Kissing the Player (The Dangers of Dating a Diva Book 1) Page 3

  “How do I know what?” I asked, shifting to sit upright once more now that Ryan wasn’t trying to kill me with his eyes.

  “How did you know he doesn’t really have feelings for you?” she asked.

  Her voice was so plaintive, so earnest, so…naïve. I couldn’t help it. A loud laugh burst out and I slapped a hand over my mouth. “Sorry,” I said when I dropped it, but my voice was still tinged with laughter. “I’m not laughing at you, it’s just…” I reached over and ruffled her long brown hair. “You’re just so cute sometimes.”

  2

  Jax

  Ryan looked ready to tear this cafeteria apart when he reached the other end of our table.

  It was hard not to laugh at him. I mean, seriously. The guy was beyond pathetic storming in here letting the whole school see just how upset he was that Rose had ended things.

  The dude had no game. No understanding that it was all about perception.

  Besides, the guy’s ego was too big by far. Had he really thought he’d be the exception to the rule? Everyone knew that Rose Parson was only out to have some fun. She wasn’t looking for a boyfriend.

  And yet every beefed-up meathead at this school thought that he was different. That he was the exception.

  I scoffed and shook my head as I looked down at my tray. Each and every one of them overestimated his own importance and underestimated just how shallow and flakey Rose Parson could be.

  “What’s so funny, Hadley?” he demanded as he leaned over the table, his fists resting on either side of his lunch tray.

  “Nothing at all,” I said with a grin.

  At that moment, as if I’d planned it—Rose let out a loud laugh that had everyone at our table looking over.

  Ryan’s face turned red with rage.

  Oh crap. No one liked an angry wrestler. Right now, leaning over the table with his muscles bulging and adrenaline pumping, he looked like a sweaty, veiny version of the Hulk.

  I leaned over to Simone who sat next to me on the edge of the table. “Don’t look now but I think Ryan’s shirt is starting to rip.”

  She snorted on a fry. “Hulk Smash,” she muttered in a ridiculously low voice.

  “You are such a dork.” I shook my head as I laughed but Ryan’s voice interrupted Simone’s response.

  “You think this is funny, Hadley?”

  I sighed.

  “Yeah, Hadley?” Simone whispered beside me.

  I hated it when people called me by my last name. It was so cliché and an unpleasant reminder of my father. His buddies called him by his last name and there was no way I wanted to be confused with my dad.

  Rose’s lilting laughter hit our table in the silence that followed Ryan’s ragefest.

  I winced on Ryan’s behalf. I mean, he was an idiot for thinking he stood a chance with Rose, but even a moron like him didn’t deserve to be humiliated in front of the school.

  But that was the thing. Rose hadn’t humiliated him. Not really. She’d done what she always did when she tired of her flavor of the week. She’d taken him aside sweetly and given him the brushoff with a smile and a kiss on the cheek.

  The girl was good.

  Too good.

  Maybe even better than me.

  Not that I’d ever admit that. And it wasn’t like there was a comparison, anyways. Because I didn’t play her game.

  Unlike Rose, I didn’t play games at all. Every girl I hooked up with knew the score. I was nothing but honest about the fact that I didn’t do relationships.

  Ryan’s glare was off of me and back on Rose, who seemed to be oblivious to the hate that was being thrown her way. She was tousling her friend Hannah’s hair which led to the two of them doing this stupid girly slapping hands away thing.

  Rose gave a little squeal and a giggle as she shoved her chair away, her hands thrown up in defense.

  Her purple hair was a mess, and somehow that looked good on her.

  That was the insanity that was Rose. She made anything look good. Even purple hair that was sticking out in every direction somehow looked tousled and sexy. Her high cheekbones and her bright red lips gave the funny face she was making right now a glamorous edge, like she was posing for cameras and not goofing off with her friend.

  “What are you staring at, Hadley?” Ryan said.

  I turned my gaze back to him slowly. He’d been like this for the past two weeks every time someone looked at ‘his girl.’

