Unexpected (14 page)

“No way,” she said. She seemed to find
Corey’s gesture completely offensive.

I shrugged when she glanced at me. “It’s not like he knows about Tristan and me.”

“Oh yeah, he does,” Willow said around a mouthful of ice cream. She swallowed and kept talking. “Friday night? Didn’t he chase you outside or something?”

Jamie turned to face me.

“Oh, yeah,” I admitted. “I forgot.”

“Well,
I don’t think
he
forgot. You made quite the impression. You were with Tristan?”

“Kind of. We were just—”

“Whatever you were doing,” Willow interrupted, “you had Corey all hot and bothered. When he came back inside, he was in a terrible mood. He stayed in a terrible mood the rest of the night.”

“What were you doing with Tristan at the party?” Jamie demanded.

“Texting you!” I honestly told her. “I went outside to get away from Corey. Tristan followed. When Corey came out, he saw us together. He just kind of assumed…” I let my words trail off.

“Then why the hell is he buying you dessert? If he thinks you’re with my brother?” she wanted to know.
“What kind of guy does that? I mean, he shouldn’t have even been showing up here in the first place. But that,” she said as she poked an accusatory finger at the chocolaty concoction, “is completely uncalled for!”

Willow
smiled with delight. “Aw. It’s like we have our very own, real life love triangle taking place.”

I shook my head. “No. We don’t. For it to be a love triangle, I’d have to be interested in
Corey. And I’m not. So it can’t be.”

Jamie was watching me inquisitively.

“No,” Willow said with a smug shake of her head. “I don’t think so. He just has to want you. When he can’t have you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. It doesn’t matter what
Corey wants. Not anymore.”

*~*~*

“Oh,
wait, wait, wait
,” I whispered to Tristan. I pulled away from him, just a bit. My arms were still around his neck and I cocked my head to the side.

“Okay…
but why?” he whispered back. He gave me a quizzical look. The lights were off and the vibrant colors of the television bounced across his face.

We were at my house again.
It was the third night in a row. But I wanted to see him. So when I’d dropped off Jamie, I’d simply picked up Tristan. Christmas break was almost officially over. School would be starting in the morning. It was a bitterly cold Sunday evening and there wasn’t a whole lot to do around town. We’d decided on the only logical thing. We’d driven the short distance to my house and put in a movie.

Surprisingly, up until maybe five minutes ago, we had actually been watching the movie.

“Because, I think—,” I interrupted myself. Yes, there were definitely footsteps upstairs. “I think my mom just got home.”

Understanding washed across his face as he heard the noises coming from above
, too.

“Had you wanted me
out of here before she got home?” he asked. He let go of me and moved back. I didn’t necessarily want him to do that because the movement caused my arms to slide off of him as well.

“No, it’s fine,” I assured him.
She was going to find out about Tristan and me sooner or later. Why not make it sooner?

Besides, Mom loved Tristan.

“Britta?” Mom called. Her voice floated down the staircase.

“Down here,” I called back to her.

I heard her light footsteps bouncing down the steps.

“I just wanted to let you know I was home and I was wondering if you’ve eaten.” She came to a stop when she saw Tristan and me. We’d put some distance between us. Some. Not a lot. I was pretty sure the fact that it was just the two of us, no Jamie in sight
, was pretty self-explanatory.

“Hi, Lila,” Tristan said. I wanted to laugh because his tone sounded so unsure. As if my mom wouldn’t approve of him being there.

“Tristan?” she said with a small nod. It came out somewhere between a greeting and a question. The look on her face held nothing but bemusement. Her cheeks were rosy, probably from windburn. But her eyes were sparkly and happy. “I didn’t know you were here.” She glanced at me with raised eyebrows. I just gave her a smile. Then she smiled back. “Well, okay then. Have you two eaten?”

“Not yet,” I said.

“I picked up the ingredients for chicken enchiladas on the way home,” she told us. “Tristan, you’re staying for dinner, right?”

“Sure, thanks,” he replied.

“How was your weekend?” I asked her.

A blissfully happy lo
ok took over her face. “It was fabulous,” she said. “How was yours?”

I smiled back, probably looking just as blissfully
, ridiculously happy as she did. “Fabulous,” I echoed.

10

In our school, o
ur lockers were segregated by grade. So I hurried down Senior Hall, trying to make it to Junior Hall before the warning bell rang. I swerved my way through students. It was crowded and loud as everyone talked about what they had done over break. I spotted Corey up ahead. He had his back to me so I rounded a corner I didn’t necessarily have to take. I had no idea what the lava cake was supposed to signify. But I did know that I really had no desire to find out.

I already had my small stack of notebooks and textbooks tucked under one arm. I saw Tristan at his locker. He was hanging on to his
open locker door with one hand. He was turned away from me and he was talking to his friend, Marcus.  

I glanced around. Not a teacher in sight. I slipped under
his arm to give him a quick hug.

He looked at me in surprise. “Hey, I didn’t expect to see you this morning.”

The smile he gave me made me think I might have to sneak off to see him every morning.

His arm came down from his locker to give me a quick return
squeeze. Then he released me and I stepped just a bit to the side.

