Page 139 of Tight Ends & Tiaras
After practice, I’m walking out with Olly and Johnny when a couple of the cheerleaders come up to us. I let the guys talk as I check my messages. I’m reading an update from Magnolia about Lily’s afternoon when I feel a hand on my sleeve.
Cherry, a cheerleader who has bright red hair, smiles up at me. “Hey, Ben. I was wondering if you wanted to pair up for that monetization project. The guy I’m usually matched with gives me the creeps.”
What is it with men who creep on women who aren’t interested?
“Sure. I should probably get on that. I haven’t planned out that far to be honest.”
She gets her phone out, and we swap numbers and agree to meet in the library later in the week.
As the guys and I walk out into the parking lot, Johnny elbows me. “I’m glad you’re moving on. There’s no reason to let Sienna screw you up. Cherry’s hot as fuck.”
I frown. I’m meeting with Cherry for a school assignment, but I don’t bother to argue with him. What’s the point in telling him I have zero interest in other women right now? I don’t feel like talking. I barely feel like breathing, so shooting the shit with Johnny is low on my priorities.
Johnny elbows me again, but I ignore him and save Cherry’s info in my contact list.
“Dude. Incoming,” he mumbles.
I look up and there she is.
Sienna.
Sitting on my bumper like I haven’t been freaking the fuck out over her leaving.
The sight of her sends my heart into overdrive, but the wary expression on her face has me bracing for the worst.
She stands up and her little sundress flutters in the warm breeze.
“Sienna!” Olly lifts her into a hug.
She gives him a half-hearted smile, but when she looks to Johnny, he shakes his head.
“Why you doing our dude here dirty? He’s been a wreck since you left.”
“Shut the fuck up, Johnny, and go home.”
I shove him away, and he puffs out his chest at Sienna like a bantam rooster. “Don’t make me do something I’ll regret.”
He’s trying my last nerve, but I love that dumbass.
Sienna and I watch each other while Johnny and Olly take off. The long shadows of the gnarled oak trees at the edge of the parking lot reach between us. Even though she’s only five feet away, for some reason it feels like miles.
There’s no sunny smile or hugs for me. That thought snaps me out of my stupor.
“I didn’t cheat on you.” I walk around her to open my SUV. I toss my gym bag across to the passenger seat.
When I turn back to look at her, she nods. “I know.”
“You know?” I laugh caustically. For some reason, that pisses me off. “And yet you moved out? Didn’t bother to call. Didn’t tell me where you were or that you were okay after you drove down by yourself from Dallas. Blocked me from calling you. And yet you know?”
She bites her bottom lip so hard, I’m surprised she doesn’t draw blood. “Melvin figured it out. He said he, uh, hacked Janelle’s phone and found the messages she sent Ernest that basically explained what she was doing that night.”
I should feel relieved, right? I should be clicking my heels that I’ve been exonerated, but for some reason, I feel like punching a hole in a wall. Fucking Melvin. I can think of few things as humiliating as having a panic attack in front of that guy.
“Would’ve been nice if you’d just asked me. If you’d said, ‘Hey, asshole, did you cheat on me?’ And I could have told you myself that I’d rather take a hot poker to my nut sack than cheat. But I’m glad you got the answers you were looking for.”
I start to get into my Rover when she calls my name.
Her stricken face makes me freeze, and shame hits me hard.
