“It’s this class project I’m a part of,” I said, turning slightly so I could keep Derek and Edie in my peripheral vision. “We’re doing this big reveal thing as a team so we’re all supposed to go together.”
Danielle’s smile was gone now, her expression one of disbelief. “You’re going to the dance as a group,” she repeated slowly. “For a class.”
“That’s right,” I said with a helpless little shrug that said ‘group projects, what are you gonna do?’
“And actually…” I looked over to see Derek edging in even closer with that dopey smile on his face as Edie chatted about something that seemed to involve firearms if her hand gestures were anything to go by.
“Edie’s in that same class,” I said to Danielle. “And I’d really better go talk to her about it.” I turned and fled, not bothering to think about how lame of an excuse that was.
If Danielle lost interest in me, that was fine. I enjoyed having her around. She was fun to talk to at parties and she seemed nice enough…
But she’s not Edie.
I shoved that thought to the side even as I headed to the other edge of the crowd. Straight toward Edie…and Derek.
“So, about the Valentine’s Day dance,” Derek was saying as I approached. “Are you going?”
A surge of fury that made no sense whatsoever had me moving toward them, clapping a hand on Derek’s back as I looked over his shoulder to Edie. “Yeah, about that…” I was tall, Derek was average height, and Edie was short. Because of this, Derek might have physically stood between us but I had an uninterrupted view of her glare.
Her glare very definitely said, What are you doing here? Go away.
I ignored that and shifted to Derek’s side to address him. “Our girl Edie here has to go to the dance, isn’t that right, Edie?”
Her eyes were shooting flares that would have made a lesser man cower.
“We all have to go alone,” I said.
Edie’s brows drew together. “What? Since when?”
“We’re all meeting up at the dance,” I said in a calm voice that belied the anger that was simmering just beneath the surface. “As a team.” I gave her a smirk I knew would make her furious. “You are a team player, aren’t you?”
“You’re all going alone…together?” Derek asked, his voice filled with rightful confusion.
“That’s right,” I said, doubling down on my insanity.
Edie’s nostrils flared and the rage in her eyes matched my own. Although mine was fading fast now that I knew I’d won. She might not have been ready to concede but her wannabe date was. Derek was already inching back in the face of Edie’s fury.
Coward.
“What are you talking about?” Edie hissed. “We never agreed to that.”
I arched my brows. “You were the one who said we were going to do the big results reveal at the dance,” I reminded her. “Your rules, not mine.”
“I didn’t—I never—” Her attention was snagged by Derek’s imminent departure. “Don’t listen to him, Derek.”
I fought a grin as her tone turned sharp and Derek’s eyes widened with alarm.
Yup. She was too much for him.
Derek turned and ran. Meanwhile, Edie turned back to me with a furious glare that made me grin.
“Don’t you smile at me,” she said through a clenched jaw. “What do you think you’re up to?”
I smiled. “Saving you.”
“From what?” Her eyes widened in disbelief as she shot a look after Derek. “From a date with a guy I actually like?”
Ouch. Her words hit me like barbed arrows. They pierced the skin and stuck. I didn’t let her see that, though. This girl had hurt me enough; I wasn’t going to let her get to me again.
Which is why you’re standing here, interrupting Edie and Derek, and ignoring Danielle. Way to go, smart guy.
I looked after Derek, feigning surprise. “Oh, wait…that was him asking you out on a date?”
“Yes!” She pursed her lips in irritation and I had this urge to kiss her.
It was a stupid urge because I knew very well it would end in her smacking me. But the urge was still there, all the same. With chestnut-colored hair and equally dark eyes, she had this sort of pixie vibe about her. She had the stature of one, too, all tiny and compact. She was pocket-sized but feisty…like an elf gone rogue or a fairy hyped up on caffeine.
“Stop smiling!” Her brows drew together in a frown that would have left the rest of this class shaking.
This was the magic that was Edie—she was terrifying and yet undeniably the kindest person in our school. Her heart was always in the right place. She was forever looking out for everyone else, ready to champion any underdog.
But if you were the big man on campus? She’d be the first to knock you down a peg.
Or eight.
She took a step closer and punched my shoulder. “He was asking me to go to the dance with him, and you know it.”
“Actually,” I said, giving a faux wince of regret. “He asked if you were going. He took the easy way out and asked if you were going, not if you would go with him.”
She stared at me with wide eyes like I was speaking Greek. “What?”
