Make It Count (10 page)

Chapter Fourteen

T
ARA PLOPPED HERSELF
down on Kat’s bed.

“Wanna talk about it?”

“No.” Kat kept her eyes on her computer screen while sitting at her desk.

“Um . . . you sure? Because you walked in, said, ‘I broke up with Max,’ without looking at any of us and ran into the bathroom for an hour.”

“I needed to shave my legs.”

“Okaaaay,” Tara drawled slowly, holding her arms out like she wanted to prevent a meltdown. “Unless you’re Teen Wolf, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t take an hour to shave your legs.”

Kat huffed. She didn’t want to admit that she hadn’t shaved her legs. She had sat on the toilet staring at the cracked tiles on the wall, replaying the breakup scene in her head. Except this time she was witty and funny and it ended with Alec sticking his tongue in her mouth. In a sexy way, not a creepy violating way. In her daydream, he was a fantastic kisser who tasted like a caramel
macchiato
. Extra drizzle.

“Come on, Kitty-Kat,” Tara whined. “I need to pluck my eyebrows before my date tonight and you’re delaying my prep.”

Kat sighed and turned her chair to face her friend.

“I was over it, you know? I felt like he didn’t really care much about me anymore, and he was sticking with me because he’d already put the time in and wanted to get laid for his efforts.”

Tara winced. “Ew.”

Kat laughed in spite of her depressive mood. “He’s not that bad. Just not for me. I think he has some shit to figure out.”

“Did this have anything to do with his nerdy roommate?”

Kat smacked Tara’s arm lightly. “Will you quit calling him nerdy? He’s not nerdy!”

Tara raised her eyebrows.

“Okay, well Alec is maybe a little nerdy but I have decided I like
nerdy
. It’s the new black, remember?”

“Hey, I like nerdy too! Maybe he has some nerdy friends.”

“Other than Max, I think his closest friend is a lesbian.”

Tara’s face fell. “Well, that’s not going to work well for me.”

Kat laughed. “Thanks for cheering me up, Tare. Now go deforest those brows before you can’t find your eyes.”

Tara playfully shoved Kat’s shoulder before running to the bathroom and laughing.

“Have a good night!” Kat called after her.

She sighed and pulled out her statistics book. Maybe she could actually get some studying done with her roommates out of the apartment.

Two hours later, Kat was alone, bored and hungry. A shrimp pesto pizza from the Pizza Box sounded amazing, even though it was almost midnight. Kat grabbed her coat and began the four-block walk off campus to the best pizza shop around.

Bowler was a cute town, with uneven brick sidewalks and quaint shops somehow able to stay in business despite their patrons consisting of poor college students.

Kat kept her eyes on her feet as she trudged to her destination. Being single made her feel like a kite with the strings cut. Sure, it was fun for a little to be willy-nilly, until she took a painful nosedive into the sand. It was part of the reason she kept herself attached, usually only moving on when something better came along.

Alec would most likely be something better. Everything about him fired her up and sent off warning bells at the same time. He wouldn’t be just another guy, the harmless ones she dated until they got tired of her. When Alec grew tired of her—which she assumed was inevitable—his leaving wouldn’t be so harmless.

In her musings, she’d walked a hundred yards past the Pizza Box. She growled to herself and turned back around.

When she opened the door, the usual smells of dough and sauce mixed with the sounds of employees hollering orders and students chatting. She kept her head down and walked to stand in the line at the counter. The girl two people ahead of her ordered about every topping with a five second pause in between each. Kat cracked her neck and huffed with impatience.

“Hey,” said a voice next to her. Kat looked up into the eyes of Danica Owens. Well, more like the face of Danica Owens, since her eyes were an unnatural bright green. She wore a red curly wig and some weird medieval lace-up-type dress. Kat wanted to ask her the direction to the nearest joust.

“Hey, Danica.” She’d only met her once or twice, but wherever Danica was . . . Kat let her eyes roam the restaurant.

“Yeah, I’m here with Stone.”

Kat snapped her eyes back to Danica, who looked at her with one eyebrow raised. “Oh, Alec?”

Danica snorted. “Don’t play dumb with me. I know that’s who you were looking for.”

Kat pursed her lips and faced forward again.

Danica placed a hand on her arm. “Get your food and then come sit with us, we’re in the back corner.” Without waiting for a response, she turned and walked away, long skirt swishing around her legs.

