16. OLIVIA

CHAPTER 16

OLIVIA

H e's killing me and he has no freaking idea.

Brooke and I have always been handsy but not like this. Back in the day, we used to smack and pinch each other like nobody's business. He'd grab me in his infamous stinky headlock and I'd punch him and kick him until he let go. It was wild to me that it made some of his girlfriends jealous when they got to kiss him and touch him in ways that didn't cause pain.

But this? This is weird. It's like a mix of the two. I've never been gladder to be on the receiving end of a headlock, because after those casual touches to my ear I was ready to pull him into a corner. Who knew ears were so sensitive.

Surely not him, or he wouldn't have touched mine on purpose.

By the time Emily and Alyssa finally join us, I almost want to kiss them. I can't take anymore of sitting next to Brooklyn, watching him snooze on his backpack. Why does he need eyelashes so long? Or lips so luscious? But also, he should shave because that little stubble is offensive to my sensibilities. Sensibilities that are a bit too tingly right now .

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Emily says as she takes the seat across from Brooke. "There was too much traffic this morning coming from my boyfriend's."

I try not to perk up at that. She has a boyfriend? And here I thought she was angling for a chance at Brooke. Still, I keep my head down in case my thoughts are visible on my face.

Alyssa chuckles. "And I just didn't want to get out of bed."

That's not gonna help her become a hockey girlfriend, if that's what she wants. Brooke gets up at five in the morning everyday for a run before practice. It's been like that since high school. But this is none of my business.

"Nah, you guys were right in time. We were early." He rubs his eyes with a big yawn and I don't know why I hadn't noticed before, but he has massive dark circles around his eyes like he has barely got any sleep for days. I wonder what's wrong.

"Uh…" I drag my eyes away from him and try to focus on the girls. "Shall we get started?"

"Yes." Alyssa clasps her hands, a bit more excited than she should be for what is essentially a pretty basic assignment. "I came up with a few scenarios we could create some interesting dialogues from."

In the end, we end up choosing the career option because it'll make it easy to talk about ourselves. The next half hour transpires in easy silence as we individually come up with bullet points about our career paths that we can translate, and then turn into a conversation. It's like the kind of stuff Brooklyn and I did in high school Spanish, except a lot more expensive, but it sure is going to fulfill my goal of easy credits.

The scraping of his chair on the floor pulls me from the monologue I've been typing up. "Sorry," he says in a whisper. "I'm gonna take a bio break. Anyone want anything from the vending machine?"

"A Sprite for me, please," Emily says with a smile I now guess is sweet, rather than flirty .

"Red bull. I still need to wake up." Alyssa's eyes still carry the glint of interest, though.

Brooke stands to his full height and looks down at me. "I know what you want, Liv." He has the nerve to pull at my earlobe softly before he leaves.

I'm going to murder him when we're alone.

"What was all that about?" Emily leans forward. "He knows what you want? Whew, that sounded charged."

"It's nothing," I mumble.

"Hmm, nothing doesn't look like a blush like that." Alyssa folds her arms and leans over the table to speak closer. "What's the deal between you and Brooklyn?"

And, here it is. What eventually happens every single time other girls are around us. The inquisition .

Sighing, I say in a deadpan voice, "Nothing. Brooke and I are just childhood friends."

"Brooke?" Emily leans her chin on her hand in a tell-me-more move.

" Just ?" Alyssa instead latches onto this word. "Do you wish you were more?"

"No." I'm so practiced in this lie, it sounds natural. "You're free to put your hat in the ring."

Alyssa lifts both hands up. "Whoa, don't get me wrong. I have the super hots for him, but I'm not going to step on another girl's toes to get me there."

"That's right." Emily nods. "That wouldn't be cool. And even though you say there's nothing between you guys, I beg to disagree. The tension between you is making me sweat, and I already have a boyfriend." She giggles.

Under the table, I rub my own sweaty palms up and down my jeans. "I assure you, there's nothing going on."

"Okay, so if there's nothing going on, can you give me some advice?" Alyssa's smirk could mean one of two things. The first, she doesn't believe me and is just testing me to make me admit I also have the super hots for Brooke—not gonna happen. Or two, she legit wants me to help her get his attention.

