Page 54 of The Love Interest
“He was being pretty weird. I’m on your side, Juliet. Not his. Not now, not ever. And you’re not a brat.”
“You’re too nice to me sometimes,” she says, but her voice is soft. She looks up at me. “It makes me feel like I can get away with anything.”
“It’s because you can. You could hateStar Warsand I’d still forgive you. I can’t think of one situation where I wouldn’t take your side.”
“Now that’s not true. You don’t like me spending time with Dyl. I can see it in your eyes. It’s like you’re jealous.”
She picked that up? Crap, that means I need to be more careful. I’m lucky because being jealous of Dyl fits the persona I’ve created, so it’s not going to make her doubt my character. But it’s dangerously close to my real feelings. And if I’ve learned anything, it’s that my real feelings only hurt me.
“I’m not jealous of him. I’m intimidated, I think. He’s a scary dude. Do you remember when he beat up those guys? I don’t like the idea of you spending time with someone that violent.”
“He’s not scary, he’s different. He’s unlike anyone I’ve ever met. I’m usually pretty great at reading people, but with him I come up with nothing. I mean, he beat up those guys, sure, but do you remember that book of poetry he was reading? I asked him about it, and he let me borrow his copy. It’s really tattered, and a few of the lines are highlighted. Thugs don’t read poetry, Caden. Plus, he only beat up those guys to saveus, remember? He told me he hates hurting people, but he’s willing to do it when it’s necessary.”
“That’s bull. You missed it, but I saw him when he was fighting. He was grinning like a loon. He was loving it.”
“Oh. That’s a bit weird.”
Critical hit!
“Anyway,” she says. “You aren’t jealous of him, exactly. I think you’re jealous we’re spending time together.”
If I’m going to ask her out tonight, I need to start being bold. “Iamjealous of that. And I’m not ashamed of feeling that way.”
“Oh.” She smiles. “I wasn’t expecting you to be so blunt. But this is a party, and I don’t want to talk about Dyl right now. Come on, it’s time to get into our costumes!”
I get dressed in a simple guest bedroom. It’s a cream-colored room with a single bed and one tall stand-alone mirror pressed into the corner. With the skintight spandex on, but with the mask off, I make my way over to the mirror. I ruffle my hair, making it look messy, and practice my quizzical expression. I look pretty good. Not as good as Dyl probably will, but the costume makes my muscles look bigger than they actually are, and the blue of the suit makes my eyes pop.
Kaylee, mask on or off?
Off for now. Put it on when you get to the party. It’ll put some distance between the boy she knows and the seriously hot man you are now. She’ll check out your pecs and then be like, damn… Wait, that’s Caden?
I swing open the door. Outside, walking right past, is Juliet. She’s wearing a royal-blue dress with frilly white lace on the chest. I do a double take. Is that really her? Now that she’s wearing a white wig and blue contacts, she somehow looks more grown up. Her eyes move down from my face to my chest. I breathe in and tense, making my pecs and abs go rigid. Her stare stops at my belly button. I wish I had a link with her like I have with Kaylee. I’d give anything to hear what she thinks when she looks at me.
“Spider-Man,” she says. “Oh my God, I love it!” She steps forward and pinches the material on my chest. She also pinches some skin and I wince. I bend over, placing my hand on my stinging flesh. It hurts, sure, but I play it up because wounded guys are hot. “Oh, sorry, wow, this thing is skintight, huh? It’s so good, so detailed. Where did you get it?”
I chew my bottom lip. Because I have no freaking clue where Kaylee got this costume. “Online.”
“Yeah, but where online?”
Kaylee?
Just say Amazon.
“Amazon. But enough about me. You’re Alice, right? From Wonderland. Is she good or evil?”
Pretend she has an eyelash on her cheek.
But she doesn’t.
That’s why I said to pretend.
I lean forward and gently pluck an imaginary hair from her cheek.
“Eyelash,” I say, and I blow on my fingers, releasing the nonexistent eyelash.
She’s blushing and looking at the floor, so I guess Kaylee’s play was a success. “Thanks, Caden. What was I talking about? Oh, right, if Alice is good or evil. I think she’s clearly a hero, but she’s not very good, seeing as she’s sort of bonkers. Although I was sort of hoping to avoid a night of people asking me that question.”
Call her pretty.
