Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Chapter Five of the Most Different Summer Yet

"Okay, sophomore year. Were you really in Alaska killing wolverines?"

Oliver flashed a smirk, not missing a beat in his precious shelving. "Only with my bare hands."

I laughed, plopping another Cheeto in my mouth. "Seriously."

For the past twenty minutes, I had been interrogating him on the so-called-rumors of him from school. Most of them, the bizarre-o ones anyway, weren’t true. It was kind of a let down, to tell you the truth. My personal favorite rumor—the one where he bought a bunny at the pet store just to cook it at home—turned out not to be true as well. In fact, Oliver admitted how horrified he still was about that one.

"I love bunnies," he had said with a sad face.

I had snorted. "No you don’t."

He had smirked wolfishly. "You’re right, I don’t. I was just trying to impress you."

"It so happens I don’t like bunnies."

Oliver had mocked a gasp. "What kinda girl doesn’t like bunnies?"

"The kind who’s actually had a bunny. It was evil."

He had just laughed at me.

"Seriously?" he questioned now. "No. I’ve never been to Alaska."

"Then where were you?" I asked. I was sitting on my counter, munching on Cheetos.

"Turning three innocent virgins within one week." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Okay, for the record, I never believed the virgin rumor."

Oliver raised a brow. "Really? You don’t think I could have had three virgins within a week?"

I laughed. "I don’t even think you could get even one."

"And why’s that?"

"Cause no girl that’s over the age of fourteen is stupid enough to lose her virginity to you."

Oliver stuck his tongue out at me, going back to restocking the peanuts and cashews. I thought he was ignoring the original question, until he said, "I was at my uncle’s funeral in Virginia. My aunt has five kids, so she needed some help. My mom and I stayed for half the summer helping her get her life back into order."

I cleared my throat. "I’m sorry."

Oliver shrugged. "It is what it is." He turned his head and smirked. "Hunting wolverines in Alaska is a lot more interesting, huh?"

I shrugged. "The real thing is more admirable."

"She thinks I’m adorable!" Oliver said with a mock tweener giggle.

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up, Hudgenson, or I’ll be forced to smack you."

"That would be sexual harassment, sunshine."

"Sicko."

He laughed. "Okay. My turn."

I snorted. "I have no life. There’s no rumors about me."

Oliver raised a brow. "So what everything everyone was saying about you last summer was true?"

I drew in a quiet breath, refusing to look guilty. "Depends on what ‘everything’ and ‘everyone’ is."

Oliver smirked. "Everything being a druggie and everyone being the preppy girls I had dated then. They keep track of everything."

"And I s’pose they just randomly gossiped about Halle Queens?"