That's the other type of conversation I've had to endure for years. If the inquisition goes well because the other girls are decent, they inevitably ask for help.

"I don't know," I say, truthfully. "He seems to gravitate to hot girls, so you're good."

"Why, thanks for the compliment." Her mirth intensifies. "But ever stopped to think that you're hot yourself?"

I cringe so hard, it narrows my eyes into slits. "No, trust me. I'm not his type. Can we please drop this conversation?"

"Okay, fine," Alyssa says a bit too innocently.

I push my chair back and mumble that I'm also going to the restroom. Hopefully, if I wash my face there will be no visible trace left that inside I feel like I'm dying.

But right as I round the bookshelf behind the table, a hand sneaks out and grabs my arm. I look up at the owner. Brooke has a finger against his lips while he drags me across the corridor, until we're several shelves away from our group mates.

"What are you doing?" I whisper.

He stops before me, folding his arms. "What was that?"

I notice that he's not carrying any of the requested beverages, which means he didn't go far in the first place.

I swallow hard but it does nothing to slow down the rapid pace of my heartbeat. But I didn't say anything weird, so what gives? Lifting my chin, I ask, "What was what?"

Brooke jerks his head in the general direction of our table. "I was just about to leave when I heard that little conversation."

I stuff my freezing hands in the pockets of my jeans. "Why are you saying it like it was my fault?"

"That's not what I mean." His eyebrows pinch a little. " Why didn't you just shut them down? You usually don't take any shit."

"Because—" I sigh so hard that I end up blowing a raspberry. "Even if I tried to cut them off, they eventually find me in some corner and interrogate me. It's what always happens when there are girls around you and I'm in the way."

"What?"

"You didn't know?" I lift my eyebrows.

He blinks hard. " Always ?"

"It was much worse in high school, trust me." I shrug, but I don't plan on telling him the worst of it. Or that the worst of all was one of his ex girlfriends.

"I—I'll tell them something to leave you alone."

"No." I put my hand on his chest to stop him before he walks over to our group mates. "That would make it worse."

"What? How?" Brook frowns.

"This is why I've never told you about this. Most girls would think I ran to you and pit you against them." Slowly, I drop my hand back down. "I don't think that'd be the case with these girls, anyway. I don't get mean girl vibes."

"I did." If anything his expression's darker. "They could've come straight to me and asked if I was single. Instead they tried to drill you. That's not cool."

I tilt my head. "Or they're just nervous."

"Why are you defending them?"

Because I know what it feels like to have a hopeless crush on him. I saw myself in every single girl who approached me asking for some in with Brooklyn, because who wouldn't possibly fall for him?

"Just pretend like you didn't hear anything. Let me handle it as usual."

"As usual." Brooke mutters in a dark way, staring at me with his intense game face. "How many times has this happened?" I bite my lips so I don't laugh at his sweet, naive ass. "How bad did it ever get? Did someone ever bully you because of me?"

"Weren't you going to the restroom?"

"Olivia, don't change the topic."

I tilt my head back, closing my eyes as I sigh in defeat. "Anywhere from a mild chat like this one to hair pulling."

" What ?" he hisses in horror. Next thing, he digs his fingers into my hair and massages my scalp as if the hair pulling had just happened. "Who the hell hurt you?"

"I'm not hurt now, you dork." I grab his wrists and push his hands away before he can give me even more tingles. "That was like four years ago."

He does the math quickly. "When I was dating Jenna?"

Oops, getting too close to the truth. I turn around to head to the restrooms.

"So, it was Jenna," he mumbles behind me and I stay quiet.

Down the stairs, I veer left for the women's restroom and he follows. I give him a look. "Drop it, before you walk into the wrong restroom."

"Fine, we'll talk about this another time. But promise me something." He takes a step closer to speak lower as a girl walks out of the restroom and gives us a funny look.

"What?"

"If someone else gives you any shit because of me, you'll give me the chance to intervene."

"Why?" I wrinkle my nose. "I've been able to take care of myself just fine."

"And it's killing me to find out I put you in that position more than once." He tugs at a strand of my hair, which makes the back of his fingers brush against my cheek accidentally. "Promise me."

Before I shudder, I say, "Fine." I rush into the restroom before he can see how much he's affecting me.