Page 111 of End Game

Chapter 34

Diana

My new study group is a good mix of people. It’s a small group. Everyone clearly already knows each other. Still, I’m glad they’re including me, allowing me to be part of their established group. After our study session, we agree to grab some lunch at the diner in town. It almost feels like having friends. Are they my friends? Why is this so hard?

Curtis is a lanky redhead with skin so pale it almost physically hurts to look at him. He’s wearing a button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up and dark brown khakis. He looks like he should be a middle manager at some corporate behemoth. Mandy is so bubbly and friendly, I want to think she was a cheerleader in high school. If she wasn’t, she missed her calling. Her manicure is perfect and her eyebrow game is on point; she’s wearing a full face of makeup and lash extensions to go with her torn jeans and oversized sweatshirt. Dvora went for fashion over comfort today. She’s wearing a soft looking dark green sweater dress, mustard yellow tights, and brown booties. It shouldn’t work together, but she manages to pull it off.

Me? I’m wearing leggings and a wrinkled t-shirt, a Newton soccer sweatshirt tied around my waist.

“Have you read the latest Sybil Hedgewick book?” Mandy asks suddenly in a lull in the conversation.

“Never heard of her,” Curtis says.

“It’s a romance novel,” Dvora explains. “I’m on the waitlist at the library. I can’t wait.”

“It’s so good,” Mandy says.

“Is that the one about the blue aliens, or the dinosaurs shifters?” I ask. “I’ve read both series, but I’m a few books behind.”

“Mason likes those books,” Tuck says casually. “I couldn’t get into them.”

“You don’t like dinosaur porn?” Dvora laughs.

“I prefer humanoid porn,” he says with absolutely no shame whatsoever, because it’s absolutely not a shameful topic. “But no, it was more the concept of the dinosaur shifters. Like, how does that even work? Dinosaurs lay eggs. How would they mate with humans?”

“Oh, I could tell you stories,” Mandy says. “There are forty-seven books in the series explaining how it works.”

“I’m only in the thirties,” I admit. “I got burned out.”

“Book thirty-six picks up the steam a bit,” Dvora says. “By the time you get to thirty-nine and forty, it’s like you’re right back at the beginning again.”

“I’ll have to give it a try. Now I know what audiobook I’ll be listening to during my run this afternoon.” I make a mental note to borrow the book on my tablet before I head to the gym in a few hours.

Curtis shakes his head. “You’re going for a run?”

“And pilates class.”

“But you’re, like, skinny.”

“I’m a soccer player. We have to stay in shape,” I explain. “We work out seven days a week, upwards of twenty hours a week, and that’s before we include games and travel time. It’s a big commitment. It takes its toll.”

“I’m almost looking forward to football being done,” Tuck admits. “Sure, I’ll miss it, but next year in grad school I won’t have anything to distract me from school.”

“Except for Mason,” Dvora cuts in, and he laughs.

“Yeah, except for her. We’re committed to going to the same school next year. We’ve spent so much time apart,” he says. “I don’t want to be apart from her any more than I absolutely have to be.”

“Aww.” Mandy swoons. “You guys are, like, couple goals. You’re so great together.”

He gives her a tight smile. “Takes a lot of work. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it.”

“Whatever happened with your guy from the party?” Dvora asks me.

It takes me a second to realize she’s talking about Trey. I’ve already forgotten all about him.

“Fizzled out,” I say lightly.

“Aw, that’s too bad.” She frowns. “He was cute.”