Two-Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt Read Free Book Online

He’s in my math class? How about “I was just grinding on him like I hadn’t gotten any in months”? Nice to know where her loyalties are. I take another sip of my beer.
    “Hey,” Lloyd says, eyeing me. “What’s up?”
    “Not much, man,” I say, wondering when he’s going to leave. He’s screwing up the plan. I try to look bored in an effort to make him go away. It doesn’t work.
    “You’re still riding home with me, right?” he asks Courtney, watching me out of the corner of his eye. What’s with this guy? He looks like he’s about one second away from taking a baseball bat to my knees. Or wanting to. I wonder if this is how serial killers start out. Wasn’t the Unabomber really good at math?
    “Right,” Courtney says, glancing at me, too. I take another sip of my Corona. Hey, they don’t have to worry about me. The last thing I need is her expecting me to take her home. Like I said, she’s cute enough, and her body is smokin’, but I have my sights set on something else.
    “So, George, are you a junior?” Lloyd asks, and I roll my eyes. What a tool. I know guys like him. Guys who keep a bunch of girls around, dangling themselves in front of them, but never really hooking up with them. Yet they get pissed if someone else tries to make a move. Which I’m not trying to do. But when he calls me George, I almost kind of want to, since I know he knows my name. A not-so-subtle dig. Nice, Lloyd.
    “I’m a senior,” I say, and leave it at that. There’s an awkward silence.
    “So, listen,” I say, watching Madison out of the corner of my eye. “I need to get back to my friends, but it was nice dancing with you, Court.”
    “You, too,” she says, and for a second, I almost don’t do what I’m about to do. Because she seems like a nice girl. But then I see Lloyd giving me the look of death, and I can tell Madison is watching me, so I go for it. Whatever, if I’m going to hell, it will be for hooking up with Kendra Carlson at her brother’s graduation party last summer and then never calling her back.
    “So, can I get your number?” I say, trying to sound sheepish, like I’m not sure she’s going to give it to me. She looks shocked for a minute, so I quickly add, “Oh, I’m sorry, are you two…” I look from her to Lloyd, even though I know there’s no way they’re together. Lloyd’s eyes darken. That’s what you get for calling me George, Polo Boy.
    “Um, no,” Courtney says, looking even more flustered.
    “No, I can’t have your number?” I say, grinning at her again.
    “No, we’re not together,” she says, more forcefully this time. “And yes, you can have my number.” Lloyd’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. Did he really think she was going to say no just because of him? It’s obvious she wants him, but please. She’s not that hard up. Any girl who dances the way she does is not going to sit around waiting for a guy named Lloyd.
    Courtney takes a pen and paper out of the small bag slung around her waist and writes her number down. I make a big show out of putting it in my wallet, even though I have no intention of using it. It’s mostly so Madison will see me doing it, although later I’ll tell her Courtney and I got paired up for a project at school, I was just dancing with her to be nice, and I got her number so we could work on the assignment. She won’t know whether it’s true or not, but again, that’s part of the fun.
    “Nice to meet you, Lloyd,” I say, looking right at him. “And I’ll give ya a call,” I say to Courtney.
    “Later,” she says, and I think briefly about what’s going to happen at school on Monday when I blow her off. Thankfully, she sits on the other side of the room in math class. And she doesn’t seem psychotic, which is always a plus. Psychotic girls are a pain in my ass. Last year I kissed this freshman girl at a pool party and she wouldn’t get off my nuts for six months. Which is why my policy is now no psychotics, and no