  His girl.

  Ha! He was the only one who hadn’t seen the writing on the wall. She was his, all right, but she was just a loaner. A limited-time engagement. That was how she operated. She’d choose a victim, make him fall head over heels, and then toss him aside when she had her fill of adoration.

  “I’m not looking at anything, man,” I said with a sigh.

  Ryan and I weren’t exactly close, but we’d always run in the same circles and we got along. We’d never had any issues, and I wasn’t about to start one today. Especially not over her.

  I felt Simone shift uncomfortably beside me. Unlike me, she didn’t actually enjoy sitting at the popular table. She didn’t exactly fit in, it was true—I mean, first of all, she was a girl at an otherwise only-guys table. Second, she wasn’t popular.

  But what did I care? What was the point of being on the A-list if I couldn’t bring my best friend along for the ride, right?

  Ryan’s gaze followed to where I’d been looking—at Rose—and his nostrils flared in a way that made it supremely hard not to laugh at him.

  I heard Simone make a strangled noise beside me and just knew she was trying not to laugh, too.

  This was why we’d been best friends since we were kids, although the fact that we were both only children and lived on the same block was how our friendship had begun. The fact that we’d both gotten into this fancy prep school on the nice side of town on scholarships was really just overkill. We would have stayed friends no matter what, but being joined at the hip for a lifetime had made us as close as siblings, even though we were total opposites.

  But despite her goody-two-shoes, mega-nerd vibe, she actually had an offbeat sense of humor that meshed with mine. The better part of our friendship was spent making fun of ourselves, each other, or other people. Right now? We were both laughing at Ryan…and against all meathead odds, he’d picked up on it.

  “You two think this is funny?” he roared.

  Andrew, the pitching phenom for our baseball team and the epitome of chill, tried to placate him. “No one’s laughing at you, man,” he said in that lazy drawl of his.

  “She’s laughing at me.” Ryan glared at Simone—the lone gazelle at this table full of lions.

  But that’s why she had me.

  I leaned forward, blocking his view of my friend. “She’s laughing at something I said.”

  Ryan crossed his arms. “Let’s hear it, punk.”

  Punk was what these guys called me when I pissed them off. I was part of this group of jock alphas, but also, I didn’t quite fit in. Mainly because…I wasn’t a jock. I didn’t do sports. I was a musician, but I had enough followers and groupies in this school that I was just as popular as they were with chicks and maybe even more popular with the student body as a whole.

  Why? Because—unlike Ryan and the rest of his John-Hughes-clichéd friends—I fit in everywhere and with everyone. The artsy crowd dug me because I was into music, the outcasts liked me because I was different than the cookie cutter A-list crowd, and the popular crowd liked me because…well, let’s face it, I was cool. I had confidence and knew how to play the game.

  That was all it took in this fishbowl existence we called high school. People our age were suckers. If you showed them what you wanted them to see, they bought it.

  Every. Single. Time.

  I glanced over at Rose and her friend. They’d stopped goofing around, but a smile lingered on Rose’s lips as they talked.

  Rose got that. She knew it just as well as I did, I’d bet. Everyone here thought they knew her
—the diva, the star, the theater chick with the killer smile. But I was willing to bet that no one except for maybe her friend Hannah knew anything real about her.

  She was all smoke and mirrors and no one knew what was going on behind that pretty face of hers. Not me, not the guys who slavered over her every time she walked by, and definitely not an oaf like Ryan.

  My guess? Nothing much. I’d bet that the more you dug the less substance you got. She was as shallow as they come. Vapid and vain, only thinking about what shoes would best show off her legs and which lipstick would make guys drool.

  Once upon a time, I’d been blinded by her beauty and her charm, but then she showed her true colors. Fickle and fake.

  “Why do you keep looking at my girl, man?” Ryan said as he finally took a seat.

  I dragged my gaze back to the moron in question. All right. Fun time was over. I’d been on my best behavior with this buffoon because I actually felt a little bad for the guy.

