TRIP

Chapter 3: GETTING LUCKY

Cooper aimed a warning look across the table. "Shut up, Rymer. I mean it."

"What?" he said on a shit-eating grin, ignoring his friend's threat. "She's hot. I'm not supposed to notice how hot she is?"

Rymer took a break in his goading to cram a meatball sub into his maw, talking over his mouthful of food. "Trip," he garbled, forcing my eyes from Layla to acknowledge him. "You gotta see this girl. God bless her, she's a total slut. And you can almost forgive the fact that she's a complete bitch 'cause she has an amaaaazing ass." He cupped his hands in front of his chest to add, "And tits bigger than DeSanto's!"

Thankfully, Cooper wasn't looking at me when I broke out in laughter. Everyone else was cackling away too, so it's not like I could be blamed for joining in. Coop was too busy shoving Rymer to notice what I was doing anyway. Which was a good thing. The guy was already pissing a circle around his girlfriend, I didn't need to give him more ammunition to kick my ass by making fun of his sister.

Lisa threw a meatball at Rymer's chest in retaliation which had us laughing even harder.

"What the fuck, DeSanto?" he asked in bewilderment as he grabbed for a stack of napkins to wipe himself off. "Learn how to take a compliment."

Sarge did a literal spittake at that, causing soda to spray across the table all over Cooper's food. Coop froze in shock for about three seconds before he swapped his tray out for Sargento's. "Enjoy your lunch, dildo."

Man, they were a funny bunch. My friends back in Indiana knew how to have a good time, but I don't ever remember them being nearly as entertaining as these guys.

We were all still busy cracking up, so I was caught off guard as Rymer looked up from the greasy sauce stain on his chest. "Hey, yo, Warren! You meet Trip yet?"

Layla flicked her eyes in my direction, an innate politeness overriding her surprise at having been called out. "Yes. We're in Mason's together." She turned fully toward me and asked, "How's it going?"

Her obviously strained effort to appear laid-back amused me. I couldn't help but smile as I busted her chops. "It's good, Layla. How's it going for you?"

Her eyes widened for the briefest second. I think maybe she was surprised that I actually remembered her name. But she regained her composure enough to answer casually, "All good."

After the bell rang, we all threw out our stuff before parting ways for our next class. As it turned out, Layla's locker was right outside the cafeteria, so I waited behind her while she grabbed her books. She yelped as she stood back up, surprised to see me there. She placed a hand to her chest and mimed a heart attack before I explained, "I just thought we could walk to class together. That's okay, right?"

Layla laughed, "Yeah, sure, duh."

She had this adorably goofy face when she said that which made me chuckle. I couldn't help it. This girl was something else.

"You okay there, pal?" I asked, throwing an arm around her shoulders and giving her a quick squeeze. I don't know where the hell I got off pawing her like that; for whatever reason, touching her just came about naturally. I didn't even realize I'd done it until she was pressed against my side.

It felt good.

She wriggled out of my grasp, asking, "Hey, can you hold on a sec?"

She beelined for some underclassman's locker mirror while digging through her purse, coming up with a tube of lipstick. And then, God help me, she leaned over the poor bastard's back to swipe it across her mouth. The kid wasn't the only one with a gaped jaw as he watched those gorgeous full lips turn from pink to red.