Thankfully, Eric seems to be out of material for the day and I’m able to continue the rest of my lunch without further interruptions.
On Thursday, though, it’s the same thing.
“Is J.J. like one of those pseudonym things? Did you get it in the witness protection program?”
His jokes are scraping the bottom of the barrel, so I don’t even flinch when he starts.
“Give it a rest, would you?” Willow says, but Eric ignores her.
“I’m just asking a question. Can’t I ask a question? Inquiring minds want to know.”
On Friday, by the time I sit down and he starts up again, I’m close to snapping. At first I was embarrassed that Eric was doing this in front of everyone, especially Luke, but now it seems as if he’s doing itbecauseof Luke. As if Luke’s presence has emboldened him or something.
“I think I figured it out,” he shouts across our two tables. “It’s Jessi Job, isn’t it? Like a handy with whatever special you decide to include.”
Both our tables are quiet, and anger sears the back of my neck. “Fuck you, Eric.”
Over the past eight months, my strategy has mostly been to ignore him, but he’s getting worse.
“Is there an offer in there somewhere?” Eric asks, looking around comically. I’m so tempted to grab my salad and dump it over his idiotic head, but the last thing I want to do is make a scene and show him how much his words get to me. Instead, I push up from the table, throw my food in the nearest garbage can, and storm across the hall toward the cafeteria doors. I’ve almost reached them when someone grabs me by the arm.
My first thought is that it’s Eric, so I shrug the arm off, but the person catches mine again.
“What the hell do you—” I spin around and find myself face to face with Luke. I don’t have the chance to finish asking my question before his lips are on mine. His mouth devours mine in a hungry rush that lasts one second, two seconds, and then the kiss is over and he’s gone. Someone wolf whistles, and I watch Luke stalk over to the food line as if nothing happened.
I steal a look at the staff table, and a bunch of shocked faces stare back at me. Willow looks particularly shaken.
I march over to the line, where Luke is laughing with one of the lunch ladies as she scoops a spoon of mashed potatoes onto his plate. I grab his elbow and start to drag him toward the exit. He abandons his plate on an empty table as he follows me.
Once we’re outside, I slam my hand against his chest, but he doesn’t budge.
“What the hell was that?”
“What?” he asks, as if he just got here.
“Why did you kiss me?”
He blinks at me, then looks away, and for a long moment there is only silence between us. When he speaks, his voice is quiet. “Were you just going to let Eric get away with the shit he was saying about you?”
“Luke ...” I begin, but I can’t make any more words come. My lips are still tingling from the feel and taste of him. It’s pretty much the very last thing I expected, to have his mouth on mine again.
He’s still not looking at me, but finally he sighs. “Eric thinks he’s impressing me by running his mouth. He keeps looking over at me after making his comments, checking for some sign of approval, and I just ... now he knows he and I are not on the same side.”
It takes me a second to understand what he’s saying. Luke kissed me to show everyone that he’s on my side. Or at least not on the same side as Eric. Some small part of me sees this as a nice gesture, but the larger part of me, which controls my tongue, is suddenly furious at Luke’s reasoning. He kissed me toprotectme? “I can defend myself,” I say in a growl.
“Is that what you did in there?” he asks, eyes narrowed. “Defend yourself?”
“Yes, it is,” I spit. “Maybe I needed saving when I was seven and didn’t have a mother, but I’m none of those things now. I don’t need your help.”
He starts to say something, but I speak over him.
“Did you see the way everyone was staring at us? Now they’ll think there’s something going on between us.”
“Good,” he says. “It should help us keep our story straight.”
At this point, my blood is straight-up boiling and I can’t tell who I’m more upset at, Luke or Eric.
“Don’teverambush me like that again. I don’t need your help,” I repeat.