  I’d been on the receiving end of a Rose rejection and it wasn’t fun.

  But now he was targeting Simone and trying to draw me into a fight, and everyone knew the best way to shoot down a bully was to stand up to them, right?

  Right.

  Now I just hoped I’d be able to walk away from this without a broken jaw.

  I leaned back in my seat, tipping it so I was balancing on the back two legs as I smirked over at him. “Your girl? From what I hear, she dumped your butt this morning in the parking lot.”

  A few of the guys snickered. Andrew just shook his head in weary resignation and turned his attention back to the salad he was eating.

  “She didn’t dump me,” Ryan said. He dug into his lunch and some of the threat diminished. It was hard to be too scared of a guy who was unpacking the bagged lunch his mommy had made for him.

  I should have let it go. Let the guy have his pride. But I didn’t. “What would you call it?”

  Crap. Me and my big mouth. Simone elbowed my side under the table with a huff and I knew she was thinking the same thing.

  All the guys at the table were now staring at Ryan, waiting for him to answer.

  His face was still red, but I had a feeling now it was more embarrassment than rage.

  Poor guy.

  Poor idiot.

  Anyone who fell for Rose was such a sucker.

  “I was done with her anyways,” Ryan muttered.

  Every guy at the table exchanged knowing smirks. This dude had been crazy for Rose and we all knew it. Everyone in this school had known it…except maybe Rose.

  If she had, then she wasn’t just a superficial drama queen, she was cruel, to boot.

  I glanced over at Rose’s table one last time. Nah. I didn’t think she was that mean, just self-absorbed. I’d bet money the girl had never once been in Ryan’s shoes. She’d never been dumped—at least as far as I knew, and she’d likely never given a single thought to how it felt.

  “Sure you were, man.” Andrew gave Ryan’s shoulder a little pat and he managed to say it without sounding patronizing.

  This was why Andrew was beloved in this school. He was an honest-to-goodness good guy on top of being an amazing baseball player.

  Ryan’s pride seemed to be soothed a bit, and I could practically see his male ego swell along with his chest. “At least I lasted longer than any of you guys.”

  There were a few good-natured laughs at that, but I stiffened.

  It was on the tip of my tongue to point out he’d lasted exactly as long as every other guy here.

  Two weeks.

  Was I the only one who noticed that? Wasn’t anyone else paying attention?

  For once I managed to keep my mouth shut…thanks in no small part to Simone’s death grip on my arm. So, I could say in all honesty, it wasn’t my fault when Ryan singled me out with a point of his finger. “I lasted longer than you, man. Admit it.”

  I scoffed as all eyes flew to me to see how I’d react. I shrugged. “How should I know? I barely remember hanging out with that girl.”

  Ryan smirked like he’d just made some point. Like he’d won.

  I stiffened all over again, my gut churning with a sensation I was not proud of. I should let it go. This guy was just in a foul mood and looking to make a point…

  “I was never stupid enough to actually date the girl,” I said.

  Reason had lost the battle.

  But seriously. I had my pride, and I had a certain reputation to protect.

  “Sophomore year,” Ryan said, his voice a little too loud and way too angry.

  I gave him a blank stare before shrugging. “Yeah, okay, I guess.” I feigned confusion as I looked around the table. “Anyone else think it’s weird that Ryan remembers my hookup history better than I do?”

  Simone sighed next to me and Andrew gave me another shake of his head like he was disappointed in me. The rest of the guys were laughing, eyeing Ryan expectantly as they waited for his response.

  “It’s not your dating history I care about, punk,” Ryan snapped.

  “Ah, I see,” I said with a pitying sigh. “You’ve been pining over Rose for that long, huh? That’s…sweet, I guess.” Everything in my tone said sad.

  That was just plain sad.

  Ryan clearly heard it and he shoved his seat back so quickly it scraped the linoleum.

  Simone tensed next to me, but I forced myself to relax even farther into my seat, a smirk fixed on my face as if this was all just so amusing.

