Page 50 of Jesse's Girl
“Yeah, and we don’t call women snacks, my guy,” I reply, because my hypocrisy apparently knows no bounds. “Not if you want to level up your rizz, anyway.” I clap him on the shoulder. “Come on. You’re up.”
When he heads off to bowl, I immediately regret sending him away—because I’m now left alone with Ada and no buffer.
“Did the term rizz just come outta your face?” she asks, a smirk tugging at her lips.
“Shut up.”
“So, you got my photo?” She sits beside me on the bench. It’s a question, but we both know she saw me staring at it.
“Yeah,” I say, trying to keep my expression impassive as I scramble for what to say. Somehow, “that was the sexiest fucking thing I’ve seen in a long time” and “I might need a minute or several alone with that picture later” don’t make the cut. Instead of the truth this time, I aim for casual. “It was cool.”
It was cool?
There’s a brief, barely detectable fall in Ada’s features before she quickly recovers.
Great. The horny gremlin has been replaced by an awkward penguin.
I need to put that photo the hell out of my mind. Desperate to change the subject, I clear my throat and tilt my chin in Rolando’s direction. “He seems like a good kid.”
She turns her head away from me slowly before her eyes finally jump to Rolando. “He is.” Rolando holds two bowling balls by his crotch, posing with his tongue out while one of the other guys snaps a photo. “I swear he is.” Ada shakes her head and walks over to talk to the boys—from the looks of it, giving them a reminder about appropriate behavior in public.
Damn. Even frowning, she’s beautiful. I try not to stare. And I try even harder not to pull out my phone and have another look at that damn picture.
“Okay, let’s get this over with,” Ada sighs, turning to face me in the quiet parking lot. The last of the stragglers have been picked up and it’s just us.
“Get what over with?” I ask, putting on an air of innocence.
Despite Ada distracting me in all ways possible, I managed to salvage the game and scored 114, beating her 98. I didn’t waste a second gloating about it; she would’ve done the same.
“The popcorn?” She gestures to the paper bag in my hand. “Loser wears the popcorn.”
“Right. Almost forgot.” I’d done no such thing. I drink in her nervous smile, making a slow show of unfurling the curled top of the popcorn bag. “Well, a deal’s a deal. You ready?”
“No.” She braces herself, squeezing her eyes shut and scrunching her shoulders into her neck.
I chuckle as I slowly move closer, drawing it out. “Why are you so nervous? It’s only popcorn.”
“Just aim away from my ass crack, okay?” She breaks into laughter as the last words leave her mouth, cracking one eye open to peer up at me, then hastily closing it again.
“I promise nothing,” I say, raising the bag over her head. I hold it there for a moment but, right before I dump it, I pull it back in front of me. Plucking a single kernel from the bag, I take a step back and toss it at her. It bounces off her chest and onto the asphalt.
“Wh—wha—” she sputters, staring at me. “That’s it?”
I scoff. “Not gonna waste perfectly good popcorn on you.” I pluck another kernel from the bag and pop it into my mouth.
“That’s not how this works, Jess.”
“What do you mean, how this works?” I ask as I chew, screwing up my face. “You say that like this is an established practice… with rules and shit.”
“Hey,” she says, putting her hands on her hips. “The deal was: you win, I suffer. So come on. Make me suffer.”
I raise my eyebrows. Putting a pin in that…
“That came out wrong,” she says quickly. “You know what I mean.”
“Okay, you really want me to let you have it?” I ask, my calm drawl visibly winding her up.
“Yes!” She throws her hands out at her sides.