The girls swung their legs over the saddle, the heel of their shoes clacking against the steel stairs. They watched us like we were a duo of street performers–their friends openly laughed at us when they passed by–but I couldn’t bring myself to feel embarrassed. Not when I was more concerned about why he was here.
“Grant, your kindness knows no bounds, but what kind of person would I be if I denied you this opportunity?” Aubrey's lips were parted, her arms resting behind her neck. The waistcoat had started to come undone around her stomach, yet, for once, my gaze held steady. My dark eyes stared into her light blue ones, a stark refusal to back down.
“No need to hesitate on my account. Surely, I could not deny you this once-in-a-lifetime experience. The chance to strengthen your bond with a sister-in-arms is simply too beautiful to deny.”
“I have no idea what the hell they’re on about, but these guys are hysterical!”
His off-hand comment as he nudged the girl who had been riding the bike sent some color to my cheeks. Her giggle only furthered the heat spreading across my face, but she didn’t stop there. Instead, she decided to take it further.
“They should just get a room already or ride it together.”
A third voice added to the mix. “Or each other.”
The girl opposite him smacked his shoulder. “You’re gross.”
Their group was thrown into a tizzy of insults and trash talk that became indistinguishable the farther they walked away. Those damn brats may have been gone, yet their off-putting comments rang in my ears. I needed to focus, however, since I still had to convince her to play this game. Once the two of them were distracted, I guess I could slip away to see if I could find Luke. I wasn't sure why I was bothering, but he'd clearly wanted to talk. Yet, whatever it was, apparently he didn't want Aubrey or Serena knowing about it.
“I wouldn’t be caught dead doing anything for him. You’d be smart to do the same.”
Nicole’s warning made me even more wary. Whatever was going on between those three wasn't my business, but Luke seemed like he wanted to make it. If that was the case, I wanted to find out what he planned on dragging me into.
“I’m game if you’re game,” Aubrey said, interrupting my thoughts.
I sputtered, nearly choking on the sharp inhale I had taken. “Are you dumb?”
She blinked. “You don’t want me to be on the back that badly? Well, it can't be helped. I’ll let you play a few rounds by yourself.”
Shit, she had me cornered in a checkmate that I couldn’t escape. Of course, she was talking about the game and not what those little dummies had been blabbering about earlier. And now it wasn’t possible to deny her claim unless I was willing to admit that my mind had been in the gutter. And there was no chance I was about to do that in front of Serena. Not when it was just as likely that she would exclaim to anyone who would listen how much of a sick pervert I was or add it to her ever-growing list of criticisms about me.
Figuring out what was going on with Luke was going to have to wait.
My shoulders slackened. I sighed and trudged up the stairs, then sat on the saddle of the bike. There was no doubt she saw my lone finger salute, but there was no audible response from her, and I wasn’t looking behind, zeroing in on the screen ahead. Serena pushed a few coins into the slots between the two machines, and the game roared to life. The speaker amplified the enthusiastic cheers of the silhouetted audience members. Then, the engines roared to life. A woman in a bikini strode across the racetrack, flashing a smile for the camera and bringing down the checkered flag.
I revved the handlebar and immediately crashed into the nearest wall. Smoke billowed from the front of my on-screen motorcycle until the outline of it blinked twice, and the game unceremoniously dumped my repaired bike back on the track. Trying once again, I leaned to the left, my sudden weight tipping my bike over as the rusted gears creaked in protest. The speakers also groaned in much the same manner, while the whole front end of my motorcycle—bent, crushed, and flaming—lay battered against another section of the wall.
“Yikes, who knew the CPUs were going to be the only challenge?” Serena taunted, leaning to either side to sway around her opponents.
“You’re not helping,” I mumbled.
My bike lurched to the left, and tires squealed as I barely missed an oncoming vehicle that had already lapped me, only to hit another due to my poor handling skills. This time, the screeching of metal was accompanied by a loud pop, and the sound of the bike crashing to the ground was followed by a flurry of sparks. My game ended before I had even managed to form words.
Serena cackled. “You wiped out on the first lap?”
“This game sucks,” I said, ignoring how Serena claimed I was what sucked. “I'm running to the bathroom. Aubrey, take over for me.”
Aubrey frowned, leaving a wide berth of room for me to descend the stairs before she started up them. “You sure know how to make a girl feel special.”
“My dad always said I’d be a ladies’ man.”
She snorted, settling on the saddle in anticipation of Serena’s inevitable win. “You must be a lot more charming inside of your house than out of it.”
“His dad also might just be blinded by love,” Serena chimed in.
Out of earshot of any more stinging comments, I turned back to them. Aubrey shoved some tokens into the machine to prepare for the next round and smiled at some joke told between themselves. They were distracted enough that I could probably slip away for a few minutes. Hopefully, that would be enough time to find Luke and figure out what he wanted before either of them noticed I was gone.
