Текст книги "Back to You "

Автор книги: Priscilla Glenn

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Текущая страница: 6 (всего у книги 17 страниц)

As she swung back, she felt his hands on her lower back, cushioning her descent and sending her right back up, even higher than before. The cold wind whipped her hair around her face, and as her stomach dropped again, she laughed.

She careened back toward Michael and this time he caught her by the hips, gripping them firmly as he ran forward and gave her a vigorous push as he darted underneath her. Lauren flew up higher than she’d ever been on a swing set, and she screamed, followed by unbridled laughter.

“There ya go,” he said with a smile, walking back over to the swings and sitting on the one next to hers.

Lauren began pumping her legs, keeping herself going as her height gradually lessened, and she looked over at him and smiled.

“You feel better?” he asked.

“I do, actually.”

Michael pushed off with his feet, rocking gently in the swing. “Whenever I’m pissed off about something, I always think to myself, ‘What do I feel like doing right now?’ And then I go and do it, whatever it is. Screw everyone else, ya know?” He looked over at her with a smirk. “And just now, I felt like coming here.”

“Well, I guess that’s better than kicking someone’s ass.”

“Hmm. That’s debatable. It depends on whose ass I’m kicking.”

Lauren laughed and shook her head as she pumped her legs, making the swing go a little faster.

“See, Red? When life hands you lemons, you know what you gotta do now.”

“Wow,” Lauren said. “Yes, Mr. Cliché, I know what I have to do. I make lemonade.”

“No,” he said. “You scream, ‘Fuck you, lemons!’”

Lauren whipped her head toward Michael, her eyes wide, and she quickly scanned the park, forgetting for the moment that it was the dead of winter and no one else was there.

“God,” she said with a horrified laugh.

“And then you throw those goddamn lemons into oncoming traffic, and you go do what you want to do.”

She tried not to laugh, but it was pointless, and as soon as she broke, he laughed along with her. She turned to look at him sitting on the swings next to her, rolling from the balls of his feet to the heels as he rocked himself in the swing.

Lauren wondered if she’d ever stop being floored by these moments. It was almost surreal. He’d been suspended three times in the four months they’d been friends, and two of those were for fighting on school grounds. She’d seen the way others looked at him, the way they avoided him, and she’d seen the way he carried himself around those people. The look in his eyes changed, his posture changed. It was like he was actually someone else.

And it was so strange, because the truth of it was, the infamous Del was just Michael to her, the boy who was quickly becoming her best friend in the world { display: block; text-indent: 0%; leasha.

And that weekend, as Lauren stood at the edge of the mat chalking her hands, her eye was drawn to the stands, where one spectator stuck out like a sore thumb.

He sat on the highest bench, a sharp contrast to the adults sitting demurely in the rows before him, with his backward baseball hat, his overly casual posture, and his arm draped over the back of the bleachers as he absently drummed his fingers against the wood.

All her breath left her in a rush, and she shook her head slightly in disbelief.

His eyes were scanning the mats below, and when he finally made eye contact with her, she grinned up at him and waved.

And when he winked at her, she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that from that moment on, she would do anything for him.

She turned then, walking to the other side of the mat as she got ready to make her run, her adrenalin racing because she knew he was watching.

And she couldn’t help but smile at the irony of the fact that the baddest boy in school could somehow always make her feel like the world was good.

.

October 2011

Lauren couldn’t concentrate to save her life.

She sat in the back of her Psychological Defense Mechanisms class, her pen poised on her notebook as if she was getting ready to write, but her mind was a million miles away.

Actually, her mind was just a few miles away, back at Adam’s office.

Earlier that afternoon, he had suggested a more aggressive stretching routine to counteract the core exercises she was now doing. Lauren had laid on her back as Adam took her leg and lifted it straight up, slowly but surely pushing it closer to her chest, all the while explaining to her how certain hamstring stretches actually release the lower back rather than the legs. As she grew more comfortable, he leaned over and pressed the front of his shoulder to the back of her leg, using some of his body weight to increase the intensity of the stretch.

And that was the moment Lauren’s mind kept going back to: looking up at him as he leaned over her.

With her leg propped up on his shoulder.

“…Can be found in chapter six of your textbooks. These two are most commonly confused, and can often exist simultaneously in a person’s psyche,” Lauren heard her professor say as he gestured toward the screen behind him, and she blinked quickly, snapping out of it as she sat up a bit straighter in an attempt to regain her focus.

