Free Ricochet by Lore Ree Page B

hesitation, but she left me with a “thanks for the amazing weekend” and a small smile.
    Neither of us asked for the other’s phone number.
    I doubted if I’d see her again, but for the first time in months, I felt like myself—who I was before Arianna. I’d never admit it to Warren, but maybe he was onto something with his whole Rebound Effect.

-TEN-
     
    “If I ask you to go to Royale with me tonight,” Warren said, starting his statement off slowly, “what are the odds of you saying no?”
    I gave no thought to my reply. “Pretty high.”
    “Come on! You can’t do this to me. To yourself. You can’t ricochet.”
    The way he said it made me pause our game. This I had to hear. “Ricochet? Are you getting ready to recite another one of your theories?”
    “Hey!” He pointed his controller at me as he spoke. “I do not recite theories. I drop knowledge and speak facts.”
    “Enlighten me, then.”
    “You were doing good. You were bouncing back! For a few weeks, you were you again and now … you’re the same sad fuck you were when Arianna left.”
    Well shit. “Thanks.”
    “And it’s kind of pathetic.”
    “Noted.”
    “And you’re draining my energy.”
    “My sincerest apologies.” I smiled, even though his words made me feel as though I’d just gotten run over. It wasn’t often she came up in conversation. At times, it felt as though the subject of Arianna had been forgotten. The reality of how I thought I’d handled things versus what my friends and family must have seen—a sad, pathetic fuck—wasn’t that easy to hear.
    As for this round of back-and-forth, that’s how things had been between me and Warren: weekends spent in front of the TV, talking shit, and bickering like school girls.
    I went out with him, and occasionally Corey, but I avoided Royale like the fucking plague. I didn’t say it, but from some of their comments, I think the guys knew it was because I didn’t want to run into Noelle.
    I wasn’t opposed to the idea of seeing her, but I had no clue how it would play out. Would she think I was a dick for not taking her number? I mean, she didn’t ask for mine either. In hindsight, that shouldn’t surprise me. It was up to me to take that step, and I flopped.
    There were times when I wondered how she was. I replayed some of our moments together, hoping they were good for her like they were for me. At times, visions of her and her asshole ex popped into my head. Was she filling a weak moment? Using me to make him jealous? Then I’d start wondering how I got so sprung in one weekend. That hadn’t happened to me before—a girl plaguing my every thought after being in my life for only a short time. Arianna and I had been cool for months before I realized how I felt about her, and my girlfriend before her … ? Well, I was in high school. It didn’t take much back then.
    But Noelle, there was an ease there. Even though her guard was up, mine stayed down. I didn’t feel judged or as though I had to maintain a specific type of behavior around her.
    I never asked about her, though I could. Corey was always around.
    Sometimes Corey would look me over when he thought I wasn’t paying attention. They were never dirty looks, which I’d have put a stop to, but more like analyzing and curious as if he were trying to figure me out. Actually, figure out both me and Warren since things with Teresa fizzled after a couple weeks. I say fizzle, but it was more like they crashed and burned.
    He never went into detail about what happened—if Teresa said or did something to him. He’d been spending most of his free time with Lonnie, that is, when he wasn’t harassing me he was with her. This was the most serious their relationship had seemed in a long time, so I guess things going to shit with him and Teresa was a blessing in disguise. Which reminded me …
    “You’re going to Royale?” My voice rose. He’d been avoiding that place, too. Probably more than me, and I wondered why