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I could pour on the charainst the car Stare into her eyes like she was the irls liked, and I also knehat I could get aith But I didn’t think any of that would ith this particular girl Her bullshit meter seemed to be sharp

So I waited And I hoped she couldn’t tell that I was basically shittingin there by myself

“You’re weird,” she said softly

“Promise you won’t tell anyone?” I smirked

She shook her head, but there was a slight smile around the corner of her ood to know I’d put it there

I stepped back, and she opened her door

We headed up Fraser to the corner and waited for the light to change When it did, I grabbed her hand—an auto—and was surprised that she let me

I was also really surprised at how small and soft her hand was She didn’t have those fake four-inch things that Rachel and a lot of her girlfriends had Shit, you could poke a guy’s eyes out if you weren’t careful And I didn’t want to think about how many times I’d had to listen to Rachel and her friends bitch about breaking one of them

In the grand sche as stupid as fake nails, and I illing to bet most of my buddies didn’t either

But her hand didn’t stay in , and by the tientle tugs and released her

She followed me to the elevators, and I punched the fifth floor as if I had every right to As if I’d done it a thousand times before, when I’d only been up there once and that had been a disaster

Monroe didn’t say anything, she just followed me inside the elevator, and I wished her hand was still in e to bolt was bad

I thought of Rachel and how she had refused to coo She’d pulled out the big guns, had cried until her ed to make me feel worse than I already did So I ithout her, and it had turned out pretty ht it would

It had sucked If she kneas here now, I’m sure she’d hit me in the shoulder and call me a loser

But she wasn’t I glanced down atdohen the elevator doors slid open