Something New Read online

  “You’re not making that much money,” I said to him over my shoulder before turning back to Elijah and Hannah and admitting, “I’m a barista.”

  Elijah took my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “That’s perfect for you! You’ve already got the experience.”

  I tried not to take offense to that. “Yeah, I guess.”

  Hannah nodded in agreement and then turned to Elijah. “Hey, do you want to get together after school and work on what we discussed?”

  “Yeah, sure,” he said with a shrug.

  She wanted to work on the project with him after school? Alone?

  “I was kind of hoping we could hang out after school today,” I said to Elijah without thinking.

  “Really? I thought you had to work this afternoon.”

  He was right; I did have to work. “Oh, yeah, I forgot.”

  “Then I guess you’re free,” Hannah said brightly to Elijah. She ran a hand through her strawberry blonde hair and then flipped it over her shoulder. “You can come over to my house whenever.” Her gaze flickered over to me. “Have fun at work, Cassie,” she added before waving goodbye and heading out of the room.

  As my hand began to form a fist at my side, I could sense Dylan staring at me from behind. His words began echoing in my head: “You’re going to need to trust him.”

  I did trust Elijah. At least, I trusted him not to intentionally cheat on me. That wasn’t in his nature. What I didn’t trust was that those two were completely over each other. Elijah was too heartbroken after the breakup to not still harbor some feelings, and Hannah…well, I had no idea what was going on inside her head. Lauren claimed she was still dating the same guy she’d dumped Elijah for, but maybe spending more time with Elijah would cause her feelings for him to resurface.

  And if they did, it was game over for me.

  “So.” Elijah unlinked his arm from mine and motioned to Dylan, who was still behind me. “You two are married now, huh?”

  “Yup.” Dylan stepped forward, so he was standing next to me. He crossed his arms over his chest. “We should have switched names, so you and Cass could have been married. Why didn’t we think of that?”

  Before Elijah could respond, Dylan reached over and ruffled my hair. “It’s all good, though. This will give me and Cass a chance to get to know each other better and bond. Right, sweetie?”

  “Stop calling me that,” I said as I attempted to fix my messed-up hair.

  “What would you prefer I call you? Bae? Boo? Babe? Baby? Honey? Sugar? Help me out here, sweetie.”

  “Don’t you have another class to get to?” I asked, giving Dylan a pointed look that clearly requested he get lost.

  “Okay, okay, I’ll leave.” He pushed between me and Elijah and headed for the door. Glancing back at me, he held up his phone. “Text me an approved nickname later.”

  I just rolled my eyes and shook my head as he walked off.

  “How am I going to survive being partners with that guy?” I asked Elijah.

  He grinned at that, and then cleared his throat as the grin slowly began to fade. “Look, Cassie, I’m sorry about this whole project thing. I hope Hannah and I being paired up doesn’t make you feel uncomfortable.”

  This was the part where I was supposed to pretend that I was fine with it, and that it didn’t bother me at all. Again, I could hear Dylan’s voice in my head: “Believe me when I tell you he’s not going to like it if you suddenly turn into a jealous girlfriend.” As much as I hated to admit it, Dylan was right. So, I plastered a smile onto my face and said, “It doesn’t bother me. I just hope it doesn’t bother you that your best friend and I are now a married couple.”

  Elijah snorted. “I’m not worried in the least about you and Dylan. I know you find him annoying, and I know you’re not his type.”

  What did he mean I wasn’t Dylan’s type? Dylan didn’t seem to have a type. Since I’d been with Elijah, Dylan had dated a few random girls of different shapes, sizes, hair colors, and ethnicities. How could I possibly be the one type of girl he’d never be interested in?

  “We should get to our next class,” Elijah said, interrupting my thoughts. “Walk you halfway?”

  “Yes, please.” I smiled and laced my fingers through his. Our school wasn’t crazy about PDAs, but handholding appeared to be one of the few things they tolerated.

