Winging It (4 page)

“I’m trying to picture this,” he said, back to his shy-sly grin. “Okay, you’re all in the shower together, and some of the girls have their hair pinned up…but not you.”

I felt like I’d been driving a flirting go-kart and he’d just breezed by me in a Ferrari. He was picturing me naked, right? “Uh, no, not me. I like to wash my hair. I figure…we’re washing sweat off, right? Well, my head sweats. So if I don’t wash my hair, I can’t wash my head, and then I’m walking around all day with dried sweat on my head, and that’s not really my thing.” Complete overshare, obviously. Probably I wasn’t even supposed to admit I’d been sweating.

But Scott didn’t really seem disgusted. Instead, he gave me a new smile, and this one was…different. I wasn’t sure how, but I’d been watching Scott pretty closely for quite a while, whenever he was in town, and I wasn’t sure I’d seen this one before.

Then it hit me. Of course I had. This was how Scott smiled at Wendy, Toby’s younger sister. It was the smile Scott used for someone who was cute like a little kid, not cute like a hot girl.

I didn’t know how to come back from that. Some girls could have played with the whole naked-showering image, but there was no way
I
could. “Also, we’re not really in the shower
together
. There are stalls.”

“I’ve heard that,” he said with a frown. “Doesn’t seem fair, really. Guys are all crammed in together in one big pit, and you girls get individual stalls?”

“Yeah,
that’s
the unfair part about student athletics,” I retorted. “Not the fact that there’s no girls’ hockey team, for sure. Let’s focus on the showers.”

“Well, I’m totally happy to focus on showers.” We were out of the cafeteria line now, and he waggled his eyebrows a little as we started toward class. I took a big bite of my bagel and noticed that he hadn’t bought anything. He’d been standing in line just to talk to me.
Me.

But I guess that wasn’t too big a deal for him, because he was still talking about the sports stuff. “I didn’t know there was no girls’ hockey team. That means you can try out for the guys’ team, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, technically.” I didn’t want to get into the details of that situation, not with Scott Dakins. “So, you going to the Raiders game tonight?”

“I don’t know, maybe. I mean, there’s not much else to do around here, is there?”

“It’s a good night to go to the movies, actually. No crowds, because everyone else in town is at the game.”

“Well, maybe I’ll have to check out a movie, then. Don’t suppose you want to come with me?”

I almost choked on my bagel. I mean, this had been the plan. I was going to use Toby to make Scott notice me, Scott would ask me out, and everything would flow naturally from there. But I had
two weeks
to make it happen. I’d been expecting some time, some buildup, some damn warning! Instead, Scott just came out with an invitation, like it was no big deal.

I had a moment of chewing time to pull myself together, and then we were at the classroom door and I just kept walking, heading over to my seat beside Dawn, totally flustered and feeling like an idiot. What the hell was I doing? Walking away from the guy I’d been crushing on for years, right at the very moment he was finally showing some interest? Where had I left my brain, and how could I arrange to get it back?

I flopped into the plastic chair and was about to pull my books out of my knapsack when I realized Dawn was looking at me. Staring? Glaring. Dawn was glaring at me. Oh.

“You and me,” she said. She didn’t sound angry, exactly, but she sure didn’t seem happy. “We need to talk.”

“Okay,” I said quickly. “But don’t jump to conclusions! Me and Toby—” I looked around furtively then leaned in and whispered, “it’s not what you think.”

“So you’re not pretending to date Cooper in order to make his asshole cousin interested in you?”

“Shh!” Another look around, but nobody was close enough to hear. To Dawn’s credit, she’d made her totally accurate accusation in a nice, quiet voice. “Okay, maybe it
is
what you think. But please don’t tell anyone. Please?”

She shook her head in frustration. “Lunchtime. We’re going to talk this through.”

“I’m supposed to have lunch with Toby.”

She scowled at me, then said, “Fine. You and Toby, and me. We’ll
all
talk it through.”

Well,
that
wasn’t going to look too romantic, but I had the sense not to say so. Instead, I nodded meekly. Dawn hadn’t been part of the plan, but maybe that was okay. The plan had been going a bit
too
smoothly. I wasn’t completely against the idea of it hitting a speed bump.

