“Do you ever stop?” I ask.
“Not when there are people watching,” she says, glancing over her shoulder. “Yep, they’re at the window right now.”
“Sucks you can’t be real in your own house.”
“That’s why I have you,” she says, smiling up at me as we start back toward my house on foot. “Now, I know you have a joint on you, so light up before anyone sees me.”
I shake my head and pull my little wooden box from my pocket, taking out a joint and lighting it. Lo looks around at all the houses, turning into me to surreptitiously take a hit before pushing it back into my palm.
“Everything okay?” she asks. “You seemed a little… Off today.”
“Don’t do this, Lo.”
“Okay,” she says. “You know I’m here, though.”
“Same.”
I hit the joint and pass it back. She hides behind my arm to inhale, then blows smoke into my shirt.
“Thanks,” I say. “I’m going home to talk to the cops smelling like a dispensary.”
“You’re not afraid of the cops,” she says, swatting my arm.
I smirk down at her. “Why would I be?”
“Sooo,” she says. “Nothing’s wrong? Did you talk to your mom about what happened on Friday?”
I cock a brow at her. “You talked to your dad lately?”
“Touché,” she says, grinning. “Fair enough. You going to let me run alone today?”
“Not a chance.”
“Perfect. Everyone needs to think we’re together if we’re going to win prom. Might as well start now.”
“Your ambition is fuckin’ disturbing, you know that?”
“Do you really want to go there?”
“Not really,” I admit as we reach our house and turn into the drive. Only one cop is still here, probably having a drink with Dad. In a town this small, you gotta win ‘em all.
“Go get changed,” Lo says. “Wear something sleeveless. You know all the neighbor ladies like to watch you run.”
I shake my head at her nerve. “Shouldn’t you be against objectifying people? Isn’t that part of your whole feminist agenda thing?”
“Eh, men have been doing it for centuries. I figure it’s our turn. And you know I’m kidding. You’re just as hot in a tie as you are in a tank.” She gives me a wink.
“Go fuck yourself, Lo.”
She glances down the road before leaning into me, standing on tiptoes like she’s about to kiss me when Cotton’s Jeep appears through the gate. “I just want them to know we exercise together,” she says, sliding a hand behind my neck and batting her eyes at me. “Is that so wrong? You never know when someone from school or a relative in the neighborhood is watching out the window.”
My fucked up head goes straight to Harper. This will get back to school, and though it’s nothing exciting, it’s one more thread in the tapestry of lies Lo is weaving about her life, one little piece that makes the whole more credible. If Harper hears about it, will she think it means something? Will she be jealous?
When she goes home at night, does she think about me? Is she at home right now, remembering today, how I touched her, how it felt when I made her cum? Is she touching herself, pushing her own finger into her cunt and wishing it was mine?
The better question is, why the fuck do I care? It doesn’t matter how good I made her feel, how hard she came. All that matters is that she knows she’s mine now, that I control her body, her pleasure, her pain.
And that I know that she’s nothing but a name to add to a list, a job to do, a plaything to amuse myself with until it’s all used up. Enjoying the process is optional. It ends the same either way.