Kat silently fumed. Who was Danica to give her an order? All she wanted was to get her shrimp pesto pizza, walk back to her apartment and eat in silence. Not sit with Alec and his Irish lassie.

When it was her turn at the counter, she stomped up and made her order.

“For here or to go?” The guy behind the counter asked in a monotone voice, not even looking up from the register.

But of course, her mouth did the talking for her, and apparently that mouth wanted to be with Alec. “For here,” she spat out angrily. Stupid Danica.

When her pizza was ready, she collected herself and walked to the back corner. Danica saw her first and smiled. She said something to Alec and he turned around, surprise on his face. Danica hadn’t told him she saw Kat? Jeez.

“Hey Kat! Glad you decided to stay and chat.” Danica’s face was a little smug and Kat didn’t like it so much.

“Yeah, thanks for asking me. Hey, Alec.”

“Hey.” He scooted over in the booth so she could sit beside him. She slid into the seat and put down her plate, brimming with two slices of shrimp pesto pizza.

Alec raised his eyebrows. “That’s quite a midnight snack you have there.”

“Yeah, well, long day.”
Dumping a boyfriend builds up an appetite
, she wanted to say. “What are you two doing here?”

“Alec needed a girl chat.” Danica said, grinning at him over the rim of her soda cup. Kat thought her green eyes looked a little radioactive, and it was disconcerting. She took a bite of her pizza.

Alec glared at Danica before turning to Kat. “We were working on a project and decided to break for the night. We were hungry, so here we are.”

“Titillating conversation,” Danica mocked.

Alec probably would have incinerated Danica with his eyes if he were a superhero. Kat wanted to avoid any violence, so she tried to ease whatever was going on between them. “So, what’s your project about?”

Alec gave a brief description of their mock trial project, with Danica interjecting where she could. When he was finished, the three of them sat in silence for a minute or two. Kat picked at the remaining shrimp on her pizza.

“So . . .” Danica said, “I wonder if they have peanuts here?”

“Peanuts? You want peanuts?” Kat asked.

Danica shrugged. “I don’t know. I heard elephants like them. Pink elephants, I believe? Big pink ones.”

“Dan, will you shut up?” Alec growled.

“Right, then, that’s my cue to leave, so you two can discuss the big pink elephant in the room. Or at least give it peanuts.” Danica rose from the booth, tossed her hair over her shoulder and left with a wink.

Kat twirled her straw in her water. “So . . .”

“So . . .” Alec tapped his fingers on the table. “You okay?”

“Yep, great.” She went for cheery.

He sighed. “Seriously, Kat. It was kind of a scene. What happened?”

Kat licked her lips and shifted in the booth to face him. “Nothing really, at first. I went over there and told him that it wasn’t working out and I thought we needed to end it. He got all huffy and macho and took my book bag and said I wasn’t leaving until we ‘talked it out.’ But he didn’t want to talk about anything. He wanted to glare at me until I backed down. And then you came in . . . so . . . you know the rest.”

Alec snagged a crust on her plate and took a bite. He chewed and swallowed before he spoke again. “If . . . you . . . me . . . last night hadn’t happened, would you still have broken up with him?”

No.
“Yep.”

“Kat . . .”

How did he do that?
She rolled her eyes. “Maybe? Probably? Eventually? I don’t know. Because last night
did
happen, okay?”

Alec stuffed the rest of the crust in his mouth and stared at the far wall as he chewed. “Look, I’m glad you guys broke up, but . . .”

The
but
cut through her and she sucked in a breath. She didn’t want to hear about how last night was a mistake and he couldn’t be with her. Even if she wasn’t willing to take the risk, a part of her held out hope for the possibility of some sort of future with Alec. “Yep, me too. Long time coming. Welp, look at the time. I better go get some sleep.”

“Kat . . .”

She couldn’t have this conversation, another reminder of her failure to hold on to something lasting. She stood abruptly, picking up her plate and swiftly carrying it to the trash to dump the remains of her late-night grease fest. Footsteps sounded behind her as she walked out the door, and she figured it was Alec.

“Kat,” he said again.