Chapter Six

Toby

Nat’s locker was somewhere in the social sciences hall, but I wasn’t really sure where, so I just picked a spot near the middle and looked around. When I finally saw her, she had a one-two punch of people with her: Scott on one side and Dawn on the other. Shit. I didn’t want to talk to Scott and wasn’t
supposed
to talk to Dawn.

Scott saw me and faded away from Nat, which made it pretty clear he was already up to his sleazy asshole tricks, but Dawn met my gaze and kept coming. “We’re having lunch,” she told me when she got close enough to be heard.

I looked from her to Nat then back. “Uh, I was supposed to have lunch with—”

“We’re
all
having lunch,” Dawn clarified. “Did you drive? We should go somewhere we can talk.”

Nat looked furtively behind her to be sure Scott was gone then said, “She knows what we’re doing. I didn’t tell her, but she knew anyway.” She turned to Dawn. “I was
going
to tell you. I think. I mean, I wouldn’t have let you think I was stealing your ex—”

“Picking up my sloppy seconds, you mean.” Dawn had never been too careful of my feelings, and she probably wasn’t feeling especially charitable right then, finding out what Nat and I had been up to. She shook her head. “That’s a detail. We can talk about that, but it’s not the big picture.” She turned back to me. “I’ve got to get my coat. You get yours and meet us by the parking lot doors. Nat, you come with me. I don’t want to leave you alone to get yourself into more trouble.”

So a couple minutes later, there we were, the whole school staring out the cafeteria windows as my ex-girlfriend and my pretend girlfriend led me out to my car. There was a brief moment of weirdness when Dawn and Nat both headed for the passenger-side front door, but Dawn caught herself and sidestepped to the backseat.

“You can—” Nat started, but Dawn cut her off with a snort.

“No, this is good. I just wasn’t thinking.”

After that, we climbed in and everyone was quiet as I backed out of the parking spot and headed for the street. “Where are we going?” I asked when we hit the intersection. Maybe I should have been more take-charge and manly about it, but I had no idea what the hell was going on. And, honestly, there were a lot of people in the world that I had to put on an act with, a lot of people who expected me to be “a leader on and off the ice.” But none of those people were in that car with me right then.

“Not my place,” Dawn said firmly.

Her parents worked days, so she and I used to go over there pretty often at lunch when we wanted to mess around. After her glitch with assuming she’d be riding shotgun, I guess maybe she didn’t want to take a chance on falling into any other old habits. So not her house. But Nat’s mom had just been getting home that morning, which meant she’d probably still be there, and my house was always a gamble, considering how much family I had in the area and how happy they always seemed to be with letting themselves into one another’s homes.

“Drive-through,” Nat suggested. “We can eat in the car and figure this all out.”

The team dietitian wouldn’t be thrilled, but I could eat my regular lunch as well, so it wouldn’t be a big deal. I waited about two seconds for Dawn to object then pointed the car toward the strip with all the fast-food places.

Nat twisted around so she was looking into the backseat. “You want to start yelling at us now or wait until we have our food?”

“At both of you? That’s who I’m going to be yelling at?” Dawn was quiet for a moment, then said, “Yeah, I guess it
is
both of you. Nat, this is a crazy, manipulative idea and even if it works, you lose, because you’re going to be dating a total asshole. And Cooper, you know better! What the hell are you doing, going along with her?”

Dawn and I broke up because we’d been together so long we’d started thinking we were maybe going to be together forever, and neither of us was ready for that. That was the reason we both agreed on. But I had to admit, the way she scolded me, like she was a mix of my mom and all of my aunts and both grandmothers all mixed in together? Yeah, that had been a factor, too.

Now, though, I couldn’t blame her too much, because she was right. I
had
known better. But Nat had kissed me, and I’d felt her breasts rubbing against my arm, and I’d realized how much I’d been missing her… “She gave me our trophy,” I said.

“Your trophy?”

“Our shared MVP trophy,” Nat clarified. “I’m paying him. With the trophy.”

Dawn was silent for a moment then said, “I have no idea what to say about that. But okay, Nat, you
know
this is stupid, right?”

“I prefer to think of it as bold. Maybe even daring.”

“I’m going to stick with ‘stupid.’ I mean, how do you actually see this working?”

And as we drove to McDonald’s, Nat made her case. I was happy she included the two-weeks-plus-two-weeks rule and left out the practice-kissing part. But I wasn’t so thrilled when she mentioned how Scott had already taken the bait.

