“Derek, your date is here!” Kathy called up the stairwell as her heels clomped on the hardwood.
Derek appeared at the top of the stairs in a variation on what he’d been wearing at the party—khakis and a pink striped button-up with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. “I don’t have a date today.”
Kathy laughed. “Well, your little girlfriend is here, honey.”
Then Derek caught sight of me standing at the base of the stairs. He cocked his head to the side, and a smirk caught on his pouty lips. “Thanks, Kathy.”
“Anytime,” she said with a wink. “Go get ’em.” She turned to me, coming back down the stairs. “Marley, do you want a drink?.”
“Um, no, thank you.”
“Well, y’all let me know if you need anything.”
“Okay.”
Derek trotted down the stairs, adjusting the sleeve of his shirt before stopping in front of me. “Hey, Marley.”
“Hey,” I said, momentarily stupefied in his presence again. Seriously, how was he this hot?
“Didn’t expect to see you again after you ran out on Saturday.”
I cleared my head. I wasn’t here to look at how pretty he was. That didn’t matter. What mattered was the shit that had happened at school.
“Yeah, well, apparently, I didn’t run away fast enough.”
His brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“The entire school thinks we slept together!”
“Oh,” he said smoothly. He shrugged one shoulder. “So?”
“News flash: we didn’t sleep together.”
“I know that. You know that. Why else does it matter?”
“Because I’m getting hit on by a ton of guys at school. I’m getting leered at and catcalled, and some guy smacked my ass in the hallway.”
“Okay.” He nodded his head. “And it’s bad that guys at school want to ask you out?”
“Yes! They are only doing it because they think I’m easy!”
“I don’t think you’re easy.”
“You are missing the point!” I nearly shrieked at him. Then I took a deep breath and let it out. “I want this to stop. So, whoever you told that we slept together, I need you to tell them the truth. I need you to make it stop.”
He shrugged again, unperturbed. “I didn’t tell anyone we slept together.”
“Well, can you let people know that’s the case?”
He held his hands out in front of him, all casual and cool. “No one would believe me.”
“What? Why not?” I demanded.
He laughed softly and shot me a look of pure sexual appeal. “Why do you think?”
“Oh God, Derek, gross. You’re such a whore that no one would believe if you said we didn’t sleep together?”
“Hey, you should take it as a compliment.”
“You’re a pig,” I snapped. “And the entire thing is fucked up. You get to be this awesome guy for having slept with a lot of girls. Whereas I’m suddenly the town slut for being associated with you?”
“It’s not like I asked for that to happen to you,” he said, his voice turning sharp after I called him a whore.
“No, of course not. None of this is your fault. And you’re not going to do anything about it.”
“There is one solution,” he said with a grin that said I wasn’t going to like the suggestion at all.
But I wanted a solution. So, I sighed and asked, “What?”
“You could just go out with me. I didn’t get your number on Saturday.”
I blinked at him and then burst into laughter. “Oh dear God, no. You think I’d want to go out with you after this shit? Do your pickup lines actually work on people?”
“All the time,” he said, tilting his head at me in a way that I sometimes looked at my Calculus homework.
“It’s not going to work on me. You can’t sweet-talk your way out of this.”
“Look, it’s not my fault that some guys are hitting on you at school. What exactly do you want me to do? Show up to a school that I don’t go to and hold an assembly to let them know that you didn’t get laid?”
“No,” I grumbled.
“Right. There is no way that would happen anyway.”
I glared at him. He was right. This wasn’t going to fix it. He wouldn’t tell anyone because he had his precious reputation to uphold. And there was no way I was going to go out with him and let the rumors be true. He was dangerous in all the ways that made me forget the world. I had no intention of letting him dig in deeper under my skin.
“Whatever. This is still your fault,” I snapped at him.
He laughed. “I like you, Marley.”
“You don’t even know me,” I said as I headed for the door.
“Not yet,” he called as I yanked the door open.
“Not ever!”
His laughter followed me as I slammed the door shut. What an asshole! This was his fault. His damn reputation was ruining everything for me, and he didn’t even care. And worse, just being in his presence got under my skin. I could have very easily said yes when he asked me out. And I didn’t want that. Did I?