Two words were projected on the large screen in the front of the lecture hall: repression and suppression.

“Both are Freudian concepts concerned with removing unwanted or unpleasant memories from one’s conscious, but the difference between the two is that suppression involves the cognizant desire to forget, whereas repression happens subconsciously.”

Lauren made a shorthand notation of that on her page as the professor continued, “Now, either one of these methods in moderation can be considered healthy. It’s only when they occur in extremes that they hinder a person’s emotional development and impede their ability to heal from traumatic events.”

She chewed on the corner of her lip, writing that down as her mind shifted away from Adam’s office and back to the place it usual { display: block; text-indent: 0%;hery, bringly did as she sat in these classes.

Right back to him. Always to him.

“Now, believe it or not, most of the time, it’s easier to work with someone who is suppressing painful thoughts rather than repressing them. Since repression is a subconscious method of protection, oftentimes the subject will not even be aware that the element being repressed even exists, which lends itself to denial. However, with suppression, the subject is well aware of the issue; he just chooses to avoid dealing with it.”

Lauren sighed softly.

It was just so classically Michael.

She’d never admitted it out loud to anyone—in fact, she’d never even officially admitted it to herself—but it was Michael who made her want to go into child psychology. She couldn’t help but feel like if he had been given the tools to deal with his emotional suffering when he was young, if he’d just had access to the necessary coping strategies, so much could have been different.

But instead, he fell back on what worked, on what was safest and easiest for him: he refused to deal with any of it. And it made an already miserable situation a hundred times worse. She hadn’t even been aware of how severely it all affected him until the very end.

Lauren pressed her lips together, looking down as she rolled her pen between her fingers.

Because she realized then that she was guilty of the same exact thing.

As much as she denied still caring about everything that happened between them, as much as she insisted to Jenn that it was years ago and that it was all in the past, the truth was, she’d never gotten over it.

Lauren would have never admitted that if he hadn’t come back into her life; she realized that. She would have gone about her business, choosing to pretend she was unaffected by her past, and if she’d never seen him again, she probably would have been able to believe her own lie. But his reappearance had given her past a voice again.

And as much as she wanted to, she couldn’t pretend it didn’t exist anymore.

Lauren put her pen down, not even attempting to take notes anymore as she thought of her dinner with him the other day. The whole time she sat across from him, she had to focus intently on maintaining her carefully cultivated façade. She could feel how effortless it would have been to fall right back into things with him, how simple it would have been to pretend there were no missed years in between, to pretend that nothing had ever gone wrong between them.

But she fought to stay guarded, because allowing herself to be vulnerable with him again would have been a very dangerous—and stupid—thing for her to do.

So she sat across from him, battling her instincts to let him back in, yet refusing to address what was preventing her from doing it in the first place.

Lauren sighed and shook her head: here she was, a future psychologist, blatantly guilty of suppression.

And just like that, it hit her.

She wasn’t going to avoid it anymore.

She was doing the very thing that caused him so much additional suffering. She knew it wasn’t healthy for him, so what made her think it would be healthy for her?

She needed to talk to him. Really talk to him. She knew that now.

The only thing she didn’t know was why.

What did she hope to gain from talking it out with him? Did she want the answers Jenn claimed she was entitled to? Did she even need closureIf you really want something, you shouldn, le after all this time?

Or did she just want her friend back?

If it was about friendship, she knew she couldn’t have the latter without the former. They could never truly be friends again without her understanding what had gone wrong between them.

So if she was going to let him back into her life, then she would need answers. They would have to talk about what happened, regardless of how awkward or unpleasant it would be, so that she could move on and not just pretend that she had.

Maybe they could both move on.

A small smile curved Lauren’s lips at the realization that they could potentially rekindle their friendship.

She missed it.

She missed him.

Even when she was pretending she wasn’t hurt, she never pretended not to miss him.

With newfound determination, Lauren picked up her pen and resumed taking notes off the front board.

She could just hear Jenn’s reaction to the idea of forming a friendship with Michael Delaney again, and she couldn’t help but smile.

Because if Jenn considered being an adult and moving on “selective amnesia,” well, then that would be her problem.

“Lauren Monroe?”

Lauren looked up from her seat in the waiting room, her brow already furrowed. It wasn’t the voice she’d been expecting.

