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CHAPTER11
JOEL
“This is one of the best pizzas I have ever had,” I announce, my mouth full. I burned my tongue on the cheese when we first opened it but that was so worth it for the way Anna laughed at me.
God, what is happening to me? I’ve never had a crush on anyone so ordinary and never this fast. Yeah, I’ve made plenty of connections with women before, but they were fun and over before I knew their names. Something about Anna is different. She’s not afraid of me, or awestruck, or hankering for my attention. She’s treating me like I’m average too. The way she doesn’t think I’m anything special makes me think she could be the real deal.
And she does keep glancing at me, biting her lip, letting her fingers rest against her neck. All classic signs of attraction. She seems determined to resist though — all she’s done since I got here is batter me with insults and act like she’s angry at the whole world. I want to know why and she won’t tell me. I want to know all about her and, even worse, I want to tell her about me. And not just the Joel she thinks knows. I want to talk about stuff I’ve never said before.
Not that I’d expect her to listen. Who would?
“Where did this come from?” I ask, hoping I the question gets through the sticky layer of cheese that’s currently gluing my mouth together.
She rolls her eyes and smiles. “Carmelia’s Pizza Palace. They’re hidden down an alley on Marchion Street. I had a place down there, once, and Carmelia’s is cheap as they come and so good. I used to eat there a lot.”
“I can see why.”
“I guess you’ve always been waited on. With being a billionaire’s son and all.” She sounds so bitter and I can’t understand why. Ben’s never said that their family were hard done by — aren’t their parents business owners of some kind? I just can’t work out what Anna’s deal is.
“I can’t deny it,” I say. “But you and Ben must have had fun as kids too. I mean, it’s not like you were starving or anything. Right?”
The way she glares at me makes me feel like I’ve dived headfirst into a pool of stingrays and got surprised when they all zapped me with their tails. “Not everyone gets a family fortune just handed to them,” she mutters.
Stupidly, I decide to push because that’s the most honest thing she’s said to me so far. “Ben said you owned a business.”
“He did? When?”
“I don’t know, he just said it one day. You did all that yourself?”
“Oh, look, the feeble little girl did something for herself! Look, just drop it will you?” She turns away from me and I can feel the electric shocks of putting my foot in it again. I have to figure out how to explain to her that I really am interested and clearly not ask her when she’s already upset.
I am starting to put together some pieces, though, and I can’t help but wonder when the last time she spoke to her parents was. Or Ben, even. I’m not sure she even knows how much he talks about her, or how proud he is that she’s built everything she has with her bare hands. I know I couldn’t do it. I was born to be a spoiled little brat and it’s the only role I know how to play.
So I decide to change the subject back to me.
The TV remote is on the coffee table next to me, so I pick it up and surf until I hit the celebrity news channel. Olympus City is one of those places where you wouldn’t blink twice at riding the train next to a superstar, so of course we have a dedicated news channel about our mishaps.
“Ugh,” says Anna, reaching for another mozzarella stick. “Do we have to watch this crap?”
“I just want to see if I’m still there.”
“Egotist,” she says, but there’s a lightness to her tone again, the worried crease between her eyes a little softer.
“What can I say? I’ll be able to get out of your life if they’ve stopped parading my face for everyone to see.”
She grunts in agreement and decides to grab another slice of garlic bread at exactly the same time as I do. Our fingers bump against each other clumsily and I blink in surprise at her cold hands instead of pulling away like I know I should. What’s really interesting is that she doesn’t back off either.
Not straight away, anyway. There’s definitely a hesitation in there. I’m trying not to make this into something it probably can’t be, but I felt a spark and not from a stingray. I can’t think of a more romantic electric animal, but my point still stands.
I don’t think it’s just in my imagination that she likes me.
“Sorry,” Anna says as she sits back. She’s looking at me with her wide green eyes and I feel like I’m tumbling into them. “Go ahead.”
This is so stupid. I’m Joel Lockhart, I don’t fall in love. Work hard, play hard, fuck hard; that’s my motto. Not that this is love. But whatever it is, it’s deeper than anything else I’ve ever felt.
I take a slice of bread and pick up another to hand it to her. “Here,” I say. “It’s good.”
“Yeah,” she agrees and I could swear she’s looking at my lips. I’m doing everything I can not to let my eyes drop down to her chest because she’s in her pajamas and not wearing a bra. Not that I would notice that kind of thing.
