Ch42

ENZO

"You heard me."

"No, no. I'm just making sure I heard you correctly. You're saying you'd be relieved if Nova spent more time with me?"

"Yes."

I stare at him. This motherfucker. This trusting idiot. He has no idea what he's handing me.

No idea what his suggestion means when I've spent the last twelve hours trying to convince myself that I can be normal around his sister.

No idea that every time I think about Nova, my brain helpfully supplies a hundred different ways I could get closer to her.

And now he's giving me permission to do exactly that. I shake my head. "That's a bad idea."

"You said she was going to tutor you, right?"

My fingers tighten around the bottle. There it is. The universe has officially decided to fuck with me. "Yeah."

"Then use that."

I blink. "Use what?"

"The tutoring thing. Tell her she needs to come over after school. You know, to help you study."

I stare at him.

"I'm serious. If she's spending time with you, she'll have less time to hang around Caleb."

"Every day?"

"Yeah, every day."

I almost choke on my water. "Every day?"

"Yes, Enzo. Every fucking day. What's wrong with you?"

Nothing. Nothing. Except that my best friend has just suggested I keep his little sister busy. Keep Nova busy. At my place. After school. Alone. Every fucking day.

My mind begins to wander before I can stop it.

Fuck.

I drag a hand over my face.

And the last thing I need is to get carried away and turn something that matters to her into another stupid fucking game.

The bet has to stay separate from Nova.

It has to.

Whatever the fuck this thing between us is, it can't become some competition with a prize at the end.

She deserves better than that.

I know she does.

So why the hell did I agree to it in the first place?

I clear my throat. "Did you talk to Nova about this?"

Noah shakes his head.

"Not yet. I'll tell her at lunch."

I nod slowly. "Okay."

He looks relieved. "Thanks, man."

I shrug, trying to act as if my entire fucking world hasn't just tilted on its axis. "No problem."

Noah stands, grabs his stick, and pulls his helmet down over his head. He grabs his gloves and skates toward the door, shouting something about Coach murdering us if we don't get on the ice in the next thirty seconds.

I laugh as he disappears. Then the door swings shut behind him. Silence settles over the locker room, broken only by the music still playing from Roman's speaker.

I take another drink, knowing fully well that Roman is watching me. I can feel his eyes boring into the side of my face. I ignore him.

"So."

I close my eyes. "Don't start."

"I haven't even said anything." He laughs, pushing himself off the bench. "The sister."

I slowly turn my head. "What about her?"

He grins. "The one who came with you last night."

"Mind your damn business, will you?"

"Ah." He nods, looking far too pleased with himself. "Interesting. You're suddenly getting defensive."

I set my bottle down.

"Roman. Shut the fuck up."

He leans against the lockers opposite me. "Does Noah know you two are fucking?"

I stare at him. As much as I want to slam him into the nearest locker, I also want to ask him how he's come to the conclusion that Nova and I were... you know, fucking.

"Shut the fuck up. We're not fucking." Is all I say to him. He raises an eyebrow, while I pick up my water bottle again, mostly to give my hands something to do. Roman watches me unscrew the cap.

"Look, I'm not blind, Moretti. I saw you two last night. I saw the way she looked at you. And I saw the way you looked at her. Whatever was going on between you two, it wasn't exactly subtle."

I lower the bottle. "Nothing was going on."

"What's the deal then?"

"There is no deal."

"Friends with benefits?"

"No."

"Secret hookup?"

"No."

"Did she confess her undying love for you and now you're trying to figure out how to let her down gently?" He suddenly bursts out laughing. "Fuck! Was I close?"

"Do you want to lose your teeth?"

"Of course not."

"Then shut the fuck up."

He chuckles, shaking his head. "Jesus Christ. You really are defensive."

I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees. "Listen to me carefully, you nosy little shit." I lean forward, lowering my voice. "Nova is Noah's sister. She's been around us forever. She's like my sister, too. Nothing is going on, and nothing is going to happen. So whatever bullshit you're cooking up in that empty skull of yours, kill it before I help you do it."

"You like her, then." When he sees I'm not ready to respond to him again, he shrugs. "But, seriously, man. Is this something I need to know about? Because if you hurt that girl, Noah's going to lose his fucking mind. And I'm not talking about him being pissed for a day or two. That's his little sister. He'll actually try to kill you. So... what's going on?"

"Nothing you need to worry about."

He laughs quietly, grabbing his helmet from the bench. "Fine. Keep your secrets. It's just... If you are planning to fuck around with Noah's sister, at least have the decency not to make it obvious." He shrugs. "Just saying."

"Get the fuck out."

He laughs and heads for the door. "Love you too, asshole."

The door slams shut. Finally, I'm alone. I sit there for a moment, staring at the opposite wall.

Then I pick up my phone. There's nothing new. No message from Nova. No missed call. No stupid little notification that would give me an excuse to talk to her.

I open our conversation anyway. Her name sits at the top of the screen, accompanied by a picture of her making a face at the camera.

I open the message box. I should text her, right? That's what she meant. That's what she needed from me. I start typing out something.

'Did you get home okay?'

She'd been with me. I'd made sure she got home. Of course she got home okay. I delete it.

"Fuck's sake," I mutter.

I'm a fucking idiot.

I've texted more girls than I can count without thinking twice about it. I've flirted my way through parties, talked my way out of awkward situations, and ended situationships with a level of detachment that would make a fucking robot proud.

But one girl asks me to be her boyfriend, and suddenly I can't string together a goddamn text message.