White is for Virgins (10 page)

A ‘thank you’ would’ve been more appropriate.

I chuckled. “I don’t know.”

“Have you seen Justin around? Since earlier in the gym?” he asked suddenly, locking his eyes with mine.

“Uh. No,” I replied, caught off guard by the question. “Why?”

“No reason.” He shrugged, swinging his guitar back over his shoulder. “Get back to class.”

“Is that an order?” I asked, challenging him.

“Yeah,” he responded, turning and walking back over to me.

“And what’ll you do if I don’t obey? Tell on me?” I asked, trying not to stutter.

“I’ll play. Really loud,” he threatened, running his fingers quickly over the strings behind his back.

I angled my jaw, turning to get my backpack off the floor.

I sauntered back to class, not looking back. Why I’d listened to Fox, I didn’t know. But he was acting sketchy, wanting me to get back to class, hanging around with me in the empty hallway…

I didn’t have a problem with leaving him alone. It was actually better if I did. He was a bad influence.

***

“Alright, Fox take care of the floors,” Nina said, gesturing to the bucket of water and the mop next to her.

“Emery, please clean the windows and tidy the counters and tables,” she told me, rubbing her temples.

“Ok, is there anything you need, Nina?” I asked her with concern.

“No, it’s – I’m fine.” She shook her head, heading to the bathroom before returning to her office.

Fox remained quiet, getting right to work. I found this odd.

“What’s with everyone? You ok?” I asked him, grabbing the Windex.

“Yeah, why?” he replied dully.

“You don’t seem like yourself,” I replied, spraying the glass.

“You’ve barely known me a month,
Em – Emery,” he muttered, seeming distracted.

He called me by my full name. S
omething’s definitely off.

“Well,
excuse me
for caring.”

I wiped the glass furiously, making squeaky noises as I tried to rub little specks of unknown substance off.

“You made a valid point, yesterday. We don’t know each other.”

“This is why you’re acting all serious?
Because I snapped at you?
” I asked, turning to look at him.

“What, I can’t be serious?” he questioned, cocking his head as he dipped the mop back into the yellow bucket of soapy water.

I turned around, wiping down the rest of the windows hastily.

What is his problem?

“Nina, I’m out!” I called as my hand pulled the front door open.

“Ok, honey!” she shouted from her office.

As I rounded the corner of the building, I glance at Fox through the glass. He was mopping the floor as if his life depended on it, flipping his hair out of his eyes.

I was excited to see Holly, mostly because – unlike everyone else in my life – she was always smiling. Always.

I saw her run to me straight away, curls bouncing in the wind.

“Hey, Holly!” I exclaimed, waving to her.

“Hi,” she greeted shyly, holding her hand out.

Secretly hoping some of her positive energy would rub off on me, I took her smooth little hand and followed her to the playground.

I took her on the slide, and some other kids joined us in the sand box. We played for what seemed like hours.

Then we went inside for cookies.

“Here comes the plane,” I laughed, watching Holly anxiously open her mouth wide.

“
Neee-owwwww-wowwww,” I mumbled idiotically, moving the piece of cookie through the air in a series of loops before finally letting the ‘plane’ land in her mouth.

She laughed and chewed the piece, clapping for more.

“Another one?” I asked, breaking off more of the cookie and repeating the act, “Neeee-owwwwwww.”

“She’s not retarded,” I heard a familiar voice behind me and turned.

“Fox!” Holly smiled, holding her hands out.

“Holly
Wolly!” he grinned, pulling her out of the high chair and hugging her.

How does he…?
My God!
Is he her father?

He must’ve seen my stunned expression because he set Holly down and told her to get her shoes from across the room.

“She’s my half-sister,” he informed me, sticking his hands in his pockets.

I let out a small sigh of relief, but my breath got caught when he stepped towards me. I was trapped again, with nothing but wall behind me.

“Why are you here, instead of Millicent?” I asked curiously.

“I told you. My father came back, and he came up with multiple punishments for me. Picking up Holly is a convenient one, since Mill is too caught up with starting a fashion line to get her from Daycare,” he explained. “But, this isn’t so bad.” He looked me up and down after this one.

“If I didn’t know any better, Fox, I’d say you were hitting on me,” I said boldly. He kept giving me these intense looks and sly, flirty comments.

“Well it’s a good thing you don’t know any better, Price,” he smirked, getting even closer to me.

I’m officially pinned against the wall.

“I’m not into virgins.” Those words said it all.

He releases his hold on me by averting his gaze to the ground, where Holly was tugging on his pants.

He picked her up, holding her with one hand. “Say bye to Emery, Holly,” he told her.

“Bye, Emmy,” Holly mumbled, waving her little hand at me.

“Bye
bye, Holly,” I laughed, smiling at her.

They left, and I stood there, still dumbfounded.

“Such a nice boy, isn’t he?” Georgina commented from behind.

I met her gaze, giving her a quizzical look.

“I took care of him when he was younger, back when this Daycare first opened up,” she said, smiling at the memory.

“Wow.” That’s all I can say, really.

“Always such a ladies’ man…” She shook her head laughing.

I chuckled.
She has no idea…

“Oh, just so you know, we’re going to start offering our services in babysitting as well. If a parent calls for one, we may suggest you,” she told me, swiping cookie crumbs off the high chair.

“Yeah, sure,” I nodded, “I guess I’m off then.”

“Bye, dear,” she called as I walked out the door.

Chapter 7

.FOX’S POV.

I took deep breaths as I arrived at the Red Cross center, rounding the corner of the building and heading for the back. I needed some water, and my bottle was empty.

God, was it hot.

I opened the back door and stepped into the small kitchen, pouring myself a small, plastic cup of cold water from the jug in the fridge. I downed it in two gulps.

I heard the phone ring in the front lobby, and started through the hall to answer it. What surprised me was the sound of Emery picking it up.
She’s here already?

I stopped in the corner of the hallway just as I heard her giggling.

“No, Lily, it’s not that big of a deal,” I heard Emery sigh, “Of course I didn’t tell you! You would’ve killed me.”

I wasn’t sure of why I was standing there, eavesdropping on her little conversation… but after the next sentence, I was glad I had.

“After you told me you hated him and his whole group of cross-country man whores, I didn’t want to tell you… I don’t know. You seemed really mad at them,” Emery said softly, “And it’s not like I wanna work with him, I
have
to.”

They were talking about me.
Figures.

“Sex God?” she laughed hysterically, “Lily, he has no charm. Maybe that bimbo Trisha would fall for his act, but I’m smarter than that.”

Sex God, huh?
That’s a new one…

I smiled and ran my hand through my sweaty hair. No charm? Please, I could land any girl if I wanted t
o. I could even get Mrs. Sawyer.

“Yeah, I guess he’s cute, but he’s so full of himself it’s disgusting. I swear, he has to have some kind of venereal disease…” Emery protested, and that’s when I’d had enough.