He didn’t miss a beat. His lip curving up on one side in amusement. “That’s why I’m giving it away to others.”
A rush of warmth in my chest nearly left me winded. “There should be more people like you.”
He turned so he was facing me as we stopped beside my car. His brows drew down. “Do you want money? I can buy you whatever you want.”
I drew in a breath. He was serious. Anything I requested he would buy for me. But left to his own devices he’d be just as happy to give the money to people who actually needed it. And thanks to Jamie he had a means and way of getting the money to the right charities.
Jamie. I swallowed down the feeling of ick. I should be supportive of this new friendship. I should be taking this opportunity to remind him of just how great Jamie could be for him. She fit into his new world, she could help him to make friends, and she seemed to understand him, at least better than most. Oh yeah, and then there was the fact that she was smart and generous and thoughtful. The girl was perfect for him.
I don’t want a new you, and you don’t need a makeover. You’re perfect the way you are.
His words from our time at that restaurant came back to me completely unbidden. A lot of the things he’d said had been coming back to haunt me these past few weeks. My mind couldn’t seem to let them go. Some part of my subconscious kept throwing them back up there for some unknown, unwelcome reason.
“Are you okay?” Oliver asked.
I didn’t know how long I’d been standing there like that, with a no-doubt stupid look on my face. “Um, yeah. I’m good.”
However long I’d been standing there? It had been too long. Long enough for Julie to catch up with us.
“Oliver!”
I flinched, but Oliver’s gaze never left my face. He had that intense stare going on. The one that said he was reading my mind.
If he was, he’d know that I was currently scrambling to come up with an excuse to run away. I couldn’t come up with anything fast enough. Before I could say ‘gotta run’ Julie was on top of us. No, she was on top of Oliver.
Literally, on top of him. Her arms were around his neck and she was making this weird squealing noise like she’d just been reunited with her favorite stuffed animal. “It’s so good to see you again.”
Oliver’s arms went around her loosely, but he was still looking at me, shock and confusion clear in his eyes. “Hi Julie.”
I didn’t know whether to laugh at his confusion or tear Julie’s hair out. That would make her let go, if nothing else.
It wasn’t like I was jealous or anything, I just couldn’t take the hypocrisy. I’d heard her with my own two ears. Despite the makeover and the success, she still didn’t appreciate Oliver the way he deserved.
If I had to choose between Julie and Jamie, I’d choose Jamie any day of the week. She’d at least seemed genuine, if a little too perfect for my liking.
Squaring my shoulders, I decided it was time to intervene, if for no other reason than to save Oliver from any more awkward embraces. I tugged on his arm as Julie loosened her grip. “Sorry, Julie,” I said with zero regret in my voice. “Oliver and I have somewhere to be.”
She seemed to just now notice my presence, and her smile faded fast.
Great to see you too, Julie.
Honestly, considering the fact that I was currently wearing a bright red sweater, heavily involved in extra-curriculars that raised money for our school, and was an active participant in my classes, it was shocking how invisible I was at this school.
Julie didn’t even deign to speak to me, she just gave me a once over that reminded me of the Terminator. I imagined that she had some internal computer screen behind those pretty baby blue eyes. The computer assessed me and instantly dismissed me as a potential threat to her mission. I was just his dorky sidekick. Nothing to worry about here.
“Are you going to the dance tonight?” Julie asked, turning back to Oliver without a second glance in my direction.
I clenched my hands into fists at my side. I’d seen this coming from a mile away but her nerve was still galling beyond belief.
“Yes,” Oliver said simply.
I bit back a smirk when Julie let the pause last too long. She’d probably expected him to say more. She’d been going to school with him since forever but she’d never interacted with him enough to know that you couldn’t ask a yes or no question and expect more than a yes or no in response.
“Great,” she said brightly after that too-long pause. “I’m going too.”
“You’re going with Brandon Leevey, right?” I interrupted.
She turned to me again with an ill-disguised sneer.
I smiled bigger. My eyes met hers in a challenge. Yeah, that’s right, lady. I’m onto you.
Her own smile in return was forced. “A bunch of us are going as a group.”
“How nice,” I muttered. And how very convenient.
Julie turned to Oliver, placing a hand on his arm in an obvious effort to establish intimacy. “You should come with us.”
Oliver’s gaze hadn’t moved from my face during this whole ridiculous farce. She seemed to catch on as she glanced over at me too, her smile more strained than ever. “You both should.”
Julie’s friends had gathered behind her. Three of them were from the class I’d just come from and had taken part in that conversation in which they’d blatantly mocked my best friend. But would you know it by the way they acted now?
Absolutely not. They were fawning over him. Fawning! Poor Oliver was bombarded with questions—about his new school, about the app, about his business. I wouldn’t have been surprised if one of them grilled him on his new net worth. There was no shame to be found here, only insatiable hunger and seemingly indefatigable curiosity.
Oliver answered their questions with simple, monosyllabic answers when he could, and when he couldn’t, he looked to me and I stepped in. If it was off-putting to have their questions met by an interpreter named Liv, they didn’t let on. They treated my answers as if Oliver himself had spoken.
It was weird.