  We left the room and started down the hallway. When we made it to the end, Elijah gave my hand a squeeze. “You still need a ride to work later?”

  “I do.”

  After a quick scan of the hallway to make sure there were no teachers around, Elijah leaned down and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. “Meet me at my locker after school.” With a wave, he turned and walked off.

  “You okay?” Lauren asked, sneaking up behind me and draping her arm around my shoulders.

  Watching Elijah disappear into one of the classrooms, I frowned. “Be straight with me, Laur. What are the odds that Elijah is going to fall back in love with Hannah?”

  She froze at my question. The thing about Lauren was that she was never able to lie to me. It was what made our friendship so special. It’s why I cherished her so much. But I always knew when she wanted to lie but couldn’t, because she would change the subject instead.

  Removing her arm from me, she declared, “Bell is about to ring!” and took off down the hall without even saying goodbye.

  Apparently, she thought the odds were against me.

  CHAPTER THREE

  For the two hundredth time in the last hour, I checked my phone to see if Elijah had texted me yet. When he dropped me off in front of work earlier, he said he would text me as soon as he left Hannah’s place. It was nearing the end of my three-hour shift, and still no word from him. He said he was going straight over to her house right after he left the coffee shop, and three hours seemed like an awfully long time to spend at your ex’s house working on a project that didn’t need three hours dedicated to it.

  Maybe he had forgotten to text?

  I was busy trying to convince myself of that when a customer walked in. Without looking up from my phone, I greeted them with a distracted, “Welcome to Java Jade’s.”

  The customer walked right over to the counter and snatched my phone out of my hand.

  “Hey!” I protested. What kind of person walked into a coffee shop and stole an employee’s phone right out of her hands?

  Glancing up, I saw that kind of person was Dylan.

  Gritting my teeth, I reached across the counter to take back my phone, but in classic Dylan fashion, he held it high above his head, so I couldn’t grab it.

  “Is your boss paying you to play on your phone, or is she paying you to sell coffee?” he asked.

  My boss, Jade, was the owner of Java Jade’s. She was an amazing boss. She was young—in her late twenties—and laid back. She had pink-striped pixie-cut hair, a nose ring, and a tattoo of a dolphin jumping out of waves on her upper left arm. She knew from time to time I would use my phone, and she never reprimanded me for it. Especially during times where business was slow. Like right now.

  “I’m paying her to do both,” Jade replied, appearing suddenly behind me. She must have heard Dylan from her office in the back and decided to step in. “You can give her phone back now, please.”

  With a sly smile, Dylan lowered his arm and handed my phone back to me. “Here you go.”

  “Thanks,” I mumbled. I quickly returned it to my back pocket where he couldn’t steal it again.

  “Cassie, do you know this guy?” Jade asked me.

  “Yes, unfortunately. He’s my husband.”

  Jade’s eyes nearly popped out of her skull. “Excuse me?”

  “Her husband,” Dylan repeated for me. He placed his hand over mine on the counter and I used my other one to slap it away.

  “It’s for a school project,” I explained. “We’re pretend married.”

  “Ah, okay.” Jade looked relieved. She eyed Dylan up and down before leaning in and mutte
ring in my ear, “He’s cute.”

  I made a face and ignored her. Clearing my throat, I said to Dylan, “What are you doing here?”

  “I wanted some coffee.”

  “You’ve never gotten coffee here before.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because I’ve never seen you here before.”

  “Well, maybe I’ve come in when you weren’t working.”

  I sighed. “Okay, fine. It doesn’t matter either way. What can I get you?”

  Dylan smirked. “Actually, I lied. I didn’t come here for coffee. I came here for you.”

  Jade shook her head. “Sorry, buddy, but Cassie has a boyfriend.”

  Dylan snickered. “Yes, I know that. Her boyfriend is my best friend. But I’m her husband, and she and I have a project to work on.” Glancing at his watch, he added, “And your shift ends in five minutes.”

  I glanced at him curiously. “How do you know when my shift ends?”

