Chapter 63
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By the time we stop at a Wawa twenty minutes later, Amber’s shirt is buttoned again and her skirt smoothed down. Her panties are on the floor by my feet, a fact that I’m trying to ignore. In the front seat, Ryan’s zipped up but his hair is tousled and there’s a used—but empty—condom curled into a napkin that’s shoved into one cup holder. In front of me, Bobby stares into the side view mirror back the way we’ve come. Whenever our eyes meet, he gives me a quick, humorless grin before resuming his vigil.
In Wawa’s parking lot, Ryan steers around the gas pumps and pulls into one of the spots in front of the store. Is it just me, or does he specifically park beneath one of the brightest lights in the lot? With something like relief, the car doors open and the four of us tumble out. When I stand, my knees buckle and drop me into the front seat. Taking my hand, Bobby pulls me back to my feet. “You alright?” he wants to know.
I’m not sure. “What wasthat back there?” I ask, as if he might have found out somehow. But he shakes his head and shrugs, then drapes an arm around my shoulders in an intimate gesture that reminds me how well the rest of the evening had gone until…Trying to sound nonchalant, I laugh and say, “Maybe it was one of the fraternities, you know? Just some guys goofing off.”
“Maybe.” Bobby sounds unconvinced. I let him lead me into the store, after Ryan and Amber.
The place is deserted at this hour—what time is it? One bored employee watches us from behind the cash register, but she doesn’t say hello and we don’t bother, either. Ryan heads for the deli and Bobby drifts away from me to follow his roommate. As they start talking in low voices, I try not to feel dismissed. Instead, I head for the coffee counter, where Amber’s pouring herself a tall cup. Leaning beside her, I watch her stir too much sugar into the java. In a soft voice I don’t expect from her, she tells me, “He really likes you, you know.”
Startled, I ask, “Who, Bobby?”
“No, Ryan.” She throws me a sardonic look. “Of courseBobby, you fool. He saw you at the party like the second we got there. He was really surprised—said you didn’t look like the partying type.” She gives me a once-over that tells me that she thinks the same thing.
He likes me.As my mind tries to wrap around the thought, I admit, “I’m not really. Some guys on my floor sort of talked me into it. He really likes me?”
Amber laughs. “Listen, my sorority is doing this costume thing next Friday night. Like a party, I guess, but it’s on campus so there’s no alcohol, and you haveto dress up or you don’t get in. You want me to tell Bobby to bring you along?”
I glance over at the deli counter, where Bobby and Ryan are puzzling over what to order. Here in the bright halogen light, Bobby looks golden and unattainable. I wonder if Amber’s just playing around, telling me what she thinks will get my hopes up just to laugh when I find out the truth. But what about earlier in the car, between us? Or in the woods…what was that all about? As if he hears me thinking about him, Bobby turns and grins. There’s a small damp spot on the front pocket of his jeans which must be from me. “Come on,” Amber pleads. “What do you say?”
“I guess so.” Bobby gives me a little wave and I laugh. With a pat on Ryan’s shoulder, he heads my way. “Sure. Why not? Next Friday?”
Amber nods, and then I feel a delicious weight as Bobby leans against my back. “Is she bothering you?” he teases. To Amber, he says, “I saw your boobies.”
Quickly she looks down, as if she might have left her shirt undone. “Yeah well, I’ve seen yours, too, and I ain’t impressed.” She takes a sip of the coffee and grimaces before adding more sugar. “Oh hey, thanks for interrupting us back there, by the way. How’d you do it? Throw something on the hood before getting in? If you scratched his paint, Ryan’s going to kill you.”
“It wasn’t us!” Bobby cries. He snakes an arm around my waist, his fingers brushing across my crotch before hooking into one of my belt loops. “Tell her, Jake. Something interrupted us, Amber. Chased us out of the woods and into the car. We barely got away with our lives.”
The pissy set of Amber’s mouth says she doesn’t believe him. “Uh-huh. You know I made all that shit up about the Jersey Devil, right?”
I can’t resist. With a grin, I ask, “And what, you named the hockey team, too? Do you get royalties for that? Retain some kind of copyright or get a cut of the licensing, I hope?”
She slaps my arm as Bobby laughs. Before she can answer, he pulls me away from the counter. Loudly, so she can hear, he says, “She’s a sore loser. You getting something?”
I shake my head and follow him outside. The car doors are locked, but I lean against the side of the car and Bobby leans against me. We’re pressed together again, our faces inches apart, and whenever I move my head, Bobby’s face is there in front of mine. His hands rub up and down my sides. Mine are on his shoulders because once again, I don’t know where they go. “Jake,” he breathes
“Jacob,” I correct, only half joking.