Chapter Five

I examined the spray tan in my hands. "I mean it's the safer way to go," I argued, "But tanning beds feel amazing."

Tanya chewed on her blueberry Danish and raised a perky eyebrow at me. "I don't know how we're friends," she muttered before walking out of the aisle.

I hid a smile and continued to look at the contents. After seeing the SPF sticker, I nodded to myself and tossed it into my shopping cart.

The first thing I had done after escaping the gym was run to my dorm and shower. Then I whipped a towel around my blonde head and explained the entire ordeal to Tanya. I had no doubt she was impressed with my bravado, although she didn't show it too much as of now.

I was going to make Tucker Jensen love me. If it meant spray tanning until I was dark orange and curling my hair until it burnt, I would do it. I would not let Delaney Whats-her-face steal away the one guy that I had managed to love.

I grabbed a can of hairspray that would probably deplete the ozone layer with two uses and hurried my way to the checkout counter. Tanya was perusing the candy counter.

"I don't know why I'm so hungry," she groaned, pouting. "Let's get something to eat after this."

"You're so fat," I said with a typical sigh. "But yet so skinny. Damn Asian genes."

She slapped my upper arm but plucked a Kit Kat bar from the shelf. "Don't hate."

After purchasing my various items, Tanya and I walked over to a breakfast diner not too far away. It was a regular for the students on campus and probably served the best breakfast burritos you could ever ask for. I was more of a hot coffee and waffle kind of girl, but Tanya had tried everything on the menu.

Once we had ordered and were seated in the booths, Tanya placed her chin in her hands. "So tell me your plan."

"My plan," I said with a charming grin, "is to get dressed up and charm the wits out of Tucker today at the football game. It's going to be a little difficult because she's going to be there playing her dumb flute but I'm up for the challenge."

"Do you really want to try so hard?" she questioned, warily glancing at my bag of goods. "Maybe that's a turn off for him."

"Please," I scoffed. "When I'm done, there is no way that Tucker will deny my advances. He's straight, isn't he?"

Tanya looked like she was about to roll her eyes, but the food was placed in front of her before she could. Immediately, she grabbed her cutlery and dug in. She scarfed down a piece of bacon and glanced up at me. "Aren't you hungry?"

"Not anymore," I said, cringing as I watched her eat. "I'm amazed Greg still likes you after seeing this."

"That's why we're so compatible," she explained. "He knows I'm a pig but accepts it anyway."

I nodded interestedly as I neatly cut my waffles. "That makes a lot of sense."

We ate in silence until Tanya looked up at me. "Did you start your term paper yet?"

I frowned. "No... I asked Tucker to help me before we broke up but I don't think he'll..." I trailed off. My eyes widened in realization. Asking Tucker to help me with my term paper would be the perfect gateway to re-establishing our lost connection! I dropped my knife with excitement. "Tanya, I've got an idea."

The scoreboard broadly glared the digits 28-0 in favor of the opposing team. Students booed and hissed but my eyes were not on the field, but rather on Tucker Jensen. A saxophone hung around his shapely neck and my eyes ravished his face. He was, of course, talking to another band mate of his, and didn't notice the eye sex that was radiating from me all the way across the bleachers.

"You're being so obvious," Tanya said, once she looked at me. Her hands were entwined with Greg's and she seemed utterly content.

I, on the other hand, had dressed up in a glittery top and heels. My hair was curled and smelled like fruity oranges. Tucker always told me he loved the scent of oranges. "I have a bad feeling about this," Tanya had said once I walked out of the bathroom, freshly tanned.

But I had wisely ignored her and continued on my way. So here I stood, silently vying for Tucker as I jealously watched him place his attentions on an undeserving male specimen. My lips tilted downwards. "Why won't he look up?" I grated out, pinching my lips together as I did often when I got annoyed.

"Probably because he's immune to your eye lasers," Greg wittily replied.

Tanya laughed at his joke. They definitely were compatible, I thought haughtily. No one else laughed at his dumb joke. "You know what Greg?" I said, turning to look at him with narrowed eyes, "No one asked."

"Look how moody she got!" Greg defended. "What happened to the sweet Alex that we know and love?"

"It died along with her sanity," Tanya said, and then groaned when the other team scored another touchdown. "Boo! You guys suck!"

"Maybe I should approach him," I wondered out loud but my supposed friend smacked me on the arm.

"Calm down, girl," she said, staring at me straight in the eyes. "I know you want to win him back, but it's a subtle game. You can't drape yourself all over him and expect him to want you back."

My ears had perked at her words. "What do you mean?"

Greg was smiling but she continued. "It's like this," Tanya said slowly. "If your mom forced you to do clean the dishes, you wouldn't want to do it would you? But if your mom was feeling sick, you'd probably rush over to do the dishes immediately. It's a game of manipulation."

It was hard to hear Tanya over the roaring crowd but my eyes widened. "You're right."

"I know I am," she said confidently. "If you go over there and latch yourself onto Tucker, all you're going to do is inflate his ego. He's going to think, 'Well, now that she wants me, I don't need her.' You have to be the unattainable girl that he went out with in the first place."

"Does that mean I can't talk to him after the game?" I asked, my heart sinking with every word.

