“Hey Chip,” I replied neutrally. I don’t think we’d ever spoken before, I hadn’t even realized he knew my name until fifty minutes ago, but hey, there are always surprises in life. Besides, I was distracted thinking about Stone and where he was.
“Was wondering if you wanted to grab a burger after school today?” Chip growled, eyes eating me up. It didn’t feel like when Mr. Phillips eyed me. When Stone did it, I immediately heated, feeling wanted, aroused, so turned on that I was ready to rip my clothes off at his word. But when Chip did it, it was just okay. Not terrible but more like stepping into a pool of cool water when you were already cold. Just okay.
I was already shaking my head ready to say no when I caught a glimpse of Mindy gesturing at me from the corner of my eye. She was waving frantically while nodding her head up and down, eyes almost bugging out, mouthing the words “yes, yes.” I frowned again. I didn’t want to spend time with Chip, he was nothing compared to Mr. Phillips. I was already in love and wasn’t going to “cheat” on my lover.
But Mindy’s words rang in my head again.
People will see Stone Phillips as a predator preying on a naïve, young girl.
You told him you were in love with him? Oh my god, you’ll come off as so vulnerable.
So against my better judgment, I nodded reluctantly. If this threw a wrench in things then I’d do it, even if it meant suffering through a tortuous fake date.
“Okay sure,” I said, plastering a smile on my face. It was literally painful, my lips twisted upwards, no sign of a matching twinkle in my eyes. But the lunkhead jock was no good at reading body language. Instead, Chip just laughed, so self-assured, confident he’d already won me over.
“Okay great, meet you at Burgers a Go Go on Main and Street. Seven tonight,” he commanded, throwing me a wink before striding off.
And a feeling of dread overcome me, reluctant to spend even a half hour in Chip McCreighton’s presence. It was the right thing to do, for sure. After all, a ton of people would see me and the jock at Burgers a Go Go, it was a hangout spot for the Spencer Prep crowd. So it was a beard of sorts, a red herring. No one would think that I was into Mr. Phillips, would suspect that we were making love illicitly if I was seen with the hottest guy on campus, literally one that dozens of girls wanted to go out with. In fact there were already a couple girls shooting daggers at me now, so jealous of my alleged good fortune.
But still … where was Stone? Where could he be? What was this so-called emergency? I was worried and missed the alpha male, but there was always Biology again tomorrow.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Evie
The date with Chip wasn’t as terrible as I’d expected. I hadn’t bothered to change, just gone in my bodysuit and pleated skirt get-up, too lazy to freshen up. But it’d been the wrong move because Chip’s eyes lit up as soon as I stepped into the burger joint.
“Hey hey hey, you look nice,” he said, a real smile on his face, his eyes complimentary.
And I had to smile back. I’d expected something crass and crude like “Yo yo yo, lookin’ fine lookin’ sassy,” but evidently Chip was better than that. And to my surprise, he paid for my meal as well, whipping out his wallet while we were at the counter.
“No worries, I can treat my best girl to a burger and fries,” he said, glancing at my tray appreciatively. “I like a girl who eats.”
And I just smiled weakly. That was one thing Chip had in common with Stone. They liked bigger girls and I certainly fit that category. In fact, my skirt was feeling a little tight, so I was careful to drink only half of my milkshake, saving the rest for later. Didn’t want to bust out of my clothes unnecessarily, this wasn’t the man I wanted to impress.
So I chatted idly, smiling now and then, not paying much attention and just letting myself go on auto-pilot. If this date had happened even two weeks ago, it would have been a different story. I would have curled my hair, put on a special outfit and probably hung off Chip’s every word, listening breathlessly, gazing into his eyes with adoration. But instead, I was only half present. I was in the booth sure, but my mind was elsewhere, dreaming about Stone Phillips, warming inside whenever I thought of the big man’s eyes, hands and cock. It was bad. I was on a “date” with another male, and yet I was dreaming of Stone’s massive prick, eager to feel it inside again, playing with him, letting him play with me.
So when we finished our food, I shot Chip a bright smile, crumpling my paper wrapper.
“Thanks so much!” I chirped. “The burgers were great, weren’t they?”