  “I texted Elijah a little while ago, asking when you got out of work, and he told me.”

  I perked up at the mention of my boyfriend. “You spoke with Elijah? Is he still at Hannah’s house?”

  “I don’t know. He didn’t say, and I didn’t ask. Anyway, about our project—”

  I zoned out of the conversation as my imagination started going wild. If Dylan had texted with Elijah not that long ago and he wasn’t still at Hannah’s, he most likely would have remembered to text me. Dylan’s text would have been a reminder. Which meant he probably was still there. Which meant what, exactly?

  “Hey, Briggs.” Dylan snapped his fingers in front of my face. His use of my last name meant he was irritated with me.

  It wasn’t until he pulled me out of my daze that I realized I was chewing on one of my fingernails—something I only did when I was nervous about something.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled, dropping my hand down to my side.

  “Did you hear a word I just said?”

  Avoiding his gaze, I lowered my eyes to the counter. “No.”

  Dylan rolled his eyes. “That figures. What time do you need to be home tonight?”

  “Not until after six-thirty. My dad is picking me up in a few minutes.”

  “Well, call him and tell him not to bother. You’re coming with me.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, but he continued before I could get a word out.

  “We should get started on the project as soon as possible. Are you in?”

  Biting my lower lip, I thought about it for a moment. I wasn’t in the mood to work on our project, but if Elijah and Hannah were doing it, shouldn’t I be as well? And maybe Elijah would be just as concerned about me working alone with Dylan as I was about him working with Hannah.

  “Sure, fine,” I said finally. Glancing up at the clock, I saw it was already six.

  “Shift’s over, girl,” Jade said.

  I removed my apron and hat and handed them both to her. “See you tomorrow.”

  “Good luck with your project.” She was talking to me but smiling at Dylan.

  Dylan had that effect on women. He may have been annoying at times, but he was also ridiculously hot. He was tall with gray-blue eyes, a chiseled jawline, and wavy dark brown hair that would look amazing if he ever decided to grow it out long. His typical daily outfits consisted of flannel shirts over tight t-shirts that clung nicely to the muscles underneath and faded blue jeans over dark brown work boots. He looked more like a carpenter building a cabin in the middle of the woods than a seventeen-year-old high school junior.

  And that was precisely why older women, like Jade, often had a hard time taking their eyes off him.

  Walking around to the other side of the counter, I grabbed his arm and pulled him in the direction of the door. “Let’s get this over with.”

  I waved to Jade over my shoulder as we left. As soon as we were outside, I pulled out my phone and called my dad to inform him he wouldn’t need to pick me up and that I wouldn’t be home right away because I was working on a school project.

  “Where are we going?” I asked as we both climbed into Dylan’s Civic.

  “You’ll see.” He started the car and pulled away from the curb.

  A few minutes later, he turned into the lot of a car dealership and parked.

  “Why are we here?” I asked.

  “We’re going to buy you a car,” he said, as if it were a perfectly normal answer. Without waiting for me to respond, he exited the vehicle.

  “What do you mean we’re buying me a car?”

  “Well, I already have one.” He motioned to the Civic. “But you don’t. You’re going to need one to get to and from your barista job every day.”

  “Huh?” I was confused. “Aren’t we supposed to be working on our project? And besides, I don’t have the money to buy myself a car!”

  Dylan gave me a playful nudge. “We are working on our project, silly. We’re not here to really buy a car; we’re here to look at the prices of some so we can figure the payments into our budget.”

  “Oh.” I couldn’t help but feel stupid for not realizing this was part of our project. “Why can’t we just price cars online?”

  “Because where’s the fun in that?” He scanned the lot before asking me, “What kind of car would you like?”

  I’d never given any thought to that. I’d only had my license for a month and was perfectly content just borrowing my parents’ car on occasion. “I don’t know. I don’t care, I guess.”

  “Okay.” Grabbing my jacket sleeve, he began dragging me in the direction of the brand-new vehicles. Digging my heels into the ground, I slowed us to a stop.