“Hi, I’m Dr. Lawrence. I’ll be taking care of you today,” said an older gentleman with a polite smile. He wore light green scrubs, not Adam’s usual dark blue, and his graying hair and little potbelly were the embodiment of what Jenn had pictured when Lauren first told her she had a crush on her chiropractor.

“Oh,” Lauren said, clearly taken aback, and she hesitantly placed the magazine she’d been reading on the table in front of her as she stood.

“Right this way,” he said, turning and walking into one of the exam rooms behind them.

Lauren felt the slight anxiety begin in her chest as she followed this new doctor into the room.

“Um, is Dr. Wells out sick?” she asked with strained casualness.

“No, he transferred you this morning. You’ll be finishing up the remainder of your therapy with me.”

Lauren froze, and Dr. Lawrence must have noticed the look on her face.

“He didn’t mention this to you?”

She shook her head, silent.

“I apologize then. I thought he’d gone over the switch with you. Let me assure you though, I’ve thoroughly acquainted myself with your information and your therapy plan, and I’m well versed in all the procedures Dr. Wells has been using with you. I’m fully comfortable in going forward as long as you are.”

Lauren swallowed and nodded, too focused on her own insecurities to even acknowledge her anxiety over having another doctor work on her.

Had she done something wrong? She honestly thought the flirting had been mutual. Things had never gotten inappropriate; it had all been so harmless.

At least, she thought it had been harmless.

She laid down on the table, her mind so lost in her own self-doubt that she forgot to panic as the new doctor adjusted her.If you really want something, you shouldn, le

When Lauren left the office twenty minutes later, she was still in a fog of humiliation. She approached her car, mindlessly digging in her purse for her keys, and she found herself trying to come up with an excuse to discontinue her therapy there.

She didn’t want to chance facing him again now that he was clearly trying to avoid her.

“Lauren?”

She froze with her hand in her purse, and she closed her eyes and swallowed before she turned.

He was leaned up against a silver car, dressed in a T-shirt and jeans. It was the first time she’d ever seen him outside of his scrubs.

“Hi,” she said, forcing a smile, and he pushed off the car and walked toward her.

“Listen, I switched you over to Dr. Lawrence’s care,” he said as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

“Yeah, he told me,” she said, the same contrived smile in place as she looked down and continued searching for her keys. She was so aware of herself, of her awkwardness as she tried to ensure that she wasn’t flirting, but at the same time, wasn’t showing her disappointment.

“He’s wonderful,” Adam said. “Taught me everything I know.”

Lauren smiled politely, glancing up as she finally pulled her keys out of her purse.

“You’re in good hands with him,” he assured her. “You only have about two weeks of therapy left anyway, so you’ll be fine.”

Lauren nodded. “Okay, well, thanks for everything,” she said before she turned and started walking toward her car.

Then she stopped.

No more avoiding unpleasant things, she reminded herself, and she turned to see him still standing where she’d left him.

“Can I ask you something?” she asked, straightening her posture.

“Of course.”

“Why did you switch me?”

Adam took a deep breath, running his hand through his hair. “Well, I just thought it would be unprofessional if I asked out one of my patients.”

Lauren blinked, her hand dropping to her side. “What?”

“I know. I could have waited the two weeks until you finished your therapy, but I’ve already waited seven, and it hasn’t been easy.”

She blinked at him again, unmoving, and he smiled his trademark grin.

“So, can I take you out? You basically have to say yes at this point, otherwise I’ve given away my favorite patient for nothing.”

What he was saying finally registered, and Lauren tried not to smile. “So basically I have to go out with you now out of sympathy? Like a pity date?”

He laughed her favorite laugh. “You can call it whatever you want, as long as you let me take you out.”

And when he looked up at her from under his eyelashes, she couldn’t fight her smile any longer. “Well,” she sighed, “I guess one pity date couldn’t hurt. I can always have a friend call me with a fake emergency.”

“Or excuse yourself to the bathroom and escape out the window.”

“That’s right,” she laughed. “I always forget about that one.”

“But Lauren?” he said, beginning to walk backward toward his car.

didn’t have to come here.”7 shoulder“Yeah?”

“Give me a chance. I promise you won’t want to escape.”

She bit her lip. “I believe you.”

Adam grinned. “I’ll call you later. We’ll make definite plans,” he said, holding up his hand before he turned and walked back toward his car.

And Lauren watched him go, fighting the urge to jump up and down like a little girl.

Michael stood in the vestibule of Learn and Grow, disappointed to see it was the curly-haired woman who stood in the doorway of the pre-K room dismissing the children today.

