Twice Shy by Patrick Freivald

Author:Patrick Freivald
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
Publisher: JournalStone Publishing
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

They pulled into school, chatting about the time Leah slid across the turf on her face and spent the rest of the game with a green forehead. It was a good memory infected and sickened by years of rejection and mockery. She laughed anyway.

They got out of the car, and she traversed the slippery sidewalk with Keegan's help, her hand on his arm for stability. Using him as a crutch, she found she could just manage to not drag her foot. They arrived at the gym doors, and Ani had to suppress an eye roll—pink streamers, pink tablecloths on tables for two, pink napkins, white banners with red intertwined hearts surrounded by pink flame, and to top it all off she was the only girl not wearing a pink dress. I'm all for cutesy pink, but this is disgusting.

As they walked in, people stared. Ani was used to all kinds of looks—disgust, dislike, hate—so she was surprised to see envy. Boys looked at her with unabashed interest, and girls glared. Keegan strutted to their assigned table, pulled out her chair, and pushed it in once she'd sat. He sat across from her, his grin smug.

"Okay, this is freaking weird," Ani said.

"I told you. You look wonderful tonight."

She smiled, flattered in spite of herself. "If you start singing Clapton—"

"I know, I know. No looking, no touching, no singing on pain of death. All fun will be pretend. I won't even enjoy the food." He does have a charming little smirk. If he weren't such an egomaniacal ass, some girl could make something of him.

Mike and Devon were seated behind her, so that she couldn't see them while seated at the table. Just as well. "Is she buying it?" she asked.

Keegan nodded. "Looks like it. She's only got eyes for Mike, but keeps glancing this way whenever he's not looking."

"Good." Maybe this won't be a complete waste of an evening.

The appetizer was bacon-wrapped asparagus, which she skipped. Everyone "knew" she was a vegan, which gave her an excuse to avoid most food most of the time. The enzyme dealt better with vegetables than meat, and they flushed out much easier. Keegan ate both servings in under a minute.

For an entree Ani had a grilled Portobello "steak" with some kind of coconut sauce over rice. Like all food, it didn't taste like much of anything, and she picked at it, chewing mechanically. Keegan had steak, and as he cut into it, red juices leaked out onto his plate. He drew his knife through the seared flesh and revealed the rare pink inside, glistening with moist succulence that—

"I thought you were a vegetarian." Keegan said.

Her eyes snapped away from the steak. "I am." She forced herself to look in his eyes, and not at his plate.

He popped the hunk of meat into his mouth and chewed, speaking around the food. "You could have fooled me. That looked like love."

His fork moved back down to the plate, and he cut another piece. Her eyes followed the red liquid as it pooled around his mashed potatoes.

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