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His brow furrowed. “You blushed and looked away like…” One eyebrow arched in censure. Then he winced. “Ah, hell no. You didn’t actually have a crush on that dirtball, did you?Chloe!”
“What?” I cried defensively. “I’m sorry. I thought he was cute.”
“Cute?” He snorted in disgust. “Christ.” After ripping a hand through his hair, he shook his head and sighed. “We need to work on your taste in boys. Seriously.”
“And what’s worse,” I went on because I’d already humiliated myself this far. “I was hoping he’d ask me to dance tonight. I picked this dress, thinking I’d looksexyand would impress him. Ugh. I’m such an idiot.”
When I bumped my head back against the wall and frowned up at the ceiling, I could see Luke from the corner of my eye, still looking at me.
“Well…” he said a moment later. “An idiot, you are not. A little challenged in your taste in guys? Definitely. But you nailed the sexy part at least. Your boobs look, like,enormousin that thing. A dude would have to be dead not to notice them.”
I lifted my head from the wall to scowl at him. “Allof me looks enormous in this thing,” I countered.
“Meh. Not really,” he argued. “The boobs stand out so much that the rest of you is just kind of like a nice, pleasant, and curvy backdrop.” Lifting his hands, he formed a rectangle so he could look at my chest through the makeshift frame. And then, with a nod, he murmured, “Yeah. You have a grade-A rack, Ryan. Very nice.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I scowled. “Can wenottalk about my breasts, please?”
“Sure. I guess.” He dropped his hands. “But you brought them up.”
Snorting, I came away from the wall to glare even harder at him. “No, I didn’t!”
“You didn’t?” Scratching his head in confusion, he thought that through before lifting his brows and shrugging. “Well, okay, then. I’m still fine with talking about them if you are.”
“I’m not!” I nearly shouted.
“Jesus. Alright.” He pulled back defensively. “We don’t have to talk about how they’re right there, all up in my face, ready to spill out any moment, and it’d probably take me, like, five extra hands to catch everything so I could help you tuck them back away again if theydidtake a tumble.”
“Oh my God,” I groaned, slapping a hand to my forehead as my annoyance for him shriveled with amusement. “You are such a dork.” Then, because I couldn’t help it, I blurted out a laugh.
I’d just never had a conversation like this with anyone before.
Luke merely shrugged. “You sound surprised. Why’re you saying that with such shock as if the thought had never occurred to you before?”
“Because ithadn’t,” I admitted honestly and hissed out another laugh.
Tipping his head, Luke eyed me oddly. “Really?” he said with interest. “And here I thought I was a pretty obvious dork.”
“What?” My mouth fell open. “How can yousaythat? You’re like…the cool senior. The top dog. You swagger down the halls at school as if you don’t give a hoot what anyone else thinks about you.”
His brows lifted. “A hoot?” he repeated with his lips tightening as if he was trying to hold in a laugh at my expense. “Did you seriously just say ahoot?”
I sighed and rolled my eyes. “A shit, then,” I said, revising my sentence to keep him from laughing. “Like you don’t give a shit what anyone else thinks.”
“That’s because I don’t,” he reported, frowning in confusion. “I fail to see how that keeps me from being a dork.”
“Because…” I blustered, not sure how to answer. “I don’t know! It makes you look all self-confident andchilland just…and… God! How can younotcare what anyone else thinks?” I demanded, only to roll my eyes and rage, “That’s just so… Ugh! Maybe if I had a perfect body asyoudo, I could just stop myself from caring, too.”
“Chloe!” he berated harshly as he gently touched my arm.
I whirled toward him to rail some more, just upset with the entire world. But he cupped my face in his hands, stunning me quiet before his thumbs came up and brushed away some tears from the corners of my eyes that I hadn’t even realized had fallen.
“Stop,” he said, shaking his head. “I still care what people think, okay? I’m just selective about who I give that right to. Only important people, like you, get my hoots. Got it?”
“But how do I keep from caring about the rest of them?” I asked, more tears flooding my eyes. Leaning forward, I pressed my forehead to his.
Luke released a breath as he pressed back “Well, for starters,” he said, finally pulling away to straighten the hair around my face with his fingers. “We gotta teach you not to form crushes on dipshits like Caine Spinnaker.” Sniffing bitterly, he shook his head as if he still needed a moment to adjust to that one. “I mean, CaineSpinnaker…”
The way he so ridiculously lifted his voice and stressed the Ns made me giggle.