He moved over to the bench along the wall, resigning himself to the fact that this was a sign he should leave well enough alone. But as soon as he sat, his new vantage point gave him a clear view of Lauren sitting on top of a table inside the classroom, writing on some type of clipboard.

He watched her chew the corner of her lip the way she always did when she was deep in thought, and he smiled.

She glanced up then, scanning the vestibule, and after a second her eyes landed on him. Before he’d even fully decided to do it, he motioned for her to come out, and she pointed to herself and raised her eyebrows as if to ask, me?

Michael laughed at her innocence and nodded, and she put down the clipboard as she hopped off the table and walked toward the entryway. He stood and circumvented a group of waiting parents as he met her at the door.

“Is everything okay?” she asked.

“Oh, yeah, everything’s fine. I just wanted to run something by you.”

“Okay, what’s up?” she asked, smiling and waving at a little girl who ran past her and out to her mother.

“I wanted to know if you wanted to try that dinner thing again. A real restaurant this time. Someplace without games and kiddie rides.”

“Oh. Um, I have class tonight.”

“Not tonight. I was thinking this Saturday.”

“I can’t.”

Whatever expression crossed his face, it must have been pathetic, because she immediately added, “It’s not because I don’t want to. I just…I already have plans.”

“A date?” he asked, instantly embarrassed by his own brazenness. “Sorry,” he added quickly. “That’s none of my business.”

“It’s okay. But, um…maybe another time?” She smiled politely up at him, and he nodded.

“Sure. That sounds good,” he said, and as soon as she turned and walked back into the classroom, he pulled his brow together and looked down.

“Erin Delaney,” the curly-haired woman called, and seconds later Erin came bounding out of the room.

“Hi Daddy!” she beamed, hugging him around the leg, and he bent and scooped her up.

“Hi baby girl. Did you have a good day?”

“Yes! We played hide-and-seek and I won!”

Michael laughed. “Good job,” he said, kissing her forehead before he put her down and took her hand. “Maybe we can play tonight after dinner.”

“Okay, but you’re gonna lose!” she sing-songed. “I’m really, really good.”

As they walk straight ahead"> shouldered out to the car, Michael tried to focus on what he’d make for dinner that night and where he would hide when Erin asked him to play later.

But instead, his mind kept going back to the fact that Lauren had a date this Saturday night.

He had been right when he said it was none of his business. It wasn’t. Yet he couldn’t help feeling irritated by the whole thing. It was ridiculous; he knew that. He was trying to reestablish a friendship with her, so why should he care if she was dating someone else?

He kept asking himself that question, although he damn well already knew the answer.

It would be hard enough trying to win back her trust, he reminded himself, hard enough trying to earn back her friendship. So he needed to put a lid on whatever possessive, jealous bullshit was fueling his thoughts. He needed to get a grip, and fast.

Because if he thought for one second he had a shot at anything else, he was out of his mind.

.

June 2001

Lauren sat on Jenn’s bed, reading aloud the questions to the latest Cosmo quiz titled, “Are You Good-Girl Hot or Bad-Girl Hot?” to Jenn at her insistence.

“Last question,” Lauren said. “You spot a cute guy across the room at a party, and your interest is piqued. Do you: (a) Stroll right over and whisper, ‘Need another drink?’ breathily in his ear; (b) Stay put until he finally chats with a mutual friend and then make your move; or (c) ‘Accidentally’ brush up against him, smile, and introduce yourself?”

“Hmm,” Jenn said as she put the cap back on her nail polish and gently blew on her freshly painted fingernails. “C.”

Lauren smiled and shook her head, jotting that down as she totaled up Jenn’s points. “Okay,” she finally said. “According to the Cosmo gurus, you are a Badass Bombshell.”

Jenn nodded proudly. “Damn straight. What else does it say?”

“It says you strike the right balance between being naughty and nice, and you lure guys in by being playfully provocative. You put just enough out there to keep guys guessing, and anticipation is sexy.”

“Sounds about right,” Jenn said with a smile, hopping up on the bed next to Lauren and holding her hands up with her fingers fanned out. “You like?”

“Very pretty,” Lauren said, closing the magazine and tossing it to the floor as she flopped onto her stomach. “What do you want to do now?”

“Hmm. Oh, I know. Let’s talk about how hopelessly in love you are with Del.”