"Greg, save our seats," Tanya said confidently. She grabbed my hands and led me off the bleachers and to the nearby restrooms. Once we were staring at the mirror, she grabbed towelettes from her purse and immediately started dabbing at my face. "Dark eye makeup is for clubbing."

I groaned. "I know but I wanted to look hot!"

"You are hot," she informed. "No need to change that with this horrendous look."

"It's not horrendous-" I began but she interrupted.

"Fine, it's slutty," and then she tossed the towelettes in the garbage can. "Don't change yourself, Alex. Just be who you are." Next, she grabbed a paper towel, soaked it in water, and immediately grabbed my hair.

"Whoa!" I said, shoving her off. "I spent forty five minutes doing my hair. I burnt my finger twice with the curling iron."

"Alex," she sighed. "Do you want Tucker or not? I remember one time when you didn't do your hair and he commented on how he loved your waves. That's the first time I heard him say something so sweet about your hair."

I relaxed and allowed her to wrench water into my hair. "I'm hopeless," I groaned. "I don't know anything about boys."

Three minutes later my hair had dried and looked slightly frizzy. Tanya French braided it and nodded at the finished look. "I guess you'll have to keep the shirt..." Then she looked down at her feet. "Do you want my sneakers?"

I winced. "But I couldn't wear trainers with skinny jeans..."

She stared at me. "Make him think you couldn't care less."

With renewed vigor, I plucked my heels off and handed them to her. She untied her shoes and we swapped. Strangely, the trainers felt soothing against my strained toes. "This feels good," I sighed. "Nice and comfortable."

I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked very... not dressed up. My hair was a little frizzy, but I had to admit the waves looked sorta nice. I looked pretty down to earth, I mused, besides my extra boobage.

Tanya patted my head as if I was some daft Yorkshire Terrier and pulled me out of the bathroom. The booing of the crowd informed us that we had lost the game. Which was expected really, since our college lost a majority of its football games.

"Now go say hello," she said.

That's when I saw Tucker, dressed in his uniform. It wasn't exactly the most attractive thing in the world, but I'd take it. He had one arm around Delaney and was laughing at a joke that a trumpeter had said. "Wish me luck," I said quickly and easily walked over to him.

"Hey!" I greeted.

Tucker turned to stare at me. I noticed how his eyes immediately dropped to my (slutty?) shirt and then lowered to my feet. He hastily retraced his steps when he realized that Delaney was watching him. "Uh, hi," he coughed. "Nice shoes."

"Oh, these old things?" I said with a laugh, looking down. "Yeah, just slipped them on."

Delaney was frowning.

"What's up?" he asked. Delaney's arm was around his waist and her fingers were gently tracing circles on his waist. She was much shorter than him and could do that, but since I was taller, I never had been able to. "Alex?"

His voice jarred me out of my thoughts and I quickly looked into his eyes. I hoped I hadn't been glaring at her hands.

"Oh, I thought you played really nicely today," I said sweetly.

"Thanks, I guess," he said awkwardly. He looked down at Delaney again and I caught the gist. Play it cool. Play it cool.

"Alright, well I've got places to go so I'll see you later," I said with a wave. I caught the surprised look on his face before I turned and walked towards Greg and Tanya who were casually chatting. Once I arrived, they looked at me with tiny grins.

"How'd it go? He ask you out on a date yet?" Greg asked.

"I don't appreciate your dry humor," I answered. "Not much. He kind of looked like he wanted to get rid of me."

"That will happen in the beginning," Tanya said.

Suddenly, I raised an eyebrow at her. "You sound pretty familiar with this," I ventured hesitantly. "Have you played the game?"

Greg ruffled my hair. "She played it with me. Worked pretty damn well."

They kissed and I mock-gagged. "Stop, you guys," I whined.

The duo parted slowly and I grinned.

I was flipping through a Cosmo magazine when I heard an annoying, shrilly beep. I was enveloped in my dark purple sheets and feeling content but the terrible noise made me cringe. I shoved the sheets off me and hurried into the kitchen. I realized it was coming from my bag and unzipped it.

Rob's phone.

His phone was so ancient that it didn't have Caller I.D., so I awkwardly held it in my grasp. The phone finally stopped ringing and I sighed in relief. I was about to place it back in my bag when it restarted with the rings. "Oh, come on!" I exclaimed.

On the third ring, I picked up.

"Hello?" I asked.

There was a long silence before a rough voice asked, "Is this Rob's phone?"

"Oh, it is," I said kindly. "I'm his sister. Can I help you with something?"

"Give it to Rob," he muttered. His voice sounded familiar.

"Actually, he left the phone in my purse and I'm halfway across the country right now," I said with a perky laugh. "So, sorry no can do. If you want I can give you the home number or you can leave a message and I'll tell him."

"No, it's fine," he snapped and then hung up.

"Weird," I commented and placed it back in my bag. Hopefully, Rob wouldn't kill me for intruding on his space and valuables. I tried placing whose voice that was but couldn't figure it out for the life of me.

It was only halfway through making a turkey-mayo sandwich that I realized who it was. "Carson!" I said, smacking the hand holding the spoonful of mayo onto my forehead. Mayo glopped onto the counter. "Whoops."