“He asked you out?” I tried to keep my eyes on the road, but it wasn’t easy. “Are you fucking kidding me? He’s been back in town for two days and he’s already moving in on my—on who he
thinks
is my girlfriend?”

“What did you say to him?” Dawn asked Nat. She sounded less judgmental now, more curious.

Nat made a disgusted sound. “I panicked. It was right at the start of class, and I just ran away and sat down, like I hadn’t even heard him.”

Good
, I thought, and then was a little creeped out to hear Dawn echo my thoughts.

“Good,” she said. But when she went on, it was clear we were happy for totally different reasons. “That’s a good strategy. He likes the chase; you need to make him work for it.”

“What?” I interjected. We were in the drive-through line, so I could turn around and stare at her. “You’re giving her
tips
now? What happened to this being stupid and how
I
should know better? Shouldn’t
you
know better, too?”

She frowned at me thoughtfully then turned to face Nat. “Yeah, what
did
happen there? Are you doing some sort of weird mind-control thing on us?”

“I used the exact same words as you did,” I told Dawn. “I said it was a stupid plan, I said Scott was an asshole…and then I said I’d help.”

“You made me give you the trophy,” Nat said, as if she was trying to make me feel better about being spineless. “But really, I think you guys want to help because…because you’re helpful. Right?” Neither of us answered. “Because you respect my right to make my own decisions, even if you disagree with them?” Nat tried.

“I guess…” Dawn sounded doubtful.

It was our turn to give our orders, so I was spared from having to come up with an answer of my own. “Lean over and tell them,” I told Nat, and as she shouted her order into the speaker box, I asked Dawn, “The usual?” and she nodded.

After we’d ordered, I pulled ahead and Nat said, “Bacon cheeseburger, fries, root beer.”

“What?”

“That’s
my
usual. If a boyfriend knows what his girlfriend orders, then you should know what I order.”

“I seriously doubt you, me, and Scott are ever going to hit the drive-through together.”

“If we ever do, what’s my usual?”

I sighed. “Bacon cheeseburger, fries, root beer.”

“Good.” Nat leaned back in her seat, temporarily satisfied. I peeked in the rearview mirror and saw Dawn’s expression. She didn’t look quite as disgusted as I’d thought she would. Instead, her frown seemed sort of thoughtful.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what she was being thoughtful
about
.

Chapter Seven

Nat

“Natalie?” my mom called as I came through the door after school. “You want cookies?”

My mom doesn’t bake, not unless she’s making a totally obvious effort to lure me into a conversation. Of course, there was no way my honesty-loving mom would approve of my Scott-stalking plans, so it was best if she just didn’t know about them.

“I’m not hungry,” I tried as I shrugged out of my coat, but then she came into the hallway and gave me her social-worker look. Well, she’s got quite a few of those looks, but this was one of her best. It was like she was saying, “I know we’ve got things to talk about, and I know
you
know that, too. I think you’re brave enough to have the conversation now. Am I wrong?” Start with the honesty, follow up with a challenge to my courage. Yeah, it worked well.

“You want to talk about Toby?” I said. Maybe we could get this done without a huge scene. I just needed to stay away from the cookies. “It really wasn’t a big deal. We were just…you know, just trying something. We’ve been friends for a long time, we’re both single, so we thought we’d see if there was anything else there.”

“And was there?”

Interesting question, but not one I wanted to think about right then. Or ever. “You know, it was a good kiss. But that’s to be expected, right? I mean…” I didn’t think I wanted to get into my theory about how Dawn must have taught Toby a lot of stuff, so I just shrugged. “He’s a good guy. But this isn’t a big thing—don’t go planning our wedding or anything.”

She didn’t look totally satisfied with that answer, but she let it go. “You have a game tonight? I’m on call, so I’ll try to be there, but I can’t be sure.”

“Don’t worry about it.” I meant it. My mom was the furthest thing from a hockey fan, but she’d done a great job of faking enthusiasm for the sport back when I was younger and all the other kids had parents who were super involved. She’d done more fund-raising than coaching, maybe, but I’d known she was there for me. Now? I was older, and she shouldn’t have to work so hard anymore. “If we make the playoffs, I’ll let you know. But this game isn’t a big deal.”

“I’ll try to be there,” she said firmly.

