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“It’s fine,” I said, but my mind kept drifting back to their conversation. To the fact that Ella was going to Luca’s baseball game Friday, and I had no doubt in my mind come Monday, they’d be an item. After all, that was how it usually worked. Someone like Luca set their sights on a girl, and they never looked twice at guys like me.
“You sure?”
I nodded. “I’m used to being an outcast.”
She mustn’t have been convinced because she placed a hand on my arm and said, “Hey, you know what? I got roped into going to the baseball game Friday night. Penelope is making me go with her because Topher likes to support a couple of the guys on the team. Why don’t you come? I won’t have Thorne there, so if someone else doesn’t go, I’ll be the fifth wheel.” She pulled a face. “And that means staring at the two of them playing tonsil hockey all night.”
“Nah,” I said, despite knowing Ella would be there. “School sporting events aren’t really my thing.”
“And you think they’re my thing?”
I paused, staring at her a moment as a thought flickered through my mind. Ella may be going to see Luca play, but he’d be behind the dugout the whole time, which meant she’d have no one to talk to. What if I went and talked to her? What if I could swoop in and steal his date away from him? After all, I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. And I’d never know unless I tried. It was what Thorne would tell me to do.
A smile curled the corner of my lips at the thought. Ella was smart, the kind of girl to value brains over brawn. Which meant I could still convince her to give me a chance, but I couldn’t do that if I allowed Luca to sink his hooks in first. So I nodded and said, “Yeah, okay. I’ll go.”
Chapter 4
ELLA
IknockedonMia’sdoor, then opened it without bothering to wait for permission to enter. Music from her favorite radio station spilled into the hallway, along with the scent of coffee. She glanced up from her desk, a Jane Austen themed mug in hand, with an annoyed look on her face. “What do you want?”
“I knocked,” I said in defense.
“Did I tell you to come in?” She half-smiled.
“I’m getting ready to go to the game. Why don’t you come?”
“Ehhhhh,” Mia mimed the sound of a buzzer and gave me a thumbs down. “No thanks,” she said as her attention returned to the laptop screen in front of her.
“Come on. Mom’s going out tonight with the women from spin class, and it’s Friday. What else do you have to do? It’ll be fun.”
“Hard pass.”
“Please? I don’t want to go alone.”
“Then don’t go.”
“Some of us enjoy getting out and actually socializing with more than the same person every weekend. And besides, you could use a little fresh air and new faces. It’ll be good for you.”
Mia sighed and tore her gaze away from the screen once more. “I’m studying.”
“It’s Friday,” I said like she was crazy. I mean, I understood the commitment to her grades, but comeon. I had a 4.0 and a crazy high SAT score, but I wasn’t a total hermit. I still knew how to have fun.
“Right, but in a couple hours I’m also supposed to hang out with Ethan.”
“Shocker.” She glared at me, but I ignored it and crossed my arms over my chest. “You know, next year I’ll be gone, and then we’ll hardly see each other. I thought since this was my last year at home, you’d want to spend more time with me.”
Using the guilt card was a low blow, but I knew it would work, and sure enough, the hard lines of Mia’s face softened before she said, “Of course I want to spend time with you. But why does it always have to be doing what you want to do? You could come hang with me and Ethan. He’s fun, you know. If you’d just give him a chance.”
“I have no problem with Ethan.”
She arched a brow, and I threw up my hands. “Okay, everything you said is fair. And I like Ethan, I do. It’s just that he monopolizes most of your time, and sometimes, I feel like it holds you back from expanding your social circle.”
“Uh-huh. What you really mean is he holds me back from getting a boyfriend.”
“Doesn’t he?”
“Even if it did, my friendship with him is nonnegotiable. And has it ever occurred to you I might not want a boyfriend?”
