“We keeping you up?” Crow sauntered over, towering above the couch and raking his hand through his hair. “I know a pretty girl like you needs your beauty sleep.”
“Sorry for blinking,” Em said, sitting up straighter. While Crow had ignored her at first, he’d recently started to notice—and tease—her.
“Ah. The princess awakens!” Crow’s eyes gleamed.
“I’m not a princess,” Em blurted out. She’d been defensive lately, wary of people assuming that she thought she was better than everyone else. Like JD had. They’d only communicated once since that night at the Behemoth, the night she’d saved his life. One email, from him to her: I’m not willing to be your Chauffeur anymore, Em. I won’t be taken for granted ever again.
Since then, nothing. No eye contact in the hallways, no waves from his driveway, where JD was apparently working on his dad’s Mustang. Most days when Em came home, she glimpsed him lying halfway underneath the car, an open toolbox next to him on the freezing pavement. He never poked his head out to shout hello. Without saying a word, he was communicating clearly: JD wanted nothing to do with her anymore.
Telling him she loved him would be meaningless without an explanation about that night. Still, she thought about him constantly. His absence only made her realize how intense their connection had been, and how right he was—she had taken him for granted. One thing was for sure: Her feelings for him weren’t like what she’d felt, or thought she’d felt, for Zach. Things with JD had never been tinged with betrayal. What they shared was warm and right. Or at least, it could be. It had been.
“Seems like you’re slumming it, to me,” Crow said stonily, raising an eyebrow. He was egging her on, and she took the bait.
“I didn’t realize I needed your permission to be here,” she said. “We can go.” She tried to keep her tone light—flirtatious, even—but she was surprised at the pricks of tears she felt at the backs of her eyes. She stood up and turned to find Drea.
“Whoa, no need to take off.” Crow threw up his hands in mock surrender. “Never mind. My bad. You’re a plebeian just like the rest of us.”
Thank god Mike chose that moment to come over and discuss chord progressions with Crow. Em hoped Crow didn’t see her face, which she could feel was burning bright red.
She leaned toward the couch where Drea sat with Cassie, an Ascension sophomore Em had never spoken to before last month. “Drea, are you ready to go soon? I’ve got chem homework.” She crossed her arms and hoped her ears weren’t turning red too.
“Sure, lemme just finish this up,” Drea said, motioning to the tattoo drawing she’d started for Cassie on the back of an envelope. Em nodded and crouched down, pretending to dig in her bag for something.
“Hey, Em,” Crow said, turning away from Mike.
She refused to look up at him, and instead kept her eyes on the toes of his ratty Converse sneakers. “Yeah?”
“Listen, I didn’t mean anything by what I said. I was just thinking, you know, Sleeping Beauty and all.” He tapped her knee with the tip of his Converse, and she finally looked up. “Are you one of those hot girls who can’t take a compliment or something?”
“Oh, please.” Now Em was really blushing.
“I’m serious. Look, I didn’t mean to call you out for being here. I really hate that kind of shit—groups and types and all of that.” He said it vaguely, but Em couldn’t help but think of how many times she’d called him the Grim Creeper or stared at him and whispered as he walked down the hall.
“It’s totally fine,” Em said, embarrassed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Drea picking up her bag. She searched for something else to say to Crow, to convince him that things between them were cool.
“Awesome. So does your chem homework involve spewing blood?” He smiled at her.
Em stiffened. “What are you talking about?”
“Remember that badass volcano you made in sixth grade? I thought of it the other day. The lava just came pouring out, and you said it looked like spurting blood? That ruled.” He laughed. “Emily Winters, mistress of gore. Put that on your prom queen résumé.” He made a fake-scared face. “Just kidding. No princesses. No queens.”
Em rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’m thinking of submitting one volcano with each of my college applications,” she said.
He snorted and shook his head. “Good stuff.” And then Jake called out to him; break was over. “See you around.” He touched her shoulder lightly with two fingers and she smiled shyly. Maybe she fit in with Drea’s friends better than she thought.
Or maybe not. As she and Drea walked toward the door, she heard Crow call out her name. She turned.
“Hope you grace us with your presence again soon,” Crow said over his shoulder, giving a slight bow. She glared at his back.
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