Playing Evelyn

Chapter 10

He still didn’t say anything and when I came back outside, he was standing in exactly the same position, looking at his hand.

“I got some,” I said, coming to a stop in front of him.

“What?” he asked, his voice dazed.

“Disinfectant.” His eyes connected with mine and confusion was written on his features. “For your hand.” I gestured to his injured hand and he shrugged.

“It’s fine. I used to get into fights all the time. I’ve had way worse. Don’t worry about it.”

I raised my eyebrow at him. “Is that why everyone at school thinks you’re such a bad guy?”

He just shrugged in response, not meeting my gaze.

I sighed. “It’s not fine. It’s my fault so let me see what I can do, okay?”

He nodded grudgingly and put his hand flat against the bike seat. I lightly brushed the dried blood away with the wet paper towel I’d gotten from the restroom and once it was clear, I inspected the cuts. They weren’t that bad and he could move his fingers so I didn’t that anything was broken.

I lifted his hand to bring it closer to me as I brushed on some disinfectant. “What would your boyfriend think if he saw us like this?”

I jerked my head up and frowned at him before looking back down at our hands. His big hand was covering mine and to the outside observer it might look like we were holding hands. It would also kind of look like I was about to kiss his knuckles which would be majorly weird.

I brought my gaze back up to his and gave him a half smile. “He would probably wonder why the hell I’m kissing your knuckles.” I laughed but stopped suddenly when he pulled his hand from my grip, his eyes going blank and his mouth setting into a firm line. “I wasn’t done yet.”

“It’s fine. I wouldn’t want your boyfriend to get the wrong idea.”

I frowned again. “What boyfriend?”

“The one who would wonder why you were kissing my knuckles.”

“He was hypothetical.”

“What?”

“I don’t have a boyfriend, Gabriel.”

He rolled his eyes at me. “C’mon Evelyn. You just admitted it yourself.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did.”

I clenched my fists and glared at him. I wanted to stamp my foot but I resisted the urge. “Why won’t you believe me?”

Suddenly he was leaning over the bike again, his face so close to mine that I could feel his breath brush across my lips. “Why wouldn’t you let me drive you the other night when you went to meet that guy? Why would he be so protective if you weren’t dating?”

“We’re just really good friends, okay?”

“I don’t believe you.”

Frustrated, I pushed on his chest but he didn’t budge. “Why do you care so much, anyway?”

He grabbed my hand before I could remove it from his chest and opened his mouth to say something but snapped it shut again before any words came out. Letting go of my hand, he straightened and I felt a quick surge of disappointed at the loss of contact. “I don’t. I just don’t like it when people are embarrassed to be seen with me.” He shrugged, avoiding my eyes and running his uninjured hand through his already messy hair.