Our school had a strict anti-PDA policy. Sometimes students got away with saying the most inappropriate things in the hallway.

But huggers? Beware.

“I
hope you don’t mind me coming to find you,” I said. “Jamie is off with Evan somewhere. Willow and Krista are scheming about something so I thought I’d come say hi. So, um…hi,” I said sheepishly.

“Hi,” Tristan said with a laugh.

And then we just stood there, looking at each other. I for one wasn’t sure what to say with a hallway full of classmates. Oddly, it didn’t seem to matter because it wasn’t an awkward kind of silence. It just…
was
.

“No. Way.”

I turned to look at Marcus. He was b
latantly eyeing up Tristan and me. First me, then Tristan. Then back again.

“You two?” he asked. He looked a little stunned.

“Yes, us two,” I said a bit defiantly.

First
Corey? Now Marcus?

What i
s so wrong with Tristan and me
? I wondered in annoyance. I was a little flustered by the way he was looking at us. It was kind of shocked disbelief. And then I realized that maybe he thought Tristan was too good for me. Too smart for me. Too ambitious for me.

Th
en I realized maybe I was wrong when his face broke into a huge grin.

H
e clapped Tristan on the back. “Awesome! You give hope to all of us!” With that, he walked away. He was shaking his head as he went.

A nervous laugh slipped out. “What was that supposed to mean?”

“You really don’t know?” he asked in amusement.

“I really don’t,” I admitted.

Tristan watched me for a few seconds. I got the impression he was debating whether or not he should tell me. He glanced around. The hallway was crowded but there was chatter that would drown out whatever he had to say. Besides, it wasn’t as if anyone was actually trying to listen in. He finally gave a small shake of his head. As if he wasn’t sure he should say anything or not but had decided to go ahead with it.

Finally, he
leaned down so his mouth was close to my ear. All I could smell was mint. I wanted to crash right into his chest. But there would be no hugging, not touching, no chest-crashing for sure.

So I
scrounged up some willpower and I refrained.

“It means
…” he said quietly. His mouth was next to my ear, his breath was tickling my neck. I was holding onto my willpower for dear life. Or at least out of fear of receiving detention. “That you are totally hot. And you’re a senior on top of that. And now my friends are all going to be wishing they were me.”

I laughed as I nudged him away. “Right,
of course
,” I said. The sarcasm was so thick it was making a puddle at my feet.

“
Okay,” he said agreeably. “You tell me what you think it means.”

I thought about it. I couldn’t come up with an answer.

“See,” he said as he nudged me with his shoulder. “I’m right.”

I wasn’
t sure about that.

He glanced at his watch.
I knew the warning bell would be ringing shortly. “I can walk you halfway to class?”

I nodded and he grabbed what he needed out of his locker.

It could’ve been my imagination but it seemed like we got a few curious glances. Although, I imagined that happened every time a new couple showed their faces together in the hallways.

“What are you doing tonight?” I asked as we walked along.

“I work,” he said with a small frown. “In fact, I have stuff going on every night this week. But we’re still on for Friday, right?”

“Yes, definitely,” I agreed. He gave me a relieved smile.
I knew he had a busy schedule. He had a job and he was on the debate team. I knew he also tutored on occasion too.

“Wait. You didn’t tell Marcus about us?” I asked. I knew Marcus was his best friend.
And he’d obviously been surprised. “Or don’t guys talk about that kind of thing?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t mention it to him.”

I briefly wondered if I should be disappointed about that. Did that mean he didn’t think it was important enough, or interesting enough, to bring up?

We reached the junction in the hallway where we’d have to separate to get to our resp
ective classes. Tristan stopped. His attention seemed to be snatched up by something on the wall.

I flicked my gaze that direction
. I realized he was looking at a poster for the winter dance.

“So, a
h…do you want to go to that?” he asked. Before I could answer, he jumped in again. “Or maybe we should wait on that? Is that too far away to plan for?”

“It’s barely a month away. It’s not too far
away to plan for,” I assured him. My heart had taken off without warning. It was doing a crazy little beat inside of my chest. I waited patiently as Tristan visibly gathered some courage. He shifted from one foot to the other.

“Okay. Do you want to go? With me, I mean?” He made a face at himself. “Well, I guess that part is obvious. That I’m asking you to go with me. Sorry,” he said with a small self-deprecating laugh. “I kind of suck at this.”

“I definitely want to go.
With you
,” I clarified.

He let out a little gust of air. It almost sounded like a sigh of relief.

“Did you really think I’d say no?” I wondered.

He hung his head down and bit his lip for a second before looking back at me. When he did, it was a side of Tristan I hadn’t ever seen before. He looked almost shy
as he kept his head ducked down a bit. “Yeah,” he said. “Maybe. I don’t know. I just never thought this…I mean us…would really happen. So. Yeah. I guess I wouldn’t have been surprised if you said no. I was kind of wondering if once we got back to school you’d maybe change your mind. Like wonder what the hell you were thinking. That’s why I didn’t tell anyone.” His face showed his embarrassment as he looked at me from under his lashes.