“Okay,” I said. “And…I’m going to the Raiders’ game first.”

She gave me another look, this one a bit harder to translate. “You don’t usually go to those games,” she said neutrally.

“No, not usually,” I agreed and headed upstairs.

I’d just gotten into my room and pulled the closet door open when my phone buzzed in my pocket. Dawn’s name showed up on the screen.

She and I got along well, but we weren’t super close. She only knew about my crush on Scott because she’d caught me staring at him one too many times and demanded an explanation. So it would have been a little strange for her to have been calling me, usually. But not so much anymore.

“What am I supposed to wear to a Raiders game?” I asked her instead of saying hello.

“That’s what I was calling to talk about. I’m not far from your place. Can I come over and we can look at what you’ve got?”

“There’s really not much to look at, but, yeah, sure, I can use all the help I can get. Even if Scott isn’t there in person, he’ll hear about anything big that happens. I’d really like it if he
didn’t
hear about Toby’s new girlfriend showing up looking like a total mess.”

The doorbell rang about thirty seconds later, and I jogged downstairs just as my mom was opening the door.

“Were you already in the driveway?” I asked Dawn.

She grinned. “I
said
I wasn’t far.”

“Would you two like fresh cookies?” my mom asked, still hopeful.

“Cookies? Absolutely!” Dawn shrugged out of her jacket. “I’m Dawn. I go to school with Nat.”

“Dawn?” my mom said, as if she was trying to figure out why the name was familiar.

Crap.

Dawn’s smile got a little tight. “I used to date Toby Cooper.”

“Oh. Right. His mother’s a friend of mine. Dawn.” Now it was my mom’s turn to force a smile. She wasn’t being bitchy, just trying to hide her obvious confusion about the soap opera I was somehow involved in. “Well, it’s nice to meet you. Cookies are in the kitchen, or—”

“We’ll grab some and take them upstairs,” I said quickly. And then I realized it was maybe kind of rude. I keep getting these annoying little flashes lately, moments when I realize that my mom is an actual human being, not just my chauffeur and housekeeper and guardian. She’d made those cookies so she and I could bond, and now I was going to eat them with someone else?

It was probably a mistake, but I said it anyway. “We’re actually going to look at my clothes and try to figure out if there’s anything remotely cool I could wear tonight. I could use another opinion, if you have time to consult?”

“Oh, no, I shouldn’t,” she said. “You guys don’t need my help with that.”

“I need all the help I can get,” I told her, poking at the zipped, oversize hoodie I’d worn to school that day as evidence. “Comfortable I can do. But cool? Not my area.”

“It’s not really mine, either,” she stage-whispered back.

“That’s okay,” Dawn said breezily. “I have enough extra cool for everyone to share.” She looked at me and shrugged. “But we’re nowhere near the same size, so all I can offer is suggestions and maybe some accessories—no chance of sharing clothes.”

No kidding. I was easily four inches taller and probably at least thirty pounds heavier than Dawn,
plus
she usually wore her clothes snug while I liked mine loose. But she was right that she had plenty of style to go around. I think she must have gotten most of her clothes mail-order, because they didn’t look like anything I’d seen for sale in Corrigan Falls, and she never talked about going shopping in the city.

Me? I wore clothes from the big-box stores in town. Walmart, mostly. My mom usually bought me trendier stuff for my birthday and Christmas, so I had some lululemon yoga pants mixed in with my sweats, but that was about it. I wondered what Scott would think of my fashion choices, but didn’t have time to really worry about it right then.

So we all trooped upstairs and I flopped back down on my bed to watch Dawn and my mom sort through my clothes, giggling as they worked. It was kind of weird, seeing them bond over trying to make me more presentable. I mean, I knew my mom loved me. She’d never left me in any doubt about that. But I never really felt like she
understood
me. When she had a baby girl, she was probably imagining ballet lessons and cute outfits and giggling over boys. Instead, she got hockey, jeans, and sweatshirts, and me never telling her anything about the very little boy experience I managed to come up with.

So maybe I should have felt jealous, seeing her having so much fun with Dawn, but I totally didn’t. Instead, I felt happy for both of them. They were both getting something out of this, and me? Maybe, if I was lucky, they’d end up making me look less than completely hideous for the game that night. It could be a winning afternoon for all three of us.