I’d always been a big talker, but I’d never been a mouthpiece before. When even more students started trickling over and our little group looked like it might turn into a full-blown mob scene, I tugged on Oliver’s arm to drag him away. “We’ve got to go,” I said.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and let me lead the way. Nothing about his expression or his posture gave away how severely uncomfortable he was to be the center of attention. But I knew, and this was one thing I could handle.
“We’ll see you all later,” I shouted as we turned to flee.
“I’ll save you a dance,” Julie said as we slipped into Oliver’s old Chevy. We’d have to come back for my car later because there was no way I would leave him alone with that horde of hungry ladies. Once inside he turned to face me and I saw the amusement there in his eyes.
“She’s saving you a dance,” I said.
His lips curved up a bit and my belly did a flip-flop move that had me drawing in a sharp breath.
The inhale was a mistake because he was too close and he smelled too good. It was a familiar scent—clearly he still used the same soap and dryer sheets—but it hit my olfactory senses like a ton of bricks. It brought with it a wave of emotion that had me moving without thinking, my arms wrapping around his neck as I buried my head in his shoulder.
He hugged me tightly in this awkward front seat embrace. “I’ve missed you.” It came out muffled against his shoulder but his arms tightened.
“I’ve missed you too,” he said, his mouth so close to my ear that his voice made me shiver.
I pulled back as quickly as I’d gone in for the hug but when my eyes met his I nearly fell back against him. Hugging was easier than eye contact at the moment. “So,” I said with forced enthusiasm. “Julie is saving you a dance.”
His amusement was tempered with something I couldn’t quite define.
“Too bad you don’t dance,” I
added, trying to get another smile out of him.
“I can dance,” he said.
I arched my brows. “Oh yeah? Since when.”
“Since Jamie showed me how.”
I blinked a few times in rapid succession as his words hit me in the solar plexus. “Jamie, um…Jamie showed you how to dance?”
He nodded, his ever-intense stare fixed on me and making me squirm. I normally didn’t mind his undivided attention. In fact, I usually felt like a flower coming into bloom under the intensity of his stare. No one noticed me—not really—and then Oliver came along and noticed me enough for everybody. I’d always loved that about him. But right now?
Now I wasn’t so fond of that spotlight because it was mercilessly bright. He could see everything.
“Why?” I asked, hating how my voice got all weird and shrill. I cleared my throat. “I mean…why?” That didn’t come out sounding any better. “Do you guys have a dance at your school or something?”
“Yes.”
Duh. Of course they did. It might have been a fancy boarding school but it was still a high school. They had to have dances and things. Why hadn’t I thought of that before?
“But that’s not why she taught me to dance,” he said.
I waited until he elaborated with a shrug. “There will be dancing at the magazine’s gala. She didn’t want me to be unprepared.”
Uh huh. Right. Oliver might have bought that line, but I did not. “Oh, how thoughtful.”
He was quiet for a moment. “Are you jealous?”
Yes.
“No!” My eyes had widened with shock at the blunt question. I wasn’t so much shocked by the bluntness of it—that was to be expected from Oliver. But I was totally thrown by my initial response.
Yes, I was jealous. I was sick with envy, crazed by the green-eyed monster. I was incurably jealous. I couldn’t deny it any longer. Not to myself anyway. I could call it a snake, I could try and shove it away, but the truth of the matter was…I was jealous.
And not just because he had a new friend.
He was still staring at me and I managed a scoff despite the fact that my whole world was in danger of flipping upside down. “I’m not jealous.”
That was the first time in my life that I’d lied to Oliver.
Chapter Six
Oliver
She’d lied.
I listened to Liv get ready in her bathroom that adjoined her bedroom as I tried to make sense of it.
Liv had lied.
To me.
But why?
Her jealousy had been obvious. I’d seen it clear as day in her eyes, and then in the car ride home she’d refused to look in my direction, staring out the passenger window instead in uncharacteristic silence. She’d lied, and she knew it.
I’d thought I’d sensed jealousy from her before—whenever she talked about Jamie, for instance—but I’d never been certain. This afternoon, however? It had never been more obvious.
What I couldn’t figure out was whether she’d been jealous that I had another friend, or if she was jealous in another way.
I sincerely hoped it was the latter.
“It’s not fair that all you have to do to get ready is take a shower.” Her voice came to me from the other room and brought me back to the moment. I didn’t reply. She didn’t expect me to.
It was true that all I’d done to prepare for tonight’s dance was shower. But I could have told her that she didn’t need to straighten her hair or put on makeup to be the most beautiful girl in the room.
I could have told her that, but I didn’t. I wouldn’t. Not yet. There would be a time, and when that time came, I would find the words.
Tonight was the night. I knew this without a doubt. There was no way I could let any more time go by without telling Liv how I felt. With my luck, if I didn’t say something now she’d go and start dating some other loser who wasn’t worthy of her time.
No, I’d already waited too long. I’d spent years waiting for the perfect moment or the right words. What I was starting to realize was that the perfect timing and the perfect words wouldn’t just magically appear. I’d have to create them.
And that was what I’d planned for tonight.
