Paired With The Potterhead

Chapter Thirteen: Do You Believe In Anything?

Moves Like Jagger - Maroon 5

Chapter Thirteen: Do You Believe In Anything?

Just so we're clear, I had no intentions of calling Joshua to tell him what happened. But because I'm dumb, I went ahead and did it anyway against my better judgement.

"You sound nasally. Are you sick?" He asked.

"Not exactly. Can you come pick us up?" I glanced at Nora. She was chewing the strand of her necklace as she sat beside me in the school parking lot.

"Us? Who's with you?"

I groaned. "Josh, I don't have time for Twenty Questions right now. Can you pick us up or not?"

I heard him sigh from his end of the phone. "I'll be there in five. Just got to gather Jesse up."

"Thanks," I said before hanging up. "Okay. So when he gets here he's obviously going to ask about my face."

As I stared hard at her, Nora shrugged. "So....you want me to make up a cover story or something?"

"A literary genius and a mind reader? You're a woman of many talents, Nora Lovegood."

She frowned. "I don't feel comfortable lying to your brother, Laney. Regardless of the fact that I've never met him before. Which come to think of it, that makes the whole situation ten times more uncomfortable than it was to begin with...."

I rubbed my aching jaw. It had swelled twice its size since it was hit. "Don't think of it as lying. Think of it as.....writing fanfiction. Telling a different version of the story entirely."

"Wha-" She snorted. "This is a completely different situation! Fanfiction isn't a lie-"

"Is it? You're basically twisting how the story really happened. So just do the same when my brother asks questions." I quickly pat her on the shoulder. "Please. For me."

Nora took a deep breath and smiled. "I hope you're klutzy because that's the story I'm going with."

A smirk found its way to my face. "Works for me. My sneakers have awful grip anyway."

Five minutes later, Josh pulled up into the parking lot. I could see that Jesse was in the backseat waving his toy around in the air. Anya wasn't with them so I just assumed she was at work.

"What happened to your face?!" Josh gasped as I got in the car.

"She fell," Nora quickly responded as she crawled into the backseat. "The stairs were slippery and she didn't see the Wet Floor sign at the bottom. The nurse suggested she go home to put some ice on it. I'm ahead in all my courses anyway so I wanted to go with her and make sure she was well taken care of."

Wow. I was impressed by her lying skills. If I hadn't been the victim I would've totally believed this story myself.

Josh, on the other hand, looked my bruised face over skeptically. "Jesus, Lane. It's swelled right up. Why didn't you put ice on it in there and go to class?"

"Because maybe I didn't want to go around looking like a giant pimple for the rest of the day? Embarrassment in high school sticks with you forever. Not that you'd know. Mr. Perfect over here. Never experienced a single zit in his life," I grumbled. "Now can we go? My face is starting to throb."