I laughed and gently disentangled myself from him. “It’s all good, these are my friends, I haven’t been happier in a long time.” I saw his face fall and I felt immediately guilty. “I’ll see you in class soon?” I offered. It wasn’t the hand of friendship, but it was an olive branch at least. He had been bang out of order when he’d told Connor about my dad and the way he had acted. Ok, Theo shouldn’t have punched him but he still shouldn’t have acted like he did.
His smile was enough to make me dubious but, I thought to myself at least, I know I don’t have to avoid him too. I ran to catch up with Corey and we headed out together.
“That boy is interested in you Elle,” she murmured as she looked at me questioningly.
“Matt said the same, but I think he just wants to be friends. I mean I have lied to him about a fiancé, had one of my friends punch him out and then I ignored him, he would be insane to still like me after that. I think he just wants to be friends,” I concluded.
Corey threw her arm around me and giggled. “The boys are right, you are delusional! Delusional with a capital D!”
I laughed with her, but I was still semi-confident that I was right.
Connor met us outside the library and after he had taken Corey’s bookbag he took mine too. “You look like a pack mule,” I observed.
He grinned at me. “Used to taking your stuff Lil Bit – wouldn’t be right to leave you with it – after all, you actually have books in here. Corey travels lighter.” He ducked away from Corey’s playful slap and scampered off to meet up with Theo. When he met him, my bookbag was transferred to Theo who didn’t even flinch at the weight of it.
“Where’s Matt?” I asked.
“Colton,” Connor and Theo said at the same time. Connor grinned and carried on “They’re up to something that we don’t need or want to be at, so you lovely ladies and us are going to the movies.”
“I have classes Connor!” I protested. He shrugged and kept on walking. I looked at Theo; he shook his head and dragged me after them. “Seriously guys, I have classes to get to.”
“Elle no! Let’s go see that new Chris Hemsworth movie and we can dream about how men should look,” Corey joked as she laughed at Connor showing off his muscles. “Plus, we don’t want you in that class with Robbie, even if you don’t believe me.”
“He bothering you Lil Bit?” Theo demanded. “Cause I will knock him out again.” I didn’t need the fist smacking in the palm action to get the idea of what Theo meant.
“No, he was just talking to me; he isn’t interested in me like that. When will you all start listening to me?” I protested.
Two snorts and a scoff were my response. “Fine. Let’s go see the movie,” I grumbled.
We drove to the movie theatre, I genuinely didn’t know how they always managed to find parking, in a city that tried to quash driving and encourage public transit as much as possible. Theo sent a quick text – to Matt I assumed – and then he and Connor bought the tickets whilst Corey and I debated over popcorn with or without butter. We ended up with butter. Women – we shouldn’t always be given choices. Controversial thinking, I know.
The movie was good. I have to admit, I am quite happy to watch anything with Chris Hemsworth in it. The guys decided we were getting dinner after the movie and Matt turned up whilst we were in line at the restaurant. He squeezed me to death as soon as he saw me and I noticed how I was passed from the protectiveness of Theo to Matt.
“Where’s Colton?” I asked. It seemed that it was safe to ask since he was the only one not there.
“Oh, he’s got something on tonight, he went home for a bit,” Matt said. He looked at Theo. “You’ll be ready for after?” he asked him. Theo nodded.
“Ready for what?” I asked.
“Nothing Bit.” Matt smiled at me. I narrowed my eyes. What weren’t they telling me?
I was determined to find out what they were hiding from me, so I decided to don my sleuthing cap. Granted it wasn’t so much a cap as an imaginary headpiece, plus it was more feathered tiara than cap. Whatever. It had become clear to me that Connor didn’t know much about what was going on. He was so wrapped up with Corey that I genuinely began to suspect he knew nothing.
That left Theo or Matt, which was tricky as Matt knew me well and Theo was just naturally evasive, I realised, after some fruitless attempts at trying. It must be all that avoiding conversations of any meaning with females, I thought darkly to myself. Colton was a no go in more ways than one, so I decided in the end I just needed to corner and confront Matt. If all else failed I could cry – I wouldn’t, but I decided I was a badass ninja for thinking it, although a badass ninja probably would just kick his butt and not be likely to cry. As it was in my head only, I decided I could be a badass crying ninja if I wanted to.
As it happened, I didn’t need to confront anyone. Matt had no choice but to tell me. I got a phone call from him on Thursday night from the police station. He andJayhad been detained and he needed me to come pick him up from Lafayette. What on earth was going on? What had they done to be detained?
I drove over to Lafayette and pulled up outside the police station and parked. I had bad memories of the last time I was in a station and I wasn't relishing being in another one.
I soon realised I didn’t need to go inside. Matt and Jay were sitting outside on the wall looking like two lost causes. I approached as Matt jumped down and hugged me. Jay winked. I rolled my eyes. Why did I think I would be greeted any differently by Jay?
“What’s going on?” I enquired; I rolled back onto my heels and thrust my hands into my back pockets. Matt shrugged and looked away, slightly guilty.
“Not much – a misunderstanding and a ride – because we may or may not have been drinking,” he replied. I looked at him close up, properly.
“You’re bruised. Have you been fighting?” I demanded. Jay started to chuckle and hopped down off the wall.
“Man, you are in hot water. Darling, is there any chance you can hitch us out of here and we can tell you in the car? I’ve had enough of this sty and wouldn’t mind heading home.”