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“Alright, alright,” Ethan says, “back off now, she’s all mine.” He wraps both arms around me and rubs my back. “Sorry,” he whispers into my hair. “I didn’t mean for that to turn into a thing.”
I sit back and smile. “I’m just embarrassed.”
“About what? Now every girl in this room wants your skin and all the guys in this room want to be touching it. There’s nothing embarrassing about being envied.”
“Can we get back to watching something now?” Taylor asks. She’s standing beside her baseball player with her hands on her hips.
For the first time ever, I’m grateful for Taylor. Yes, let’s please move the focus away from me and back onto a show.
“Who’s rolling next?” Ethan asks.
“I think it’s my turn,” Taylor says. She snatches the dice up. No one argues, so she rolls and we start a new period show that turns out to be pretty boring.
Chapter Eight
“He’s using you?” Stephanie asks. Her lips stretch into a firm, thin line.
I just got done showing her the conversation Ethan and I had in the car. I take my phone back and shove it under my thigh.
“Yes and no,” I say. “Is it using me when he told me his plan? He’s not hiding anything.”
“I still don’t like it,” Stephanie says. “He’s a pop. I don’t trust him.”
“You don’t trust anybody.”
“That’s because everyone has ulterior motives.”
I laugh. “Fine, then what do you think I should do?”
“I think you read more romances than anyone else I know,” she says. She indicates the stack of well-loved books on my nightstand. “You deserve to be swept off your feet, like the girls in your books. Though in a slightly less degrading way,” she adds. “I think you should go with the guy who does that for you, not with the guy who’s looking to gain sponsorship.”
Stephanie sits up on her feet. “Who makes your heart go all aflutter?” she asks, batting her eyelashes dramatically. She picks up one of my books and fans herself with it.
“I dunno. They all do in different ways,” I say. I reach for the book, but she snatches it away.
“All?” she says. She stops fanning herself. “Even influencer boy?”
I remember the way it felt to have Ethan’s arm around me. His soft touch on my skin. His hands tickling me. “Maybe a little,” I say, shrugging.
Stephanie chucks the romance book at me. I put my hands up to block it from hitting me in the face. “Emma!” sheyells. “He told you straight out that he has zero interest! You can’t waste your feelings on a guy like that.”
“He’s fun to be around and flirt with,” I say. “It’s not like I’m naming our kids already.”
“Emma: The CEO of delusions.”
I stick my tongue out at her. “I can still appreciate how hot he is,” I say. “There’s nothing wrong with enjoying the snack while I have it.”
Stephanie laughs.
“Why don’t we finish studying, to take our minds off of all this?” I say.
“Oh, come on, Em, you study more than anyone else I know. You ace every test, no problem.”
“Only if I put the work in.”
Stephanie rolls onto her back and sighs. “Ugh! You’re so lame!”
I just shrug and open up my book.
