Page 43 of The Bad Boyfriend Curse
I grin, taking the skirt from Kennedy. Together we pick two tops to go with it—a ribbed purple tank, and a black one with silver studs on the neckline. She also helps me pick out a bunch of other things, including a slouchy zippered hoodie, a tight black T-shirt, and even a few old band shirts in dark colors. Kennedy says she’ll get her mom to alter them for me.
“This is so much fun,” she says, moving toward the accessories. “I’ve thought you needed a makeover since the first day of CROP.”
I grin, wanting to laugh at the ease of Kennedy’s admission. Honestly, what’s the harm in me giving up my usual pastels while I’m in Cherrybridge? It’s not like I’m going to have job or scholarship interviews here. Plus, Mom will hate it.
“Oh my God, look! These are brand-new in the package!” She holds up some small body jewelry hoops. Like the kind you can get at Hot Topic in the mall. “You need to wear this one in your nose with that skirt,” Kennedy says, handing meone. It’s a black metallic hoop, a bit larger and thicker than I’m used to, and it has a purple metallic ball on it. It reminds me of Kennedy’s purple septum ring. I love it. I also end up getting a black belt and a pair of silver hoop earrings. I push my cart over to show it all to Noah, but he has something even cooler to show me.
“Look what I found,” he says. He holds out a black T-shirt. It has the words “Crash on Jupiter” in red font, with a big yellow-and-orange exploding planet underneath. It takes me a moment to realize exactly how amazing this find is.
“Holy crap… Jason and your dad’s band!”
He’s positively vibrating with excitement. “My dad has onlyoneof these shirts. I’ve been begging him to give it to me forever, but he won’t even let me wear it. There are, like, ten of them here. How did they end up in a thrift store?”
I wince, remembering what Mom told me when she first showed me my room in Jason’s house. “My mom donated a bunch of stuff from Jason’s house a few weeks ago.”
Noah’s eyes narrow. “I can’t believe he would toss them.”
“Well, technically my mom did. Why did he still have them?” Was Jason keeping these as a memory? As a representation of who he used to be? Or of what he could have been?
Noah shrugs. “They don’t belong in a secondhand store with things people don’t want.”
At ten dollars each it would be over a hundred dollars to buy them all.
I take all the hangers off the rack and add them to my cart. “I’m buying them.”
Noah shakes his head. “No, it’s a lot of money.”
I shrug. “Jason’s giving me an allowance while I’m here, and I’ve barely spent it. This is a charity shop for addiction and mental health services, right? This way we’re technically forcing Jason to donate to the cause.”
Noah laughs. He starts going through the shirts in my cart. “I wantone.For me.”
I check the size of the one he takes. XL. Rolling my eyes, I replace it with a medium. “Have you ever thought about wearing clothes that, you know…fityou?”
He gives me his mischievous smile. “Noorani, youhaveto stop objectifying me like this. How often are you thinking about how my clothes fit?”
I laugh and blush at that. If he only knew.
Maybe he has a thing for embarrassed blushing, because the teasing smile on his face melts away. He smiles, looking right into my eyes, and electricity crackles between us.
I’ve come to terms with the fact that I have an unwanted and quite massive crush on this guy, but despite him sometimes being a major flirt, I truly didn’t think he felt the same way about me. But the look he’s giving me right now isn’t his normal play-flirting smile. It’s deeper. More intense. His gaze goes from my eyes to my lips, and I swear if we weren’t in an overstuffed thrift store with our friends, I think he would kiss me. Or I would kiss him. He takes a step forward, and I think that maybe he’s going to kiss me anyway. Half my brain is yelling,Danger! Danger!while the other half wants to grab him and kiss him myself. He raises his hand to my cheek, and I can’t help it, I lean toward him.
A loud voice breaks the spell between us. It’s Ash yellingat someone. “Why are you guys suchmassivedouches all the time?”
Noah’s hand drops, and we turn toward the counter to see who Ash is yelling at. I cringe when I see that it’sQuinn.
My two Cherrybridge worlds are colliding. Why is wealthy Abercrombie-model Quinn in a thrift store?
Noah and I rush to the front of the store. Kennedy is with Ash and Quinn, who are glaring at each other.
“What’s going on?” Noah asks.
Quinn notices me. “Meera!” He frowns when he sees Noah next to me.
“Uh.” I hesitate, watching Noah, Ash, and Kennedy’s reactions. “Hey, Quinn, what’s going on?”
Ash points at Quinn. “This douche is donating a Diesel sweatshirt, so I asked if he’d sell it to me instead of donating it, because I can’t afford the messed-up price markup here.”
“It’s for charity,” the girl behind the counter says. She’s not much older than us, and she looks scared that a fight’s going to break out.