Easier said than done, I imagined.
The hallway that approached the bathrooms and the food service area had a thin strip of carpet that ran toward the prize counter. It was a glass case that housed finger traps, sticky fingers, and other small prizes that kids or simple-minded adults would find amusing. Behind that was an employee doing his best to appear interested in his work while pointing to the larger stuffed animals and toy guns on the racks of the off-white wall. The kids, who had racked up an unimaginable amount of tickets, seemed to be struggling to decide which one would be a better use of the precious commodity. And off to the side, sitting prim and proper in one of the three chairs pushed up against the wall running perpendicular to the counter, was none other than Luke.
He greeted me with a casual shrug, as though running away from the others and hiding out by the prize counter was the most natural thing in the world. I took the center seat and looked at him, wondering if my expression betrayed my curiosity.
“I didn’t take you as the type to enjoy arcades.”
“I don’t.” He ran his long pointer finger along the beads wrapped around the cloth bracelet on his wrist. “This is going to sound messed up, but I tailed you here.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t know you felt that way about me.”
He chuckled, dropping his arm to his side. “You’ve got a much better sense of humor than I figured you would.”
“I should be honored that Mr. Popular himself thinks so.”
“I’m not particularly interested in you, though. No offense.”
“None taken.”
The little kids squealed, and we watched them jump around in joy. A large snake stuffed animal was coiled around the taller boy’s forearm, and the younger girl danced around after him. The employee was laughing at them, a gentle smile replacing his neutral grimace. Luke shared the same look, his soft brown eyes following them as they squealed about how cool it was.
“No wonder the ladies love you,” I said, thinking back to how my dad needed to stop lying to me.
Luke chuckled again, humming what I assumed was his humbleness about the fact. “I’m not sure about all that.”
“I’d love to convince myself that you’re just being humble, for my own ego if nothing else, but that’ll have to wait. I’ve got to get back to them before they go searching and find me talking to you. That’d be a problem, wouldn’t it?”
“You’re not wrong. Fine, I’ll cut to the chase.” He glanced up toward the ceiling, staring hard at the bold, clinical lines separating the tiles. His hand tapped on the cell phone in his pocket, and I worried I had failed to emphasize the rush I was in. When he spoke again, it was in a strained voice a little louder than a whisper. “I want you to convince Aubrey to stay away from me.”
For a moment, I almost thought I heard him wrong, until the seriousness didn’t fade from his face. “You know I’ve really got nothing to do with either one of you. Why would you ask me? And why would she bother listening to me?”
He chuckled, tapping the heel of his tennis shoe against the bench. “You’re perceptive. I’m sure you’ve realized I’m desperate here, and you’re the only one who she even seems to get along with.”
“What about Serena?” I asked.
Luke shook his head. “There isn’t a chance she’d hear me out. In her eyes, Aubrey can do no wrong. Besides, she’s still a little upset about my… the whole…”
Dude was seriously stuck trying to describe his lady problems, huh? Watching his annoying, handsome mug try to fill in the blank started to piss me off, so I turned away and started mentally filling in the gaps. Harem. Admirers. Love interests. Tragic heroines. I chuckled a bit at that one, instantly deciding it was my favorite—even if it was a stretch.
“Well,” he finished lamely, “you must know what I mean.”
“I got it.” I stood up and wiped my hands on my pants. Hopefully, he realized I was wiping my hands of this situation too. “I’m going to get going, but it was great chatting. We’ll have to do this again before we graduate.”
I felt a sharp tug on the back of my sleeve, and I ripped my arm away from his grasp. My heart pounded loudly in my ears, but I forced myself to take a settling, deep breath. “M-Maybe I wasn’t clear enough. I’m leaving.”
“Grant, I’m being serious.” He backed away, in a silent form of an apology. “One of the girls has been following her around.”
I rolled my eyes but refrained from saying anything about how he was basically stalking us. “And what?”
“Cornering her after class. Saying things. Getting others involved.” He swallowed. “I don't know what she's going to do next, but I'm starting to think this isn't just jealousy anymore.”
“Then tell her yourself. Or tell a teacher. Hell, tell your girlfriend. Just stop trying to make me the middleman in something I can’t solve.”
I darted away on a pivot, shifting out of the way just in time to avoid bowling over a kid running the width of the carpet back and forth. Her mom gave me a cold glare, but it was easy to ignore since she couldn’t even control her daughter. What wasn’t so easy to ignore was the lingering feeling of his hand on my shoulder. I kept trying to shake it off, frustration growing in my chest.
If he really cared that much, he'd tell her himself, but it’d be easier for him to make me into the bad guy. Seriously, that's all this was, wasn't it? Luke looking for someone else to untangle another thread of his romantic mess?
Yeah, no thanks. They can sort their problems out on their own.