She stopped. He walked in front of her and after a quick glance up and down the street, he stepped closer and cradled her cheek, rubbing his thumb along her cheekbone. “I’m sorry,” he whispered and the heat of his breath coasted over her lips. She licked them, thinking that was the closest she’d ever get to tasting Alec. His eyes dipped to her lips before he spoke again, his voice a deep, strained rasp. “Max is my best friend, but for once in my life, I wish he wasn’t.”

She didn’t say anything, her entire focus on that inch of skin on her face he caressed. She didn’t know what she wanted him to say. Her sensible side told her to run, and her emotional side told her to grab his face and kiss him breathless. The two parts were fighting so hard, they shut down her whole system, so she stood mute, caught in those green eyes.

“You gotta know,” he murmured, almost as if he was talking to himself. “Walking away from you right now is killing me.”

She bit her lip and looked him right in the eye. “Ditto.” Then she reluctantly pulled from his grasp and walked away first.

As she walked, she waited to hear her name. She wished for it so hard, she heard ghosts of whispers in her ears. But after a block, she turned around. Alec wasn’t there.

M
AX WAS SULKI
NG.
And when Max sulked, everyone paid the price.

But right now, Alec felt like he was paying way more than anyone else.

“Can’t they get decent lettuce in this place?” Max held up brown-tinged, shredded iceberg lettuce from his sub. They were eating lunch in the TUB with Cam, but Alec would have rather been anywhere else, like pulling out his teeth. With no anesthetic. He stayed silent while Max went back to muttering. Alec rolled his eyes at Cam, who swallowed a bite of cheeseburger and shrugged.

Alec had to cancel his first tutoring session of the week with Kat Tuesday and he’d just left their Thursday session. It’d been the first time he’d seen her since outside the Pizza Box. They were both incredibly uncomfortable and spent the whole time speaking only about statistics. So yeah. Back to teeth pulling . . .

“Yo, Payton.” Some big, muscled dude stood near their table. The same muscled dude who had tried to molest a dancing Kat at the bar. Alec couldn’t remember his name. Brian? Brant? Something like that. From what Alec remembered, Max worked out with the guy at the gym and they did other meathead stuff together. The guy had a huge nose and a forehead that went on for days.

“Yo.” Max answered.

The big dude didn’t even look at Alec.

“Heard Kat Caruso dumped you. Bad news for you, man. She’s a hot piece,” said Mr. No Neck and Alec had the overwhelming urge to punch said neck. Fucking jackass. Kat wouldn’t look twice at that dude. She’d probably make some joke about how his neckties would wrap around the Earth twice. Alec snorted to himself, and Max glared at him before turning back to the big guy.

“Fuck you, Brant. We’re on a break. Keep your sweaty hands to yourself.”

Alec whipped his head to the side. A break? Where did Max get that idea?

There were more words back and forth before Brant No Neck walked away but Alec was still stuck on
break
.

“A break?” Alec asked.

Max shrugged. “Yeah, she didn’t mean it.”

“Um . . . she sounded pretty sure, man.”

Max quirked his lips. “Max is never out of the game.”

“Please do not talk about yourself in the third person.”

Max waved him off.

Cam crunched a chip. “Forget her, man. I mean, I like Kat, but come on. We’re in college. We have hot girls in tight jeans and cleavage-baring shirts at our fingertips. Don’t tie yourself down.”

“I want it noted I have none of those things anywhere near my fingertips right now,” Alec said.

Cam glared at him. “Because you put no effort into it.”

Alec fluttered his lips. “I’m busy.”

“Priorities,” Cam muttered.

Alec and Cam had one big experience in common—cheating high-school sweethearts. Cam’s ex-girlfriend—the She-Beast Who Shall Not Be Named—cheated on him while he was in basic training. Cam took that anger and fueled it into playing the field. Alec took that anger and just shut down.

“I’m so pissed you won’t be at the party tomorrow, Max,” Cam said. “It’s just not the same without your karaoke stylings and tricks of hand playing President.”

“I hate that fucking game,” Alec muttered.

“That’s because I’m always President and you’re always Asshole and I can make you do shit.” Max bumped him with his shoulder. Alec glared at him.

Max took a gulp of his water. “So Zuk, can you do me a favor?”

“Depends what it is.”

“I’m heading home tonight to work with Dad. If Kat comes to the party tomorrow night, can you watch out for her?”

Alec dug his fingers into his thighs under the table to keep from yelling. Why? Why of all the girls on campus, the only one he’d paid attention to after Carrie was Kat? Fuck him.