His Gold ✓

18| Elevator crisis

I'm running down the aisles in the bookstore, singing into a broom handle as Indie blasts Harry Styles from her Bluetooth speakers. It's Monday. My blonde hair is tied behind my head in a scrunchie, but my excited movements cause it to slip from a high-pony and into a George Washington-esque hairdo.

I really wish I didn't always look like a founding father with my hair in a ponytail.

I pull my hair down and put the scrunchie on my wrist. Egged on by Indie's laughter, I jump into view of where she stands, doing a dance I learned at cheer practice.

My legs criss cross and kick, while my arms move to the rhythm. Luckily the song has the same BPM as the one we practice to.

Otherwise I would look like an idiot.

"Holy crap, Caroline!" Indie yells over her speaker. "Goooo girl!"

For laughs, I attempt a moonwalk. Indie snorts loudly and clutches her stomach in laughter. Thank goodness there aren't customers.

I throw my broom handle down. My lungs ache for a breath of air as the song changes. Indie grabs a stack of books and walks past me, still giggling. When she's gone to the back, I smile to myself. It feels good to have a friend. To have a job that I like. To have-

The bell rings at the front door. I turn curiously, not expecting to meet the cane-clutching boy from school. Feelings I can't decipher flood my body at once.

"Bryce."

Last I saw him was over the weekend, at the basement party. So now I don't know whether to remember his attitude from then, or forget it and remember his fingertips instead.

     But I still hear his words in my head. You want friendship? You'll never find that here.

    That sours my mood.

I raise a brow as he glances around the store. "Where is Indie?" His expression is nonchalant.

"She's in the back. Want me to go get her?"

Bryce shakes his head no. With a deep breath, he asks, "actually I came to steal you from her. Cool?"

"No." I put my hands on my hips, "what are you talking about?"

Steal me? Not happening.

   "The weekend, the party- all of it put a pause on our English project. I came to see if you wanted to catch a ride to the public library and finish it."

"Am I hearing this right?" My voice is sarcastic, "You want to do a school project in your free time?"

I can't believe it!

He rolls his eyes. "Don't look so smug. I work just as hard as you do."

   "That's-"

"What's going on here?" Indie's voice sounds behind me. I turn and give her an apologetic smile.

    I didn't plan this, I'm a good employee! I try to tell her with my eyes.

"Bryce came to see if I would go with him to finish our English project."

Indie makes an unimpressed face. "You couldn't have done that sometime when you were both at the same party last weekend?" She asks, mostly to Bryce.

"Caroline was too busy hugging all over some guy." Bryce's lips pull into a smug smile.

He's talking about Seth?! Typical! I hold in a retort for when Indie's gone.