Page 56 of Bewitch

“Dave Rivera,” Eliza says. “I have a few classes with him.”

“Does he seem to not have a clue?” I ask.

Brooke blinks a few times. “Wait. Back up. This guy comes over and sits with us. He tries to talk to you, to get to know you, and you immediately think there’s something wrong with him?”

“I wouldn’t say that, no,” I argue. “I didn’t like him. I don’t know. He made me feel uncomfortable.”

“How so?”

I wrinkle my nose. “I don’t know. I don’t normally have guys come up to me and want to make a move right away. That’s just not how it works with them.”

“He was cute,” Brooke protests.

I side-eye.

“I was looking for you,” she says. “Not for me. If he made you feel uncomfortable, that’s one thing, but was it him or was it his attention?”

“That’s one and the same,” I object.

“No. Why can’t you just accept that you’re hot?” she demands. “Why wouldn’t a guy look at you and want to get to know you?”

I shake my head. “Trust me. The only times guys have done that to me before was when they were doing it as a joke, a prank, because they were dared…” I wrinkle my nose and blink back tears. You don’t get it. I…. My first time… It was last year. At a party. A hot guy talked me up for a long while, and I was on cloud nine, right? He talked about wanting to get it on with me, said at a certain time for me to go to a certain room in the closet. I thought it was for the whole seven minutes in heaven game. So I go and a guy kisses me, right? Only I can tell right away it wasn’t him. It was… They were pranking him and me. He… He was heavier, and we never told each other our names, and I don’t know. Just knowing that we had been setup really bothered me, and we went for it and did it. It wasn’t that good, fumbling around, two heavy people in a closet. Thank God none of them opened the door, but I guess they figured they wouldn’t want to see it if they even realized what was going on.”

“Oh my God, Dawn!” Kaylie hugs me. “I’m so sorry!”

“It’s all right. I had sex with one other guy. Lights off but I at least know what he looks like. My neighbor. We were always good friends, and it was basically just to see if anything was there. Spoiler alert: no. I don’t regret either time, but I wish people weren’t so cruel, you know?”

“I don’t know Dave all that well,” Eliza says, “but I don’t think he was playing you. He seemed genuinely interested.”

“But he thinks you have a boyfriend now,” Brooke says, sounding disappointed. “You should’ve given him a chance because you do deserve to have hot guys after you.”

I wrinkle my nose and shake my head. “Yeah, well, if losing weight is what it takes to get them to look my way, what does that say about them? I’m not doing all of this for them. I’m doing it for me.”

“And that’s why you’re sticking with it,” Brooke says.

“You do look amazing,” Kaylie says.

“Maybe not this very second, but overall, you look happier,” Eliza notes.

I smile at them all. “I don’t need a guy,” I tell them. “Not Dave at least.”

“It’s because of Lucas, isn’t it?” Brooke asks. “You’re gone for him.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” I protest. “Not at all.”

“Right. Still want him to show you his without you letting him play with yours?”

“Wait, hold up,” Eliza says. “Did I hear that right?”

I groan and run a hand down my face. “Brooke, I hate you.”

“You love me, but she hates Lucas, her trainer. She wants to make him fall in love with her but then ghost him.”

“That’s not… Well, kinda, yeah.”

Kaylie laughs and high-fives me. “Yeah, girl!”

“This is going to end badly for you,” Eliza warns me.

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