Try Me (Extracurricular Activities #2)

by Neve Wilder

He glanced up and caught me watching him. “What? I even sort paper like an asshole?” “Collate.” Mark eyed me for a second, then broke into laugh that was warm and amused. “What’s funny about that?” “Collate,” he repeated in a dorky voice, a quirky half-smile on his face that was magnetic despite my intent to maintain a generally irritable demeanor around him. It wasn’t the politely detached smile I remembered from high school when we’d slap hands at the end of basketball games—the one that was an imitation of his father’s. I stared at him, waiting for more, and when he didn’t say anything, flicked the paperclip in my hand back at his face. “Say it. Whatever you’re holding back. Say it, dickhead.” “Nah. I think I’ll keep it to myself. Let you wonder.” Mark gathered up his papers into one giant sheaf he placed back in a cardboard file box, then turned and walked out before I could reply. Damn, I’d forgotten how much I hated that tactic of his. He’d done it even when we were kids.