Evan punched me in the shoulder like I was a dude and laughed. “Who cares!? All the girls want them both. I would give my right n—”
“Language.” Our boss suddenly appeared from the back office and narrowed his eyes at us.
Evan lifted up his hands in surrender. “I was going to say…” Evan bit his lip in thought.
I rolled my eyes. “Sorry, Mr. Dexter. I’ll be sure to keep Evan on a short leash today.”
Mr. Dexter was really weird about any of his employees using slang or bad language. In fact, he preferred we say golly instead of gosh. True story. Maybe it was because the entire store looked like the fifties threw up on it. At any rate, poor Evan still hadn’t received a raise, even after working there for a year. He kept getting yellow slips in his employee box to remind him not to say things like ass to children.
Mr. Dexter disappeared and shut the office door behind him.
I started cutting the taffy to give out for free samples.
“So…” Evan came up beside me. “You going to tell me what Mr. Rock Star wanted?”
I shrugged. “He was just taking my books to my car.”
Evan choked on a piece of taffy. “Nat, I promise you, he wanted to take more than your books to your car.”
“That doesn’t even make sense.”
“Yes it does,” Evan argued. “He wanted to take you to your car and throw you in the backseat, have his way with you, have sweaty, angry, se—”
“Evan?” Mr. Dexter appeared behind us again.
I bit my tongue to keep from laughing.
Evan sighed. “I was going to say sweaty, angry…”
The guy really needed to think on the spot better.
With a curse, Evan followed Mr. Dexter into the back room, most likely to get another yellow slip, and I continued cutting the taffy. Today was a shorter shift, which I was thankful for. My concentration wasn’t exactly on.
Alec’s phone buzzed in my pocket.
I looked back at the office door to make sure it was closed, then pulled it out.
I FND IT OFFNSV THT U PSWD PRTCTD UR FB.
I laughed and texted him back.
I FND IT OFFNSV THT UR TRYNG 2 HAK MY FB. DO U HV NO 1 ELS 2 TORTURE?
I slipped the phone back into my jeans pocket and sighed.
Within seconds he texted me back. Okay, so I was grinning like an idiot. I couldn’t help it.
NO. NO. I DNT. BESIDES. I CHOOSE U. U R MY VICTIM. & I WILL HAK UR FB & TWTR IF ITS THE LST THNG I DO. SIGH. IM BORD. THS IS WHT MY LFE HS COME 2.
I texted him back quickly. I RFSE 2 FEEL SRY 4 U. UR A RKSTR. GT OVR IT. Y DNT U WRT A SONG? HA HA.
The office door swung open. I nearly dropped the phone, but managed to slip it into my pocket just as Evan came out.
“I’m never getting a raise.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Did you really think you would? You do have this problem where all you do is talk and talk and talk and—”
“I get it, Nat.” He cut me off and turned on the radio.
The announcer was gushing about AD2. “…and the guys are rumored to be going to school at Seaside! Here’s their latest hit, ‘Without’.”
“I have a feeling I’m going to want to burn every AD2 poster I see before the year’s out,” I said.
“Ouch.”
I looked up. Alec Daniels was standing right in front of me. Ripped jeans, ripped arms, and brooding stare. I gulped.
“Want some taffy?”
I want to die. I just offered Alec Daniels taffy like he was a five-year-old in need of a sugar rush.
“Uh, sure.” He grabbed a freshly cut piece and tossed it into his mouth. I couldn’t help but watch as he licked his lips. Gosh, I needed to get out more or at least date. I was turning into every other girl.
Evan nudged me in the side.
“Ugh.” Great, Nat. Brilliant start. “Can I help you with something?”
Alec leaned forward, his hands clenching the counter top. “Yup. I just need a bag of taffy. It’s for my brother.”
“Okay, what kind?”
Alec looked around, his eyes widened as he took in the hundreds of flavors. “Um, I…”
I laughed. “Here let me help.” I walked around the counter and grabbed a bag. “Everything’s labeled on the side. Here’s fruit flavors, and this aisle has the more odd flavors like buttered popcorn, and down here is the alcohol-flavored ones.”
“That aisle.” He pointed to the alcohol one. “That’s perfect.”
I wasn’t about to butt in and ask why, so I went to the aisle and picked a few from every bin. “Here you go.”
His hand brushed mine as he grabbed the bag. I felt myself blush. I took a step back and quickly returned to the counter.
I could feel his stare on me as he followed me back.
“How much?”
I took the bag and weighed it. “Fifteen dollars and ninety-two cents.”
Alec reached back into his jeans and pulled out his wallet. He placed a fifty on the counter. “Keep the change. Thanks, Nat.” He glanced toward Evan and nodded.
It was silent for about five minutes after Alec left.
“And again…” Evan laughed next to me. “I’d give my right nut to—”
“Evan!” Mr. Dexter yelled.
I patted Evan on the back and tried to be nonchalant. But there was something about Alec that drew me toward him. He seemed so different than Demetri, so guarded. I pulled out the phone and then wanted to smack myself. I could have given Alec his phone back. He must think I wanted to hold it hostage or something. And what type of person doesn’t password protect their own phone? Especially a celebrity.
