Tangled Thoughts by Cara Bertrand Page B

extra into her in discussion. In a good way.”
    â€œOh, he’s into her all right. I’m pretty sure—by which I mean
entirely
sure, because I
am
a genius—if it weren’t for the pesky TA thing, he’d have been taking her home by the end of the night. Or sooner.”
    I suppressed a squeak of outrage. I was
not
that kind of girl. Serena made this kind of hissing sound through her teeth that seemed like approval. “Hell, yes. This is perfect. Why does she seem freaked out about it?”
    â€œBecause that’s how Lainey
is
. This is
exactly
what she needs, so she’ll completely try to avoid it. Plus, she has some…baggage. And an ex—that
she
made an ex—but I think…” Amy had been dropping her voice lower and lower, forcing me to creep closer to the living room door, so I had no trouble hearing when she shouted “…that she’s
totally
eavesdropping and might as well just come back and
talk
to us!”
    Busted.
    â€œThis is
not
what I need,” I told them as I returned to the living room. I pushed Amy’s feet out of the way again so I could sit. When she tried to plop them back in my lap, I pushed them off then too.
    She huffed, but despite her renewed energy around the topic of my not-so-love life, she was still in no condition to fight back. Words always worked fine for her though. “Just by saying that,” she said, one arm back covering her eyes, “you’ve proved it true.”
    â€œIt’s not!”
    â€œLainey,” Serena soothed. “Tell me you haven’t thought about it.”
    I opened my mouth to lie and silence fell out. Amy snickered and I slapped her foot. “You need a bigger couch!” she grumbled. “And to get la—”
    â€œAMY! Jesus. Could you not? That’s not happening.”
    â€œWould you like it to?” Serena countered. Amy held out her fist and Serena tapped it.
    â€œGod. The two of you. This was a mistake.”
    â€œOn the contrary, Lane, I think this—and one H.O.T.—is just what you needed.”
    â€œShut up.”
    â€œI like your friend,” Serena said, smiling with all her teeth.
    â€œ
I
don’t. And,” I added, unable to let it go, “just for the record, I would
not
have gone home with him. I’m not that kind of girl.”
    Serena kind of snort-laughed, while Amy rolled her eyes. “If you say so.”
    â€œI do. And I’d like to stop talking about this, please.”
    Amy sighed. “So this is about to get boring? I’m going to take a nap. I’ve got to rally.” She poured herself over the edge of the couch and trudged toward her room. With a little wave, she called back to Serena, “Nice meeting you.”
    â€œYou too,” Serena replied, before she turned earnest eyes on me. “Lainey, for real though, if he—”
    â€œPlease let’s drop it.”
    â€œJust hear me out—if he’s into you, and you’re into him, what’s the problem? The TA thing will end soon enough. It’s not complicated.”
    Behind me, Amy froze a step before continuing on. I sucked in a breath and let it out, slowly. Amy had once said something so similar to me. About Carter. And I’d believed her at the time.
    But it
had
turned out to be complicated—so complicated. And no matter what Serena said, the Jack situation was
already
complicated. It wasn’t what I needed; it was everything I was trying to avoid.
    Wasn’t it?
    B Y THE T IME Serena and I were wrapping up, Amy was back and looking more human. And I, well, I’d done a good job for a while of ignoring a familiar twist in my stomach.
    â€œI think you’ll get an A,” Amy said.
    â€œI hope so.” I closed my laptop along with my eyes and leaned my head back on the couch. I was exhausted.
    â€œWe will,” Serena said, not in a way that sounded like convincing yourself, but like she