  As if adrenaline wasn’t racing through my system as anger took root and grew. All this over Rose. Freakin’ Rose. Did she have any idea how much she’d messed with this guy’s head?

  How much she’d messed with mine?

  But that was ancient history, I’d gotten over it years ago.

  “She dumped you way worse than she did me,” Ryan said. “At least she actually liked me. She was just using you.”

  I jerked my head back like I’d been smacked in the face. “I’m sorry, what?” I gave my head a little shake as I forced a laugh and tried to recover my chill. I should let it go. Just drop it. He’s hurting and you should just— “How do you figure?”

  “She was using you to get in with us,” he said, tipping his head toward the rest of the table. “Face it. Rose was using you to work her way up the food chain.”

  I laughed. I couldn’t help it. So that was how he wanted to spin it. Make Rose out to be some slutty social climber trying to work her way up to the top of the food chain. “So, why’d she dump you then, big man?” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Aren’t you the alpha dog around here?”

  “She just couldn’t handle me,” he said with a satisfied sniff as he sat back down. “She knew I was getting bored with her and she couldn’t take it.”

  Let it go. Let it go. Just let it go. It was Simone’s voice in my head now, urging me to just drop it already and let this guy have his pride before this escalated any further.

  “Uh huh.” I didn’t let it go. “Sure. Let’s go with that.” My tone dripped with sarcasm and everyone at the table snickered uncomfortably—even Andrew.

  But really, Ryan’s spin on this was just so farfetched. Sure, he was a football star and yeah, lots of girls wanted to catch his eye, but if he thought Rose had dumped him because she was jealous or afraid of losing him…?

  The thought was laughably ludicrous, and everyone knew it.

  The truth was, Rose wasn’t all that complicated. She was just a silly, superficial high school girl who was too pretty for her own good. She was a diva who lived to stir up drama.

  I found myself sneering at the thought. The girl was everything I couldn’t stand about high school and relationships, in general.

  Ryan’s cruel laughter had me looking up to see him staring at me. “You think you could do better?”

  I frowned. “Excuse me?”

  “No, I mean it,” he said, as if I’d argued. “Do you honestly think you could get that girl to even give you a second look now that she’s through wi
th you?”

  I laughed. “Of course I could. I just have no interest in that girl. She’s toxic.”

  Ryan was outright laughing now, looking to his buddies around him for support. “Hear that? He’s scared of a girl.”

  “I’m not scared of Rose,” I said, my voice filled with all the disdain I felt for the flakey actress. “I just don’t care about her one way or the other. If I wanted to date her again, I could have her like that.” I snapped my fingers and heard Simone groan beside me.

  Okay, fine, maybe I sounded like a chauvinistic jerk. I knew Simone was thinking it. But you know…when in Rome, or whatever. And meeting Ryan’s stare right now, there was no way I could back down from the challenge there.

  “Prove it,” he said with a smirk.

  I laughed. “What?”

  “Get Rose to give you a second chance,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’d love to watch you strike out.”

  “Dude.” I shook my head with outright condescension. “Getting Rose is too easy. The girl will date anyone.”

  And yeah, I might have eyed Ryan from head to toe as I said that. All logic was gone now, and I’d be the first to admit that it was anger talking. It was testosterone and bitterness and pride.

  But I couldn’t seem to stop, not even with Simone kicking my shin under the table.

  “Getting Rose to hook up with you is too easy, huh?” Ryan said, leaning forward on his elbows. “Okay then, punk, let’s make it a challenge. Get her to date you for a full month.”

  I gave him a blank stare as my mind raced. Logic was battling with my pride. It had never been done. No guy had gotten Rose to commit to anything even close to a real relationship and they’d never lasted for more than a couple weeks.

  Ryan’s buddy Tom chimed in. “The fall dance is a month out.”

  Everyone looked to him. “What?” the big blond football player mumbled. “My girlfriend won’t stop talking about it.”

  Ryan gave a disgusted shake of his head before turning back to me. “The dance, then. Get her to stick around long enough to be your girlfriend at the dance.”