I rubbed sweaty palms against my pants as I listened to the sounds of water running and unnamed tools clattering on the sink.
“If you don’t hurry, we’ll miss the whole dance,” I pointed out.
She poked her head out and I grinned at the sight of her, half of her hair curly and the other half straight. She pursed bright red lips. “You can’t rush beauty,” she said.
I made a show of leaning back against her bedroom wall and crossing my legs. “Whatever you say.” When she ducked her head back into the bathroom, I continued. “I wouldn’t mind if we miss it entirely, you know.”
Although plans would need to be rearranged.
That had her popping her head back out again like a Whack-A-Mole. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am.”
“Oliver James Jackson, there’s no way I’m going to let you miss out on the chance to show off in front of all those losers who underestimated you.”
I’d rather stay here alone with you.
That’s what I should have said. Another opportunity missed.
Her anger on my behalf was sweet, but unnecessary. The only person I’d ever cared about impressing was her.
Tell her that, you moron.
I drew in a deep breath and tried to form the words.
“Tonight is going to be epic, just you wait and see,” she said.
She was right about that. I’d make sure of it. But since I didn’t think she was talking about us, I arched a brow in question. “Epic, huh?”
She nodded vigorously, the half-curled side of her head bobbing wildly. “Yup. The way I see it, we’ll both have our chance to shine tonight.” She beamed at me and I was momentarily blinded by her light. “All of the girls there will be throwing themselves at you, which means…” She widened her eyes. “Mikey will be all mine.”
I groaned. “Tell me you’re not serious.”
I honestly didn’t know. She’d been talking about Mikey so often these past few weeks, it was hard to tell if she actually still had a crush on the greasy stoner or if it was just an old joke that had gone stale.
“I’m serious,” she said. She whipped out a hand that was holding the curling iron and waved it as she spoke. “Stuart will eat his heart out when he sees me show up with the bigshot celebrity, and Mikey will finally take notice of my existence. Why should you be the only one who lives out the whole nerd turned cool fantasy?”
“I’m confused. Is Mikey the cool one in this scenario?” I asked, honestly perplexed. “And is that really a fantasy?”
“Of course. Every nerd secretly wants the cool kids to think he or she is secretly cool.”
I blinked at that. “Is that what you want?”
She shrugged. “Of course.”
With that she disappeared and I was no closer to understanding whether she actually wanted to date Mikey then I had been before this conversation got underway. I wasn’t used to feeling this confused, especially about Liv, and I sat there listening to her get ready in a funk.
This plan to tell her how I felt…it was rather imperative that she feel the same way.
I mean, I would tell her either way, that much I’d decided. But if she didn’t want to hear it…if she didn’t feel the same…
I swallowed down a wave of nausea at the thought, and focused on counting the stars on her night-sky patterned comforter instead. When she finally came out of the bathroom, I forgot what number I was on.
I also forgot how to breathe.
She gave me a questioning look as she fidgeted with her skirt. “Is it okay?”
My mouth opened but no words came out. She was stunning. Her dark hair was sleek, shiny, and seemingly much longer now that it was straight. Her curvy figure was accentuated perfectly by the old-fashioned style of her bright
red dress. It hugged her curves and then dipped in at her waist before flaring out in a skirt that looked like it was made for twirling.
“It’s kind of tight,” she said as she shifted in front of me.
I found myself staring at her black shiny heels which matched the black belt around the waist of the dress. I tried to find my voice. “You look beautiful.”
“Thanks.” Her smile was sweet and just a little shy when I looked up at her. Shyness in Liv was a rarity, especially with me.
My heart squeezed in my chest. Her being shy was a good sign, right?
Maybe she was nervous too.
She looked down at her dress. “I won’t be as pretty as Julie, but—”
“Who’s Julie?”
Her gaze shot back to mine and her smile was radiant.
I’d been saying that these days every time she mentioned Jamie because it never failed to make her smile. She thought I was teasing, but I wasn’t.
In my world there was only one girl. And her name was Liv.
* * *
A few minutes later we entered the crowded gymnasium, which looked the same as it had for every other school dance we’d attended together. Dark and depressing. Crepe paper and dim lighting could only do so much to hide the horrors of PE.
“So, what do you want to do first?” Liv asked.
What did I want to do? I wanted to grab her hand and drag her out of there, back to the quiet, cozy confines of my car. But I’d learned my lesson during her trip to New York. I wasn’t good at winging it, and I needed more than words. I’d needed a plan—a grand gesture, if you will, and that was exactly what I’d set in place for tonight.
Instead, I found myself turning to answer and being blinded instead by a flash.
“Sorry,” Cameron said. She did not look sorry at all as she beamed up at me. Her friends were right behind her. “You’re trending on Twitter, did you know that?”
I didn’t answer. Sometimes when people spoke to me, I wasn’t sure if I was actually expected to answer. Sure enough, she kept talking, though I stopped paying attention halfway through. I was more intrigued by Liv.
Always. I would always be more intrigued by Liv no matter what was going on around me. Jamie had informed me that I had a one-track mind. More like a Liv-track mind.
Tall, Dark, and Nerdy: High School Billionaire #1 Page 9
