Unfinished Business (Élite)

Chapter 19

"Earth to Lu," says Vic, snapping her fingers in front of her friend's face. "And here I thought doing this project with you would get me a 10. Where are you?"

Lu's perfectly made-up eyes take a moment to focus on Vic. She puts down the test tube she was holding lifelessly just a second ago. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

Vic snatches the tube from her and pours its contents into a beaker, hoping for something other than a chemical disaster. "I was just asking how you are feeling after what happened last night."

"I'm golden," Lu lies, failing miserably at a credible smile. "Just a little tired. I went to bed late."

"Sure," says Vic, exhaling in relief when the mixture doesn't explode. "Is that why you keep looking at the door? You know Guzmán isn't in this class, right?"

Lu grabs the beaker from Vic, irritated. "Believe it or not, my world doesn't spin around Guzmán."

"I'm glad to hear that."

It's annoying having to agree with Carla, especially after how hard she keeps making things for her, but Vic does. "That makes two of us."

"Did you talk to your mother?" Lu perks up at the appearance of her blonde friend.

"She agreed to let us have the party at the wine cellars, but she needs to approve the guest list first. No rabble," explains Carla, clicking her perfectly manicured nails on their desk. "And if anyone breaks anything, they pay for it."

"Lovely." Lu puts on a real smile this time. "There will be absolutely no breaking anything. I'll take care of everything. Unless you'd like to help me?" she says this last part hopefully. Vic suspects that as happy as Lu is to be friends with Nadia and her, she still misses Carla.

Carla purses her lips, trying too hard to sound uninterested. "I suppose it'd be good if I supervised things. Will you be helping, too?"

Vic is shocked to be considered, even if Carla's tone is still a little condescending. It's been a long time since they did anything together, the three of them, and although party-planning isn't exactly her dream hobby, she accepts. "Sure. I don't mind lending a hand. Nadia might be game, too."

Carla can't help but make a bit of a face, but she hides it quickly. "It should be fun."

*

A couple days later, Vic is struggling to get something from the cafeteria vending machine, which seems to just have swallowed up her money. This is what she gets for forgetting lunch.

"Stupid machine," she curses, hitting the side of it with her palm to no avail.

"That won't work," someone says behind her.

Vic keeps hitting the vending machine.

"I'm starting to get the feeling that you are ignoring me." Guzmán comes into her field of vision, leaning against the wall by her side.

"I'm not. I'm just busy. Trying. To. Get. My. Food." She punctuates each word with a blow from her hand until she finally gives up, defeated.

"Have you been trying to get food since Tuesday night?" asks Guzmán, eyebrows arched and arms crossed over his chest.

Damn him. She hasn't been ignoring him, but Lu's feelings and seeing him plastered again have been getting in the way. Vic's neurons all but go into short-circuit when she needs to deal with an issue, and this one is no exception. So now that she thinks about it, she might have been avoiding him a little bit.