WEST
When first period was over, I headed straight to my locker to wait on Maggie. Not seeing her this morning had made me edgy. I should probably get a grip on my need to have her around, but right now I had too much other shit to deal with. I was attached to her. It wasn’t a bad thing.
As I walked down the hallway, an arm wrapped around mine, and I felt tits press into my arm. I knew it was Serena before I even glanced down at her. She was determined to move in on me now that it was really over with Raleigh. Serena and Raleigh had been competing with each other for as long as I could remember.
When Serena had met me at my locker this morning, I had considered letting her distract me. She was sexy as hell, and all that blond hair was hot. But in the ten minutes she’d flirted with me at my locker, she’d already started getting on my nerves. Her voice was too high-pitched, and she batted her eyelashes so damn much, I was afraid they’d come off because those jokers were too long to be real.
“We have next period together. Sit by me. I’ll make class so much more enjoyable,” she said as she leaned into me.
I knew the kinds of things Serena did in class to make it more enjoyable. I’d seen it in action more than once. But I wasn’t feeling it. Not today. I just needed to see Maggie.
“I’m sure you could,” I replied. I wasn’t going to be mean. I just needed to get her to back off.
She giggled and held on to me tighter. It was making me feel claustrophobic. I didn’t like the feeling of not being able to take a deep breath. And where was Maggie?
I scanned the crowd as I walked to our lockers. Serena was talking, but I wasn’t listening anymore. Maggie wasn’t at her locker again, and my edginess was getting worse.
I stopped and looked back to see if she was anywhere in this hallway. But no sign of her. “Who you looking for?” Serena asked, still locked on to me.
I wasn’t telling her. She’d be on Maggie fast. I knew how girls like Serena worked. She’d make sure Maggie understood she was claiming me, and sweet Maggie couldn’t say a word back to her. Serena didn’t understand guy-and-girl friendships. She’d assume I was moving in on Maggie. Not that the idea of kissing Maggie again and holding her didn’t appeal to me . . . I thought about it often enough. It was just that I wasn’t good enough for what Maggie needed. I couldn’t be that guy. I didn’t do relationships well, and Maggie deserved the best.
But I could be one hell of a friend.
Glancing back at the locker and seeing there was still no Maggie, I shook Serena loose. “I gotta go. I need to do something. I won’t be in next period,” I said distractedly as I kept searching the halls. Then I moved toward Brady’s next class, because he’d know where I could find her. It wasn’t like Maggie not to go to her locker. What was she doing? Just carrying all her books around today?
As soon as I turned the corner, my eyes locked on her. She was bent over by the far wall, pulling books out of her overstuffed book bag. My relief at just seeing her should worry me. I’d started needing her too much.
For the first time all day a smile pulled at my lips.
She was biting her bottom lip, and a frustrated frown was wrinkling her brow. She let out a huff and stood up to tuck the hair that had fallen in her face behind her ear. Just as she slipped the strands back and sighed, her eyes found mine.
Her eyes briefly flashed with happiness and only made my smile bigger. But then she shut it down fast and gave me a tight smile before bending back over her book bag and quickly jamming all the books she’d just taken out back in. What was the girl doing?
I made my way over to her and dropped to my haunches until we were at eye level. I watched her study my feet for a moment before she slowly lifted her gaze to meet mine. Her cheeks turned pink.
“They have these things called lockers. It keeps us from having to carry around a shit ton of books all day. You should check yours out,” I teased, wanting that tight fake smile to become a real one.
Was she feeling weird about us talking until we’d fallen asleep last night? I couldn’t figure out how the girl I’d gone to sleep talking to was now avoiding me. Because now that I’d found her and saw the way she was trying not to look at me, I knew she hadn’t come to her locker because of me.
“Seriously, Maggie, let me take this bag to your locker and unload this stuff. It’s too heavy for you to be carrying around. I’m gonna have to take you to my chiropractor if you do this all day.”
She zipped up her bag and then stood up. I did the same. But before she could pick up her bag, I grabbed it. “Come on,” I said, putting my hand on her lower back and moving her through the crowd toward our lockers.
She let me guide her, and I liked the way it felt to put my hand on her this way. I’d put my hand there on other girls before, but it had never felt like this. Almost as if I were making sure everyone knew Maggie was mine. Which was ridiculous, because she wasn’t mine; she was my friend. She didn’t belong to me.
Though, the idea of her being mine apparently appealed to me enough to make my heart speed up thinking about it. But no. I had to shut this down. I was emotional and messed up. Maggie was my peace in the storm. I couldn’t confuse that with something else and ruin everything.
I had her combination memorized from helping her last week. I’d committed it to memory without even realizing it. I got her locker open quickly, then started filling it with the books from her bag. “Which ones do you need to keep out?” I asked, glancing back at her.
She stepped closer to me, and the scent of vanilla came with her. I didn’t move. I stayed where I was and inhaled. There was no perfume smell. Just . . . Maggie.
Maggie took a textbook from her locker and reached into the book bag I was holding. She took out a notebook then stepped back. Her smell lingered, and I finished putting her book bag away while telling myself I had to draw a line with her. Wanting to take a sniff every time I was near her was not going to be cool.
Once I had her books in there, I closed her locker and turned back to her. “You gonna tell me why you didn’t come to your locker this morning?” Still not sure if she’d talk to me here. Where people could see.
She ducked her head and reached for her book bag. When she finally looked back up at me, she shrugged.
She wasn’t talking.
That was okay. If she just wanted to talk to me when we were alone, I could deal with that. I’d just need to be alone with her more. Which, given how much it appealed to me, might prove difficult. Knowing how her lips felt and trying to get close enough to inhale her scent were two reasons that being alone with Maggie wasn’t going to be easy.
Shit. I had to get a grip. Maybe Serena was a good thing. She knew the score. She wasn’t in it for anything more than sex and bragging rights.
I reached over and tucked the lock of hair that had gotten loose back behind her ear. It only teased me. When I looked at her or touched her, it was hard to want someone else.
“I missed you this morning. I look forward to seeing you at the lockers. When you didn’t come, it messed with my head,” I explained.
A new softness in her expression transformed her face back to the Maggie from last night. The one who trusted me. I liked that look.
She took a step toward me, and her hand gently brushed mine, not once but twice, before she smiled up at me. My chest tightened. Then she turned and walked away.
