Free Let Me In by Leigh Jackson Page A

woman at State is sitting with me.  You’re my friend, and they envy the fact that I can claim that.”  I wink at her as I playfully stake my claim.  If I’m being honest with myself, the thought of Kori being with another guy ever again fills me with rage.  I don’t care about the past guys, but I’ll be damned if I let one more guy put his hands on her.  She’s mine, she just doesn’t know it yet.  I’m shocked that I just admitted it to myself, but now that I realize how I’m beginning to feel about Kori, I suddenly long for her to feel the same way.
     

8
    Kori
     
                  A month has passed since I played my first open mic night at Sawyer’s.  My month has been filled with my normal routine of class and work mixed in with Tuck.  We text each other constantly throughout the day, and we spend time at each other’s houses several days a week.  Each time he has come over, Avery and Chelsea haven’t been there, so I have yet to tell them about our friendship. I haven’t seen Chase over at Tuck’s any either, but from what I can tell, that isn’t unusual.  Chase seems to take his role of womanizer quite seriously.
              We haven’t had sex since the day we worked on my Bronco, and we seem to have easily slipped into a comfortable friendship.  He finds a reason to touch me at every chance he gets, but I don’t mind that.  I find myself relaxing around Tuck in ways that I couldn’t relax around other people.  Maybe it has to do with the fact that he doesn’t know anything about my past, so I never feel that he is treating me with kid gloves.  He doesn’t take my shit the way so many guys have.  Instead of being frustrated by that fact, I find myself liking it. 
     
    Lunchtime today finds me alone, which is unusual lately.  Tuck and I have developed a pattern of grabbing a bite to eat together every day.  I had never been able to make my lunchtime coincide with Avery or Chelsea’s, so it was perfectly logical that Tuck would become my lunch buddy.  However, today he had to meet with his advisor, so I am dining alone in the cafeteria.  Not my most favorite thing to do, but I would just put on my big girl panties and get over it.
              As I sit at the table that Tuck and I usually occupy, I notice a group of sorority skanks whispering and looking in my direction.  I internally roll my eyes and decide to ignore them. 
              Just as I am finishing up my food, I hear Blonde 1 say in an obviously loud voice, “Oh, I don’t think she’s actually his girlfriend.  Tuck would never be with a girl like her.  I mean, look at her.”  At this pronouncement, her bevy of plastics titter like a bunch of idiots.  “Can you imagine him taking her home to his parents?  Puhleeze.  He can do so much better than her.”  With that last comment, Blonde 1 shoots her eyes in my directions and gives me a deathly glare. 
              Wow, what have I done to piss this bitch off?  I have grown used to being the brunt of gossip and whispers, but it has never bothered me as much as the garbage spewing out of this plastic’s perfectly lined mouth.  A part of me knows that she is right.  Tuck can do so much better than me.  I will only drag him down with my baggage.  The other part of me, the selfish part, doesn’t want to admit that to myself or Tuck.  I like being around Tuck; even though we are just friends, I know he cares for me.  And I will be damned if I am going to let this phony slut get the best of me.
              I paste on a phony smile to match hers and purr in the most sickeningly sweet, sardonic voice I can muster, “Oh, I’m sorry.  Did you think that he wanted you?  I guess you think that you’re better than me.  Maybe so, but at least I’m not a plastic bitch surrounded by a bunch of self-absorbed assholes.  So fuck you.”  And with that mature tirade, I