by Jax Garren
“Woah, woah, what? No way! He’s totally in love with you.”
Giselle snorted. “No, he wants to do the horizontal mambo with me. That’s not love. Part of me thinks that sounds fun, too, even though I don’t love him. But there’s somebody else he also wants to screw, and he’s getting ready for their date right now. And that’s so fine with me. I wasn’t going to fuck him anyway. He can do whatever he wants with whoever he wants because we’re just friends.”
“Riiiiight. Okay. You’re sure that’s really what he’s doing? What did he say?”
“I asked if he had a date, and he said he was studying biology tonight.”
The line was silent as the school’s tower came into view, lit up like a beacon. Finally Rawan said. “And why do you think he isn’t, you know, studying biology? For a test or something? Maybe he goes to Zavala, too. I mean, he seems a little older than us, but not by that much. He could be a senior.”
“It was the way he said it. Trust me, he wasn’t talking about cracking a book.”
More silence as Giselle found her parking lot and pulled into one of the motorcycle slots. She cut off the engine, and the sudden silence was unnerving.
“You think,” Rawan finally said, “that he’s trying to respect your wishes? You made it pretty clear you weren’t that into him. If he’s dating somebody else, he’s doing what you said you want him to. He can’t pine from a distance forever, you know? That’s just uncomfortable for both of you. This could be better—a lot better—if he’s seeing someone else. Then you two can be friends with no weirdness, and you can, you know, pine for Rafael.”
So, she hadn’t told her friend what had happened the other night—it was just too crazy and fragile, particularly after she’d reiterated so many times to her roommate that she didn’t want to date Coyote. Regardless, everything Rawan said was right; Giselle knew that. It would be easier if they could just be friends.
And yet the thought of her partner with somebody else made her want to cry. She took a deep breath, deep as she could, filling her body all the way to her toes, as one of the better therapists of the many, many CPS had assigned her had liked to say. “I just don’t want him to leave me.”
There it was. She’d resisted their partnership at first for this very reason—she got too attached. And here she was now, fully attached and waiting to be devastated.
Because she was always devasted. If thirteen homes in twelve years taught you anything, it was that every relationship ended, often with no warning.
“Hey, sweetie, it’s going to be okay. He’s a good guy. A good partner. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but whatever it is, you can handle it. And I’ll be there to help.” A pause. “Besides, if the only reason you started sleeping with him was to keep him around, well, that’s not going to work at all, okay? Don’t do that.”
Coyote’s beautiful body sprang to her mind. “That wouldn’t be the only reason.”
Rawan snickered, knowing exactly where her mind had gone. “It shouldn’t be any part of the reason—definitely not the deciding factor, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Giselle grumbled.
“Sounds like your motorcycle’s stopped. Meet me in front of the library.” Her voice turned conspiratorial. “You can retell me all about your tutoring session with your rock star.”
Giselle huffed a laugh at the reminder of tutoring Rafael, the lead singer of a popular rock band, who she’d been crushing on since early high school and who—omigod—was not only attending Zavala but in her freaking English and government classes. Yeah, think about him and how sweet he was—and how handsome! Rafael had beautiful eyes. “I already told you all about it.” Obsessively. Over and over all week. “I can’t believe I fell asleep on his couch.”
“I know, right? While he was playing music! How could you?”
That got an actual laugh out of her as she turned her steps toward the library and Rawan. “You’re an amazing friend, you know.”
“I know,” Rawan said, her own confidence shining through as brightly as Coyote’s. “You are too. Now get your butt over here and let’s chase down a bird-woman!”
