“But he invited you over,” JJ said. He waved a finger at me like he thought I was trying to fool him. “Alecneverinvites girls over.”
“It’s not like that,” I started to say.
But JJ wasn’t listening. He spoke over me to Alec. “No wonder you didn’t tell me about her. She’s totally bangable.”
The flush of humiliation was instantaneous. I peeked at Alec, and to my relief, he was just as red as me.
“Jeremiah!” Stella exclaimed. “Why do you always have to be so vulgar?”
“Ugh, how many times do I have to tell you not to call me that? Just because you know my first name doesn’t mean you get to useit,” JJ complained. “And besides, I wasn’t being vulgar. I was paying a compliment.”
The two bickered back and forth, and I decided to use their distraction as my opportunity to escape. “I’ll let you talk to your friends,” I whispered to Alec.
Alec answered with a stiff nod and refused to meet my eyes. His cool behavior made my throat tighten, but I did my best to ignore the sudden change in his attitude. I vacated the computer chair so he could sit down.
“Come on, Asha.” I grabbed her wrist and led her out of earshot, wishing we’d stayed in the car.
***
“Hey. You didn’t happen to see a Wi-Fi password written down anywhere, did you?” Asha asked. She’d taken a spot next to Boomer on the couch and was scrolling on her phone.
“No, why?” I responded, barely glancing in her direction. My attention was fixed on Alec, who was talking with his friends in hushed whispers. I couldn’t hear what was being said, but from the gestures he was making, he wasn’t happy.
“I need to update my blog,” she said.
Thatcaught my attention.
“But you only post on Thursdays.” I narrowed my eyes as I studied her. She was too focused on her phone to reply, so I pushed away from the armrest I was perched on and went to see what was so important. “What are you looking at?”
“Do you like this filter”—there was a pause as she changed the effect—“or this one?”
I frowned, not sure what to make of the picture on her screen. In it was a lone toothbrush inside a toothbrush holder or whatever they were called, and that was it. It wasn’t even one of those fun colorful brushes shaped like SpongeBob or a Disney princess to get little kids to brush their teeth.
“What’s so cool about a boring old…” I never finished my question. Realization made my stomach roll, and I wanted nothing more than to crawl under the couch and hide there for the rest of eternity. “Please don’t tell me that’s a picture of what I think it is,” I whispered, “because that would be all types of creepy.”
“Alec’s toothbrush?” Asha smirked. “Totally is. Saw it when I was in the bathroom. I also got a shot of the shampoo he uses. Head & Shoulders for men, in case you were wondering.”
No. No, I wasn’t.
“Are you joking right now? Because honestly, I can’t tell.”
Asha’s eyes gleamed as she shook her head. “Nope, and I snuck a picture of JJ, Oliver, and Stella when we were Skyping. This next blog post is going to get massive hits. I know my fans expect somethingIN-related, but since the Heartbreakers are going to be on the show, this will be the perfect tie-in.”
“No!” My sudden outburst startled Boomer. He glanced up from his game to peer at us, and I quickly lowered my voice to a whisper. “You can’t blog any of this, Asha.”
For the first time since the start of the conversation, she looked up from her phone. “Why not?”
“Because it’s a total invasion of privacy!”
She frowned. “It’s a toothbrush, Felicity. Not his diary.”
My gaze shot to Alec. Thankfully he was still at the computer. I couldn’t imagine his reaction if he found out Asha had snooped through his belongings and taken pictures.What if he gets so mad he decides not to drive us to San Francisco?I couldn’t let that happen.
“Give me your phone,” I demanded.
She snorted. “So you can delete everything? Not going to happen.”
Without warning, Boomer leaned over and plucked the cell from her hands. Before she could react, he punched a couple of buttons and tossed it back to her. “There,” he said. “Problem solved.”
