Authors: Kelly Favor
I glanced at Lindsay. She looked nervous and uncertain.
“Can’t you see I’m on a date?” I said, as they drew closer.
“Oh, I thought you were coming from a funeral,” Begsy replied. He was a short, stocky kid with a crazy red Mohawk and tattoos all the way up his neck. “Look at those duds,” he laughed, pointing at my shirt.
“This can’t be,” Quinn said. “I’m not seeing this right now. Dude, my image of you is totally blown.”
I felt my face getting red with embarrassment, even though I knew there was no reason to care what these clowns thought about my outfit. “Get the fuck out of here. We were at a nice restaurant. They don’t allow Mohawks and fucking TapOut gear.”
“Oh, I see, old chap,” Uriah replied, in a fake British accent. “Dear JB was dining out at a very respected establishment. We should respect his privacy, don’t you think?”
They were all laughing now. I shook my head. “Fuck you guys.”
“Hey man, I don’t think they talk like that at nice restaurants. You should really be ashamed of yourself,” Quinn said.
“These guys are from my gym,” I explained to Lindsay.
“Yeah, we’re his friends he was trying to hide from you,” Begsy said.
“First of all, none of these clowns are my friends,” I said.
“She doesn’t believe you,” Quinn laughed. “She’s terrified right now.”
“And secondly, we left that fucking restaurant ‘cuz it sucked ass,” I continued.
“Oh, shit! The truth comes out!” Uriah screamed, and gave me a high five.
Everyone was shouting and yelling and laughing. Including me.
Well, everyone but Lindsay. She was just standing there, looking around uneasily.
I felt bad, but the truth was, I didn’t know what to do. Was I supposed to ignore my teammates, pretend they weren’t my buddies? I couldn’t do that.
“Hey, now that you’re done playing dress up,” Begsy said, “you guys should come with us. There’s a party at Big Timmy’s tonight. It’s going to be off the chain.”
“You know he’s got the best weed in town. We’re going to get fucked up, yo,”
Quinn said. “By the way,” he turned to Lindsay, “your boy loves to fucking get high.
Did he tell you that?”
I just laughed. “Shut the hell up, man.” The truth was, I hadn’t smoked weed in months. Not since the shit went down last year, when I almost blew my chance to fight professionally. But I didn’t advertise that fact. I was clean now, and aside from a few drinks, I was mostly sober too. But these knuckleheads didn’t have any respect unless you were fighting and partying 24/7.
As the boys started walking again, I looked at Lindsay. “You want to go to the party?” I said, suddenly uneasy and awkward, as if we didn’t even know each other anymore.
Lindsay shook her head. “I think I should get back to the dorms. I’ve got to be up super early tomorrow.”
“I’ll take you back, then,” I said. I wanted to tell the boys to forget it, that I wasn’t going to the stupid party. I wanted to be with Lindsay and tell her about my life, about the possible deal with the UFF that would validate all the effort I’d been putting in these past few years.
But Lindsay just sighed. “No, don’t be silly. Go with your friends.” “I want to go with you.”
“Please, Justin—I’m fine. I’ll take a cab back. Okay?” She was already backing away from me.
I looked at my friends, who were standing nearby, waiting for me. “Lindsay, seriously—”
“Just go,” she said. “Don’t worry about me.” And then she turned around and left.
END OF BOOK 1 OF ADDICTED TO YOU
Book 2, Beautifully Broken, is available now for purchase. Follow Lucy on twitter
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