I looked at the phone again and hit pictures.
He had over three hundred.
I knew it was wrong to scroll through them. Just as my finger touched the first one, Mr. Dexter’s voice rang loud and clear through the store. I quickly put the phone away and finished my shift.
Chapter Four
I desperately needed to give that cursed phone back to Alec and Demetri. I seriously had to set it away from my homework station, so I wouldn’t be tempted to peek at the pictures. It didn’t help that Demetri felt the need to text me every second annoying the heck out of me and making me smile more than I’d care to admit.
The phone buzzed again.
STP IGNRNG ME. LTS GO PRTY.
I rolled my eyes and quickly texted back. I DNT PRTY. I’M UNDRAGE. SO R U. DNT U HV HMWK?
The same math problem I’d been working on for the past hour stared back at me. The phone buzzed again.
I SUK AT MTH. I ND HLP. I MAY GT A TUTOR…U UP 4 THE JB?
I bit my lip. U DO KNW A TUTOR ISNT A PROSTITUTE, RT?
His reply was quick. DAMN, I KNEW I HD THSE 2 MXD UP.
I laughed and tucked the sleek phone under my pillow in bed. I needed to think about getting to sleep if I was going to have to face those two guys tomorrow without fainting at their feet. I yawned and closed my math book, then turned off my bedroom’s lights and climbed into bed. On impulse I pulled out Alec’s phone and texted Demetri goodnight. He didn’t reply. I shouldn’t have been upset over it. But I kind of was. I told myself to stop being stupid as I waited for the screen to blink with his message. I closed my eyes and then five minutes later.
I checked the phone again. No messages.
My thumb hovered over the pictures.
With a curse, I clicked on the icon and scrolled through them.
Immediately, I wished I wouldn’t have.
The pictures were amazing. Not your typical rock star bad boy pictures. But pictures of sunsets, vacations, and… puppies? Oh my gosh! No way was this for real. Alec was supposed to have pictures of strippers and whores. It just showed how little I really knew about him. I suspected he was the bad boy of the bunch, but then again, Demetri was always shown as being the player between the two of them, at least on the gossip sites and entertainment TV.
I hated that I was curious about Alec. It made me uncomfortable to know that he was so closed off. It was like crack to me. I wanted to be the girl to figure out his secrets. And I knew that never ended well for anyone.
With a yawn I placed the phone on the nightstand and went to sleep.
****
I felt dead on my feet as I opened my locker the next day at school. I hadn’t seen either of the guys, but I knew they had to be somewhere if the shrieks echoing through the hallways were any indication.
I sighed and shoved my math book in the place of my history book.
“Nat.” Demetri breathed down my neck.
I swore and turned around. “You scared the crap out of me!”
He grinned unapologetically and held out my pathetic phone. “I made a few changes to your settings and stuff. Hope you don’t mind.”
I looked down to see my screensaver a picture of Demetri’s nak*d chest. Awesome. I felt a hot blush wash over my cheeks.
“Thanks.” I grabbed the phone and shoved Alec’s into his hand.
He didn’t move.
I waited.
He looked at me like I was a puzzle. “Wanna walk to class?”
If he kept looking at me like that I was going to pass out and he’d have to carry me to class, only to have me pass out again because he was carrying me. “Um, sure.” I grabbed my books and walked with him.
The class was only a few feet away, but it felt like miles. People whispered behind their books as we passed, and then Demetri put his hand on my lower back.
I nearly jumped out of my skin.
“Chill.” He chuckled as we made it into the classroom.
All eyes darted to us.
All except Alec’s.
I gulped and took a seat. Once the teacher began taking roll I stole a glance at him. Alec was staring at me. He wasn’t smiling. In fact he looked irritated, either that or angry. I wasn’t sure. I offered him an apologetic smile. He ignored me and turned back to the teacher.
****
By the end of their first week, the other kids were beginning to return to normal. Girls stopped fainting in the hallways and the guys weren’t signing near as many autographs. Demetri walked me to class every day and Alec found great pleasure in brooding all the time. It made me uncomfortable how much he backed off once Demetri and I started talking more. If I was being completely honest, a part of me was a bit upset that he and I couldn’t have the same relationship Demetri and I did. But then again, who was I to be upset about anything? I mean he was everything. I was nothing.
I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t hear anyone approach.
Someone tapped me on the shoulder. I dropped all my books to the floor.
“Geez, Nat, you’re so jumpy.” Demetri knelt down to pick up all my books and then dumped them in my locker. “I need help.”
My eyes narrowed. “With?” I always had to be direct with Demetri. He was the type of guy who could get even the most moral of girls into bed.
“Math. Remember? I suck?”
“You’re asking me for help?”
He shrugged. “We’re friends.”
Oh. I suddenly felt kinda guilty. I was officially going to delete all the gossip sites from my computer. The guy couldn’t be as bad the media made him out to be, and he’d been really nice the past week. At least when he wasn’t trying to get me to go to parties or flirt back with him.