Page 42 of The Confidant
“None, officially,” Nash said, glancing down at his spoils for the day. “But it probably doesn’t look like that.”
“It definitely looks like you have a lot of options, at least,” I said. “When you’re ready, that is.”
“I guess so,” he said, sounding less enthusiastic than I thought someone with so many admirers would be.
But when his gaze drifted over to the other side of the room where Elyse and Asher were sitting, I realized why he might be feeling a little down.
Apparently, the feelings he’d had for Elyse hadn’t quite disappeared when she picked Asher over him in December.
“Just pretend you didn’t see that, okay?” Nash said, seeming to realize that he’d been wearing his emotions on his sleeve. “As far as everyone is supposed to know, I got over that crush a while ago.”
“I didn’t see a thing.”
How could I think of him being unable to flip a switch on his feelings after a month and a half as a bad thing when I was still holding out for Scarlett after almost a year?
Speaking of Scarlett…
I sat up straighter when I noticed her step into the classroom. I hadn’t seen her since second period because she had a house-captain meeting during lunch. But man, she looked beautiful today. Her auburn hair was down and curled. And while she wore her usual school uniform—the girls were wearing the pink and beige ones today in honor of Valentine’s Day—there was something different about how it looked on her compared to everyone else. The pink tones next to her reddish hair made her glow just a little more.
“Hey,” she said, taking her seat beside me and setting down her things.
“Hi,” I said.
I noticed something red out of the corner of my eye, so I turned to see what she had just placed on the table.
In addition to coming in with the bouquet of flowers I’d sent anonymously—which must have been delivered to her sometime between second period and now—she also had an oversized bouquet of red roses.
Someone else sent her flowers?
“You got two bouquets?” I asked, feeling slightly threatened and jealous as the blood drained from my face.
“I did.” She nodded, her cheeks turning a darker color of pink. “The pink bouquet is from someone who calls himself ‘Anonymous Cool Guy’ and the other is from Xander.”
“Xander?”My voice came out sounding strangled.
How did he know about the Valentine’s Grams? Had she told him about it and hinted that she wanted flowers from him?
I knew we hadn’t really had a chance to talk after the dance—she’d been with her mom yesterday and we had a test in our class this morning—but I’d thought for sure that our little moment during the last song had meant something.
“That’s what the card said, anyway.” She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “He must have seen one of the posters on the wall,” she said, her brown eyes wide. “I think there was one by the bathrooms. Maybe he thought I’d like some flowers and ordered one from that?”
“I guess that makes sense,” I said, hating that I wasn’t better at hiding my jealousy. “Looks like he ordered the biggest one, too.”
“He did…” she said before quickly adding, “But as pretty as they are, I think I like the pink bouquet better.” She cleared her throat. “I know red roses are supposed to symbolize romance and love at first sight or something like that. But…” She met my gaze, a meaningful look in her brown eyes. “As you know, my favorite color is pink, and so this bouquet means a little more because only someone who really knew me would know to send it.”
My body warmed slightly with her words. “Yeah?”
“Yes.” She lifted the bouquet I’d given her and inhaled the scent. “They smell better, too.”
“I’m glad you think so.”
I glanced around the classroom to make sure Addison wasn’t sitting in her seat already and possibly overhearing our conversation.
Neither she nor Evan were at their usual table yet, so I lowered my voice and said, “I know doing something tonight is probably out of the question. But…” I swallowed, my heart pounding hard in my chest because I hadn’t thought this through enough to find an eloquent way to say it. “But I was wondering if you wanted to go to dinner and a movie this Saturday.”
I hadn’t exactly planned to ask her that, but if Xander was trying to move in on her, I needed to do something now. Waiting and being patient was no longer an option.
I might lose her for real if I kept doing what I’d been doing all year.