Lauren whipped her head toward her friend. “What? What the hell are you talking about?”

Jenn tilted her head. “Oh come on, Lauren.”

She turned away from Jenn with a huff. “It’s too bad there’s not a quiz in there about how well you know your friends, because you’d fail it miserably.”

“Would I?” Jenn asked, and Lauren ignored her, reaching for the remote and trying hard to focus on the television as she flipped quickly through the channels.

“I still don’t know what you see in him,” Jenn went unreadable.

A silence filled the space between them, and Lauren chewed on the corner of her lip.

“How?” she asked softly.

“I knew it!” Jenn yelled, hopping up onto her knees as she pointed at Lauren.

“Yes, you’re a genius,” Lauren deadpanned. “Are you going to help me or make fun of me?”

“Help you, of course,” Jenn said, sitting back down on the bed and fanning her hands.

Lauren rolled onto her side, facing her friend. “I think you’re going to have your work cut out for you. I mean, we’ve been friends for almost a year. He hasn’t made a move at all.”

Jenn blew on her thumbnail as she looked up at Lauren from under her lashes. “Have you?”

“No!”

“Have you even flirted with him?”

Lauren sighed. “I don’t know. I mean, we laugh a lot. We always have fun. But I don’t know that I’ve intentionally flirted. Besides,” Lauren said, rolling onto her back and staring up at the ceiling, “he’s not the kind of guy who holds back his feelings. If he liked me, I kind of think I’d know it by now. I’m like a sister to him.”

“No,” Jenn said, shaking her head. “I don’t believe that.”

“He calls me Red.”

“So?”

“So that’s like the equivalent of guys calling each other by their last names,” Lauren said. “Guys don’t call a girl they’re interested in by her last name.”

“It’s not your last name. It’s a pet name. It’s adorable.”

Lauren rolled her head to the side to face Jenn. “I thought you said he was a scary maniac.”

“Oh, he is. He totally is. But you’re, like, his kryptonite.” Lauren laughed, and Jenn flopped down on the bed next to her. “I just think his head is so far up his ass with all of those sluts he hooks up with that he doesn’t realize he wants to be with an actual good girl.” She turned toward Lauren. “You, of course.”

“Charming, Jenn.”

“But,” Jenn continued, not missing a beat, “there’s a surefire way to get a guy to realize he wants you, and tonight’s the perfect night to pull it off.”

Lauren rolled back on to her side to face her friend, totally on Jenn’s hook. “What do I have to do?”

“You have to hook up with someone else.”

Lauren laughed, but Jenn looked at her straight-faced until her laughter gradually slowed. “You’re serious?” she asked hesitantly.

“That junior Travis what’s-his-name is having a party tonight. His parents are out of town, and there will be drinking there. No adults plus booze equals Del. So tonight, he’ll go. We’ll go. And you’ll find a cute guy, and you’ll hook up with him,” Jenn said pragmatically.

Lauren threw her hands up in the air. “How in the hell would that be productive?”

“Because you’re just so as she rested her head on his shoulder.g le…pure. Which is a great thing,” Jenn added quickly, holding her hand up. “But sometimes, guys need to be reminded that there’s another side to girls like that. If he hears you hooked up with someone, it will make him think of you in a sexual situation. And once he does that, he won’t be able to help thinking of himself with you in a sexual situation. And then he’ll get jealous that it wasn’t him, and you’re golden,” she said, as if she’d just explained the simplicity of two plus two equaling four.

Lauren bit her bottom lip, blinking up at the ceiling. In a twisted way, there was some logic behind what Jenn had just said.

“I don’t know,” Lauren said, but even she could hear the lack of conviction in her voice.

“Trust me, Laur,” Jenn said. “If you want Del to want you, you have to make him think about what he’s missing.”

Lauren inhaled deeply, wringing her hands together. Maybe she should take Jenn’s advice. She was popular with guys, and always seemed to get the attention of whomever she was interested in.

And after all, she had just been deemed a Badass Bombshell by one of the most popular women’s magazines.

She closed her eyes and covered her face with her hands. “I can’t believe I’m going to do this,” she said, and she felt the bed bounce as Jenn jumped up beside her.

“That’s my girl!” Jenn said, grabbing her wrist and pulling her off the bed. “Get in the shower. We’ve got a party to go to.”

Okay, this is kind of nice, Lauren thought to herself as she felt Mark’s lips find hers again in the darkness. They were in the den on the first floor of the party, and through the closed door, Lauren could still hear the muted sounds of everyone outside.

