Hey, Darling.

Throughout all of lunch, I picked at my salad (regular dinner salad, no dressing, no cheese). I was hardly even paying attention to the conversation around me when I heard my name. I snapped my head up quickly, trying to place who had said it.

No one was looking at me.

I heaved a sigh, hating how I was acting all moody and discontent when technically I shouldn’t even care.

It had been a drunken kiss. One, sloppy, drunken kiss (that I didn’t even really like) and I was already smitten?

“Molly,” someone whispered my name, and I looked around one more time.

Kennedy was looking back at me, this devious smirk on his face. The girl sitting next to him was engrossed in conversation with Mia over something and didn’t really seem to be paying much attention.

“Yes?” I answered acerbically, raising an eyebrow impatiently. I didn’t want to go through this.

“You look nice,” he nodded towards me, and his eyes seemed to be staring through the table, as if he suddenly had X-Ray vision and could see my thighs as they peeked out of my shorts right now.

If I had magical powers over my skin and my blood flow, I would stop myself from flushing. However, it seemed that I was not that fortunate, and I could feel the heat in my cheeks and over my neck.

“Thank you,” I said casually, as if I really did not care at all. When I had become such a good a good actress? Because even though I hated to admit it, I did care. Quite a lot.

I looked anywhere, everywhere but his face, trying not to start conversation. I wasn’t sure how long exactly I could last if I had to endure conversation.

“I hope you don’t mind that I invited other people along,” Kennedy said, shrugging his shoulders a bit and looking over at everyone else.

My eyebrows furrowed. “Why would I mind?”

He just kind of shrugged and shook his head at the same time. “Well, I promised to show you how Arizona could be a good time and let you ‘experience.’ I didn’t think you’d mind if I brought other people.”
He looked over to his right, where the brunette was sitting, now picking at her salad (with Ranch dressing, and cheese) before sending me a small, condescending smile.

It was like bells ringing, or lights flashing. There was this huge sign clouding my vision, with the most honest words I could think in that entire hour:

WHAT A FUCKING JERK.

I took a deep breath, counting to fifty in my head. I wasn’t going to go there. I had no reason to go there. I was going to return to my cool, calm, and collected self, because I had absolutely no reason to be mad about anything.

This didn’t mean anything.

I shook my head and attempted to smile politely. “No, I don’t mind. The more the merrier.”

I took another bite of my salad before debating on what I should do. I felt like I should shrink back up into myself, retreat and pretend that none of this ever happened, but I kind of liked the other guys. And I didn’t really mind the idea of having a couple of friends this summer.

“So what do you want to do today?” One of the boys asked me. I think his name was Garrett.

I angled by body towards him before shrugging casually. “Um, I’m not really sure.” I said. “I don’t really know what there’s to do.”

“What do you like to do?” He asked, smiling at me.

I smiled back. He was nice. I opened my mouth to speak when a voice interrupted our conversation.

“We should take her to Buttons,” Kennedy interrupted quickly. He looked strained.

I didn’t look at him, knowing that if I did I would only glare and make this even more awkward. Garrett just nodded, oblivious to the tension.

“What’s Buttons?” I asked him, ignoring Kennedy completely. I counted again in my head. I didn’t realize why I was getting so worked up. I was being ridiculous. I was moving too fast.

“It’s this secondhand shop in downtown. The owner’s name is Amelia Button, and every piece of clothing in that shop has some type of button on it, whether it’s for decoration or fastening purpose. Kinda cool, but kinda annoying if you have butterfingers like me. I’m a strict Velcro person.” Garret explained with a nod.

I giggled quietly. “Velcro is good. I don’t like zippers,” I said. “they always get caught or they break, and sometimes they cut your fingers.”

“This is true,” Garrett agreed with me. “We should just buy nothing but stretch cotton and Velcro from now on. We’ll be the shiz.”

I laughed and he laughed with me. I felt my mood shift considerably. I felt good, just laughing and talking with someone. I almost forgot about Kennedy and the brunette for a couple of seconds. Almost.

Brunch was finished quickly. Garrett and I help conversation for the majority of the time, laughing about stupid things. He was easy to talk to.

The plan was to drive to downtown, park in the garage near the cinema and then walk around. I rode again with John and Mia.

“So what’s up with you and Kennedy?” Mia asked me the second we got into the car.

I could hear John laugh at her fast-moving actions.

“Nothing.” I muttered, feeling a bit of my foul mood return. I was this close to not caring. This freaking close.

“Really? Because damn did you turn green when you saw his friend.” She teased.

“I was not jealous. I was just surprised. I don’t even care, really. He’s kind of a jerk.”

“Mhmm.” Mia said incredulously. “You don’t care and I’m fucking going to Harvard. Will you please stop lying to yourself?”

I sneered at her. “It doesn’t matter anyway. He’s got a girlfriend. The end. Nothing else to talk about.”

“Whatever.” Mia laughed at me. She turned back around in her seat.

Downtown was nice - there were large buildings with historic-looking signs and an array of trees (though they were somewhat bald-looking). John wasn’t willing to pay a penny over ten dollars for parking, so we could only stay for four hours or less.

The sun was still too hot and the humidity still made me feel like I was walking underwater, but it was now somewhat manageable. But only somewhat.

I heaved a heavy sigh as we started towards where the boys were standing, still upset over the previous conversation. I did not care. I swear.

As we walked closer, I examined Kennedy and the brunette (I think her name was Bonnie, and though it killed me to think, the name definitely fit) weren’t holding hands. You could tell she wanted to, but Kennedy had his hands stuffed in his pockets as he shifted from foot to foot.

I had to try really hard to keep myself from smiling smugly.

“So, where first?” Pat asked as we reached the group.

“I want ice cream.” Bonnie declared, eyeing the Coldstone across the street.

I inwardly cringed but said nothing. Ice cream shops were always so tempting and Coldstone didn’t carry my kind of soy. I refused to break. It was three years and counting.

“Is that okay?” Mia asked me quietly, though everyone seemed to be listening.

I nodded. “Yeah, I’ll just get a water.”

“Do you want ice cream?” Bonnie asked.

I shifted uncomfortably. I hated confrontations like this. I’ve been a vegan for three years and I still hated admitting it to new people. It wasn’t because I was ashamed - I was proud of my cause and what I was doing - but rather people’s reactions. I hated having to explain my reasoning, as if it really mattered to everyone else what I put in my mouth.

“I’m a vegan,” I said slowly.

Bonnie nodded, though her eyes looked kind of confused. “Oh, so no animal products?”

“Nope.”

“I didn’t know what.” Kennedy murmured. He didn’t look uncomfortable or confused, but nonchalant, as if it didn’t really matter.

Hopefully it didn’t really matter.

I was just about to let my face soften and my heart open (just a smidgen, mind you) when his eyes suddenly narrowed and he got that malicious look that I was really starting to dislike.

“Guess this is just another thing you won’t get to ‘experience’.”

Oh, he was a jerk.

Yup. He was definitely a jerk.