Page 27 of How (Not) to Conjure a Boyfriend
“Why do you not want to go so bad?” she asks. “Didn’t you say they live in, like, some big high-end modern house? They probably have a full basketball court. A gym! Theater! All of it.”
“So? I don’t play basketball,” I remind her. She knows that! A real-deal home theater sounds pretty dope though. “I watch.”
“Thereisthat, but still.” She smirks. “You get to hang out at a mansion. With another hot dude!”
“It’s not a mansion, and no! We’re not talking about his brother.” I stop her.
“But he is hot. Didn’t you say he was?” she asks.
Ugh! Fine! Yes, I might have said that, but still, he interrogated me. “Not the point. I don’t want to play basketball withZachary.”
She gives me the side-eye. “And why not? Why don’t you want to play with Zachary?”
“’Cause I don’t play basketball,” I say again.
“No, you saidZacharyreal suspicious-like.” She’s squinting. Too curious for her own good. “Why don’t you want to playspecificallywith Zachary?”
I huff and fall against the bar. “I think he knows.”
“Knows?” Kaitlynn squints.
“Yeah,knowsknows.”
“Knows, like he knows you’re a liar?” she digs.
I roll my eyes. That’s not how I’d phrase it.
“That I’m not his brother’s enbyfriend.” I rephrase it for her. She makes me sound so bad.
“So, a liar.” Kaitlynn grins.
“Not my fault,” I say.
“Technicalities.”
* * *
“Welcome to the Marcus residence, we’ll be right with you,” a recording of Mary-Anne’s voice responds when I push the doorbell, and I immediately reach for my necklace.
My legs are crisscrossed as if I could twist around and make a run for it. This is so awkward. I’m awkward. I hate waiting at doors. I don’t even want to be here. I should be at home with Mom, well, I mean hanging out in my room playingSims, dancing around my bed to Seventeen and XLOV, or watchingone of my many BL dramas for the hundredth time. Not standing here, waiting to play a sport I’d rather watch with a guy I essentially don’t know who thinks I’m sus anyway.
A latch clacks and the big door swings inward. It’s Mary-Anne. She’s smiling widely.
“You came!”
Did you not expect me to? I scoff at the doubt inside my head. I said I would. I didn’t want to, but I said I would. I’m not a li— Okay, maybe.
I shrug. “Of course.”
Sometimes I want to smack myself. Is it really that hardnotto dig my hole deeper? By the time I’m done they’ll be able to drop me inside with a few others and still bury us six feet deep.
“Zachary’s out back already. Do you know where the court is?” Mrs. Marcus asks.
Do I know where the court is? Like basketball court? Was Kaity right? Do they seriously have a whole-ass basketball court?
“No, ma’am.” I shake my head.
“If you drive around back, you’ll…” She puts up a hand. “Actually, no. It’d be quicker to cut through here. Just follow me.”
