it casual and on my terms.
“So now you know why I need to go out.” It might not be the greatest plan, but it’s better than sitting around waiting for him to text. “Are you in?”
“Yeah, of course,” she says softly. “When have I ever turned down a party?”
