I felt uneasy walking through the doors of Rita’s Italian Ice this time around. Mar, Court, and I had just gotten our nails done and Courtney decided she was craving something sweet so she dragged us all here with her. Normally I wouldn’t have had any problem. Rita’s was always our go-to place to stop after school, but today it just didn’t feel right being here. As we made our way up to the counter to order, I kept catching myself looking over my shoulder just in case I spotted Alex walking in. The look on his face when I’d told him I wanted to keep our friendship on the down low had been stuck in my mind ever since I left school. I didn’t even get to enjoy my manicure I felt so bad!

The knot in my stomach only twisted tighter when I saw Jack appear in front of the register. I expected him to shoot me a dirty look or glare at me at least, but he didn’t. To my surprise, he smiled cheerfully the way he always did and said, “What’ll it be ladies?”

Courtney ordered her usual and once it was ready, she paid and went off with Marissa to find us a table by the window, leaving me all alone with the lanky band boy.

“Hey,” he said breezily, leaning his elbows against the counter.

“Hey…” I trailed off awkwardly. I wasn’t sure what kind of treatment I should have expected from him, but I wondered why he was being so nice to me. Maybe it was just a customer policy thing? “Have you talked to Alex at all since school ended today?” I asked, biting my lip nervously. Jack furrowed his brows at the random question and shook his head.

“No…I went straight to work after school. Why?” he asked. The knot in my stomach tightened once more as I realized that was the reason he was still being so nice. He didn’t have a clue that I was a snobby bitch or whatever name Alex probably would call me when he finally told Jack.

“Oh, no reason,” I said quickly, feeling the rush of heat rising to my cheeks.

“Right,” Jack said, looking at me like I was a little crazy for a second. “So anyway, I see you made it through the day,” the smile returned to his face. “What did you think of our show?”

I glanced over my shoulder before answering, catching Marissa and Courtney watching Jack and me intently. I would definitely be getting grilled for this later.

“Uhyeah,youguysweregreat.CanIjusthavemyusualblendiniplease?” the words left my mouth so fast I was shocked Jack even understood them. He went right to work, putting the frozen custard into the sized small cup and blending in the little candy bits. He added a top and a long plastic spoon and returned a couple minutes later, placing the frozen treat on the counter before me.

“That’ll be $4.25 please,” he grinned, seeming satisfied with his work. I quickly pulled out a five dollar bill from my wallet and slapped it down on the counter.

“Keep the change,” I mumbled as I grabbed my Blendini and scuttled away.

***

“What was that all about?” Marissa asked, glancing back at me as we exited Rita’s and walked out to the parking lot. The glare from the sun stung my eyes, forcing me to look away though I could still feel Courtney’s and Marissa’s probing stares fixed on me.

“What?” I asked innocently, brushing my hair off my shoulders as we approached Courtney’s custom painted cherry-red Jetta. I was the first to climb inside.

“We saw you talking to that Jack guy at the register. Looked like more than placing an order to me…” Marissa said, pursing her lips as she slipped into the backseat. Courtney frowned, her eyes shifting to me for a nanosecond before she started the car and began pulling out.

“Yeah and isn’t he friends with Alex? He waved to you before we left school today,” Courtney said. “Are you, like…friends with them or something?”

“Yeah, okay,” I scoffed, acting as if that was the most absurd thing I’d ever heard. No one said another word and the car filled with an uncomfortable silence. I could feel myself squirming in my seat just dying to unlock the door and jump out. They were definitely thinking I was hiding something and well…I was. “So, the big day’s coming up,” I tried to lift the tension by bringing up the party. Courtney’s face instantly lit up.

“This Friday is going to be the best Anderson bash yet!” she smiled with glee. “I can just feel it!”

We started talking more party details and decided to have a sleepover the night of, after all the guests left. I was beginning to loosen up and feel myself around my friends again when Marissa had to speak up and ruin everything.

“Hey you know what we should do?” Marissa grabbed both shoulders of mine and Courtney’s seats and pulled herself up, closer to the front. “Invite Alex!”

Courtney and I whipped around, horrified looks on both our faces.

“What?” I gasped, anxiety racking through my body from the dark look in the brunette’s eyes. Courtney turned back to face forward to make a turn, but I kept my eyes locked right on Marissa.

“Well he obviously seems to like you Lauren. So why don’t we mess with him a little?” Marissa’s grin widened. I could tell there was a diabolical plot forming in her mind this very second.

“He’s not a plaything you can just toy around with Mar…” I frowned, my eyes narrowed at her and a slightly bitter tone to my voice.

She only laughed and sat back, “Oh please, like you’ve never messed with a guy before? May I remind you of Todd Riley?”

I cringed at the mention of his name. Todd Riley was this quirky kid that used to have the most gigantic crush on me when we were freshmen. He was a bit of weirdo and well…let’s just say he didn’t exactly have the body of an Abercrombie & Fitch model, so the three of us decided it would be funny to make him a fake secret admirer to get him to leave me alone. We left little love notes in his locker during the day and even made up a screen name to IM him when we weren’t at school. Then when our mission had reached success, we ended the secret “love” affair by setting up a date to meet and…you can guess how that ended. At the time, it had been the funniest thing and now? Not so much.

“We’re not doing it,” I said definitively and turned my back to Marissa. She said nothing else on the subject.