  “The used cars are over there,” I informed him, pointing over my shoulder.

  “Yeah, I know. But we’re not getting you a used car. We’re getting you a shiny new one.” He began pulling me forward again.

  “But we can’t afford a new one.” I yanked my arm out of his grip. “And I wouldn’t want a new one, anyway. It’s a waste of money.”

  “Nonsense.” Dylan shook his head. “Don’t you want a vehicle that’s reliable? You’re not gonna want to be bringing some junk car into the shop every few days to get it fixed. That’s not cost-effective. And since we don’t live in a big city, you can’t rely on public transportation to get you to and from work every day.”

  He was right. But he was also forgetting that I wasn’t going to be driving this fictional car, and therefore would never have to worry about bringing it to the fictional shop to get fixed.

  “I’m going to go pick out a used car,” I declared. Turning on my heel, I headed for the other side of the lot where the cheaper vehicles were.

  Reluctantly, Dylan followed me. After ten or so minutes of careful deliberation, I had one picked out.

  “A Ford Focus?” He cringed. I could tell he did not approve of my choice.

  “I like the color.” Walking around to the side of it, I motioned to the sticker in the window. “And I like the price, too. Seven thousand dollars, compared to, like, twenty grand for a new one. The payments would be low. Perfect for somebody with my salary.”

  Dylan sighed and pulled out his phone. Holding it up to the window, he snapped a picture of the sticker. “Are you sure you don’t want to look around for something else?”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a portly middle-aged salesman making his way over to us through the rows of cars. “Yes, I’m sure. Now, let’s get out of here before that guy reaches us.” I motioned to him with my head.

  “Good idea.”

  We made a beeline for his car and quickly got inside. In the side mirror, I watched as the salesman’s shoulders slumped in disappointment at the realization that we weren’t there to buy anything.

  “That poor man,” I said as we pulled out of the lot. “He probably saw us and thought we’d be an easy sale.”

  Dylan snorted. “Joke’s on him. My dad used to be a car salesman, and he taught me all their tricks. I would be that guy’s worst nightm
are.”

  I was bummed I wouldn’t get to see that. “Okay, so what’s next? Figure my approximate car payments into the budget we came up with earlier?”

  “Yep. And then tomorrow, we can pick out a house after we meet with the loan guy.”

  I had to admit I was liking this project so far. It was kind of fun pretending to be an adult, doing adult things like budgeting and car shopping. I only wished I could have been partnered with Elijah for it. We would have had a blast pretending to be married.

  Instead, he was having a blast pretending to be married to Hannah.

  I must have had a sour look on my face because Dylan glanced at me sideways and asked, “Are you okay over there?”

  “Never better,” I lied.

  Suddenly, I felt a vibration against my thigh. Excitedly, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and grinned when I saw I had an incoming call from Elijah.

  “Hey Elijah,” I cooed into the phone.

  “Hey. I just left Hannah’s. Figured I would call to tell you instead of texting.”

  “Good choice,” I said brightly.

  Dylan poked my shoulder. “Cass, ask him if he wants to go grab a bite to eat.”

  “Are you with Dylan?” Elijah asked, the slightest bit of confusion etched in his voice.

  “Yeah, we went car shopping.”

  “Huh?”

  “Briggs,” Dylan whispered. “Ask him.”

  Rolling my eyes, I switched to speaker on my phone. “Dylan wants to know if you want to grab a bite to eat with him.”

  “Can’t. My mom’s making meatloaf tonight. I’m not missing that.”

  Dylan pouted and turned to me. “What about you, Cass? You interested?”

  “Uh, excuse me,” Elijah said through the phone, “are you asking my girlfriend on a date?” From the tone of voice he was using, I could tell he was half-amused, half-annoyed.

  “Ew, gross. No way.” Dylan shuddered next to me and I threw him a glare.

  “Hey, you could do a lot worse than me,” I told him. I turned off speaker and returned the phone to my ear. “Sorry about that, Elijah.”