Jenn had picked Mark out for her not five minutes after they arrived at the party. Lauren had seen him around school a few times. He played lacrosse, and according to Jenn, he had helped her find her class once when she had gotten lost the semester before. “He’s nice,” she assured Lauren. “And single. Go for it.”

So they had mingled a little bit as Lauren slowly sipped a beer, allowing her inhibitions to become slightly fuzzy, until eventually Jenn said it was time to make their move. They walked over to where Mark and a few of his friends were hanging out, and Jenn got the conversation going until Lauren and Mark were talking and laughing on their own.

At one point, Jenn leaned over and whispered in Lauren’s ear that Del had just gotten there, although Lauren had yet to see him. “Ask Mark if he wants to go talk somewhere else. He’ll get what you mean,” Jenn said before taking a step back and continuing her conversation with one of his friends.

And as soon as Lauren asked him, he smiled and nodded as he took her hand and walked her to the den.

She had to admit, Jenn knew her stuff.

They had sat on the couch with the door slightly ajar, talking for another few minutes, and then Mark leaned in and kissed her. As soon as he realized she was willing to kiss him back, he had gotten up and locked the door.

And now they were lying on their sides, facing each other on a wide, comfortable couch in the darkness as he continued to kiss her.

She liked the way he kissed, how soft his lips seemed. He was playful, alternating as she rested her head on his shoulder.g le between kissing her gently and kissing her passionately. It only took a few minutes of that before Lauren felt herself growing breathless.

But then they started to move past kissing. It wasn’t that it was unpleasant; it was just…weird. Maybe it wouldn’t have been if she hadn’t been so nervous.

His hands on her breasts were kind of nice, but when his hand ended up between her legs, it was awkward and a little uncomfortable.

And when she put her hand on him, she tried to do what she thought would feel good, but it was the first time she’d ever touched a boy like that. Her movements were kind of clumsy, and he ended up putting his hand around hers and guiding her until it was over.

And then he got up, turned on the lamp, cleaned himself up, and asked if she was ready to go back to the party.

As soon as they opened the door, Lauren found herself squinting against the brightness of the light in the house. She reached up and ran her hand through her hair, realizing it was a tangled mess, and she began combing through it with her fingers.

She looked up at Mark, and he winked down at her before he turned and walked back toward the party.

Lauren stood there, blinking against the light as she tried to spot Jenn in the crowd, when suddenly someone grabbed the top of her arm and spun her around.

“Are you okay?” Michael demanded.

“Jesus, you scared the hell out of me,” Lauren exhaled.

“Are you okay?” he repeated firmly, his hand still gripping her.

“I’m fine.”

“Did he do something to you?” he asked, his eyes darting back and forth between hers.

“Yes.”

In an instant, his eyes turned murderous as he straightened, releasing his grip on her as he turned to scan the party.

Lauren stuck out her chin. “But I wanted him to. I liked it.” It wasn’t entirely true, but for all intents and purposes, it seemed fitting.

His eyes flashed back to hers. “Lauren, what the hell did you do?”

Her stomach turned uneasily. He never called her Lauren. Ever.

And in that moment, she began to second-guess her decision to take Jenn’s advice. She felt the bravado leave her body. “Not that. Not what you’re thinking,” she said meekly.

His eyes softened ever so slightly, but Lauren could tell by the set of his jaw that he was still fighting to keep calm. “Mark Valero?” he nearly hissed at her. “I don’t get it. I’ve never seen you talk to him. You never even talk about him. Since when are you interested in this kid?”

Lauren shrugged. “Since tonight, I guess.”

He studied her for a moment before he asked, “How much have you had to drink?”

“Not that much,” she said, feeling more and more regretful as the seconds passed.

Michael shook his head before he turned to scan the party once more. Lauren followed his gaze to where Mark was standing with his friends. He bumped fists with one of them before another handed him a beer, and then a third came up behind him, clapping him on the back and saying something in his ear that made both boys laugh.

“And now he’s done with you?” Michael said angrily, whipping back toward Lauren so suddenly that she flinched. “He’s just gonna go back her stomach"> shoulderto the party? He can’t even hang out with you for a little bit?”

Lauren bit her lip and looked down. When he put it that way, she couldn’t help but feel kind of stupid.

“Good choice,” he added, his voice livid. “Brilliant pick. He seems like a real fucking class act.”