Actually, I wouldn’t even make fun of Zach for joining an organization for little girls because I really wanted to order some cookies and I couldn’t do that if he wasn’t a member.
“Are you now or have you ever been a Girl Scout?” I asked. Really hoped he surprised me.
Zach flipped me off.
Okay. Fair. Moving on.
Zach kinda always looked like his presence was a gift he was gracing the world with, but he just looked vaguely cranky and determined now. He was wearing track pants and a thin t-shirt, running clothes. He looked like he came from a jog or something but didn’t clean up yet, which meant he planned to come over here because there was no one he needed to look nice for.
“Oh god,” I said as it hit me. “Is this something serious?”
“Isn’t that my line?” he quipped. I was the one who tried to tell him about Important Issues, and he was the one who tried to run away. “I don’t like this anymore than you,” he said with a grimace.
I sighed and let him come in and we walked to my room.
When we got to my room, Zach made the executive decision that he was going to sit on my bed. There wasn’t an un-weird way for me to sit there too because he leaned back against the pillows and stretched his legs out. Like if he had to have this discussion and initiate it, then he was going to be comfortable.
I sat in the chair from my desk.
“Coach asked me to speak to you,” he started, weary but determined. Zach picked up the tennis ball on the nightstand near my bed and spun it idly in his fingers. It was there so I could toss it around instead of a baseball, which could do some damage.
I sighed. “Okay, get it over with.”
“You meant that at lunch the other day?” he asked, disbelieving. “You’re just gonna forget the team and go hang out with Ryan?” Yes. “Coach said you might not even make a speech for captain?”
“There’s no might. I’m not.” I shrugged. With bowling, I saw what the year could be if I just focused on Ryan and my friends. That’s what I wanted. “It’s someone else’s turn. And it’s their problem now.”
“Yours too. You’re not quitting the team, are you?” He threw the tennis ball above him and caught it easily.
“Of course not. But why am I supposed to fight for something I’ve already earned?” I tried not to get worked up. “When the reason they’re against me is so stupid,” I continued, sounding bitter. Great. “I’ve got better things to do.”
“No, you don’t.” He gave me a smart look as he threw the ball again.
“I’ve got things I’drather do,” I corrected. “I’m going to go enjoy this year instead. You could join us.”
“You’re trying to be nice,” Zach said of my offer. “But I want to say go to hell.” He chucked the ball at me.
“Don’t act like you’re better than us,” I told him while catching the ball. “Ryan and me are some of your best friends.”
Zach put a hand over his heart. “That pains me.”
I put the ball in my drawer so he couldn’t have it. “You’re trying to convince me to go for captain again, right? Why are you insulting me and my boyfriend?”
He grimaced like I had a point but defended himself with, “Would feel unnatural to try and refrain.” He waved a hand. “And I’m not trying to get you to do anything. I’m just telling you tohurry upand do the right thing, the thing you’realready going to do.”
I sighed. “Is that all?”
“Obviously not,” he scoffed. “At the very least, you don’t get to have the last word. You’re dating Ryan, so you should be used to that.”
I considered objecting on principal even though he wasn’t wrong. Then again, part of my mind was still on cookies, not ready to face the reality that there were none. And then part of me was stuck on what Zach said… and cookies.
My best friend knew me pretty well. And he was acting like it was a foregone conclusion that I would get over my irritation at the team and put my name in the ring for captain. Like I would work for the thing I already had. Earn it all over again. Because that was what Luke Chambers did while Zach Ahmad watched from the sidelines and made bitchy comments.
That was how the world worked.
Zach likes the Girl Scout cookies that are s’mores, and the only reason I know my best friend’s choice of Girl Scout cookie is because those are Lily’s favorite too. If I was ordering cookies, I’d probably get some for Lily too. Lydia tortured me enough when I didn’t give her a reason, so I wasn’t about to let her think her torture could be justified, so she’d get cookies too.
The cookies wouldn’t be completely free, even though Mom would cover some of the costs. I still had some money from my summer job, and I wanted a bunch of cookies, so I couldn’t just let Mom pay for it all. I would contribute.
