Mark My Words

22 | Romance Professional

"You should ask Joanna to drive you home," Ray whispered from beside her, and raised her eyebrows at Rosalie from around the edge of her locker door. "I'm serious."

"Yeah, and so am I. I'm going over to Jamie's tonight," Rosalie said, and it earned a snort from down the bench. She looked and found Jordan laughing. "What?"

"Sorry—I just think it's funny that you're going to Homecoming with Jamie-Lee," she confessed. The other sophomores agreed, giggling. "He's so funny. He's in my AP Bio class. The teacher can't stand him."

"It's not that funny," Rosalie muttered, stuffing her arms through the holes of her shirt.

"Sure it is. I mean, he's such a goofball and you're so... not," one of them said. "No offense. Like, you're funny but you're sophisticated about it."

Jordan lifted two hands up as if weighing them. She pointed to Rosalie and raised one hand. "High comedy. And Jamie's low comedy. You see what I mean? They don't really mesh."

"Well, I'm not planning on dating him," Rosalie cried, voice pitched. Jordan grinned at her and went back to slipping her athletic shorts off in favor of her school slacks.

Rosalie turned back to her locker, frowning, and shoved her dirty clothes into her athletic bag. She'd need to wash them when she got home—a massive grass stain painted the ass of her soccer shorts. As soon as she had her backpack straps on and her locker locked, Ray looped an arm around her shoulders and coaxed her out of the locker room.

"So, where's this date gonna be?" she asked.

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "I don't know, alright? We've barely talked about it yet," she whined. "Can you stop mentioning it? You've been annoying all of today."

"Have I really?" Ray said, but didn't seem at all offended by it. "I'm just excited, that's all. Ice skating?"

"No. I don't even know how to ice skate," Rosalie whined.

"Walk through one of the monument parks."

"Fuck no. Most were founded by old, racist white men and I'm sure neither of us are about that life," she confessed, shaking her head. "It'll probably just be a movie or something."

Ray went on suggesting date ideas, and Rosalie deflected all of them without realizing how easy it was for Joanna to hear from the locker room as she finished lacing up her Converse.

***

"Do you live at Jamie's house or something?" Rosalie asked Lennie as the three of them climbed into his blue Maserati and left the parking lot. She leaned over the center console to raise and eyebrow at Lennie, and then at Jamie, who sat in the passenger's seat.

"It's up for debate," Jamie said. "I mean, the guest room is always pretty empty."

"Yeah, because I clean it," Lennie muttered.

"Also, I could have sworn I asked you to back off. So why am I now sitting in the back seat of your car?" Rosalie said, leaning back. Lennie shifted his rearview mirror so that he could scowl at Rosalie. Rosalie rose her eyebrows at him. "Well?"

"I don't have a car," Jamie explained. "And also we haven't decided what group we're going with yet. Len wants you to come with the soccer guys."

"Excuse me?" she laughed, staring at Lennie's perfect doe eyes through the mirror. Lennie turned his eyes back onto the road, turning left at the intersection.