I shrugged. “I saved you from a bad date. You don’t want a guy like that.”
She gave her head a little shake as she gaped at me. “You have no idea what I want.” She punched me again. “Or who.”
“I know that would never last,” I said, nodding to wherever it was Derek had disappeared to. “Coward,” I muttered it under my breath but apparently Edie heard.
“Coward?” she said. “Derek?” Her little snort of disdain was stupidly cute. “That’s rich.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing.” She snapped her eyes away from mine a little too quickly. Something gnawed at me, a suspicion—like I was missing some piece of the puzzle here.
“What do you think you’re about anyway, Foster?” She jabbed her finger into my chest and I tried not to grin. Not because she apparently hated my smile, but because she was serious.
Seriously angry.
She only ever called me by my last name when she was pissed. Something I shouldn’t be laughing about if I had any sense.
She leaned in closer. “Are you laughing at me right now?”
“What? No!” I feigned an exaggerated disbelief that would have fooled no one. “Me laughing? Never.”
Her nostrils flared as her lips clamped tightly shut. If we were a cartoon, I would have expected smoke to spew out of her ears at any moment.
And it was now official. When it came to Edie Zindell, I had no sense of self-preservation. “I’m trying to help you out here, Edie,” I said. “One friend helping another.”
She crossed her arms. “We’re not friends.”
I shrugged. This was true. But for someone who wasn’t my friend, I enjoyed her company a whole heck of a lot. Like, more than just about anyone else’s. “But we’re teammates,” I said.
She sneered.
I kind of wanted to call Derek back so he could see this look. If he wasn’t scared off entirely by her intensity, that sneer would seal the deal. He wouldn’t even think of asking her out again.
“We’re not teammates,” she said. “We’re just part of the same group project.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “But you and I are the group leaders, which…” I drew the word out to annoy her. “Would imply that you and I are, in fact, working together.” I grinned. “Teammates.”
“Ugh,” she grunted in disgust.
I had a point and she knew it. “And trust me when I say, partner…Derek is not the guy for you.”
Her eyes flared wide with disbelief. “How on earth could you know that? What are you, some sort of love guru?”
“You said it yourself in psych class. I’m a matchmaker.” I pointed to her. “As are you.”
She swatted my hand away. “For the sake of the experiment, you lunatic. You’re not act
ually a matchmaker in real life.”
I pretended to think that over. “Maybe I should be. I’m a pretty good judge of character.”
Her scoff was so derisive I was almost insulted. Or amused. It was hard to tell sometimes when I was around her. Her anger toward me was so obvious that it was laughable—or it would have been if I had any idea what I’d ever done to her.
“What? You don’t think I know people?” I asked.
She crossed her arms. “You don’t know me.”
I laughed. “No offense, Edie, but you’re not that complicated.”
She arched a brow. “If you knew what I wanted in a date, you would have let Derek continue asking me to the dance.”
A surge of annoyance had me taking a step closer, my jaw too tight as I forced a smile that I knew would piss her off. “Again,” I said softly. “He wasn’t asking anything. He was confirming. Feeling it out. Testing the waters. Too afraid of rejection to man up and ask you out.”
Oh crap. Under her all-too serious stare I experienced a distinctly uncomfortable sensation. Hypocrisy and guilt and shame and jealousy…
My own words seemed to mock me. Too afraid of rejection to man up and ask you out.
Sound familiar, smart guy?
She pursed her lips. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?”
She wrinkled her nose up. “I don’t know,” she said slowly. “I’ve never seen this look on you.”
I ran a hand over my chest, trying to calm this crazy sensation. Maybe Derek wasn’t the only coward here. Maybe the reason I didn’t want him asking her to the dance was because I wanted to go with her myself.
Maybe…
Oh crap.
Maybe I still had a thing for the girl who hated my guts.
Edie took a step back. “Foster, if you’re about to be sick, you can take it elsewhere.”
“I’m not going to be sick.”
She frowned. “What was all that business about us going together to the dance? You know we never talked about that.”
“It…seemed like a good idea.”
Her frown shifted into a look of utter disbelief.
“We do need to work on the project,” I said. “And it was your idea to do the big reveal at the dance.”
She rolled her eyes but didn’t argue. In fact, her gaze flittered away and I got that suspicious feeling. “Tell me, Edie. Why wait until the dance? You embarrassed by your results or something?”
To my surprise, her cheeks turned pink. “No, I just…” She shrugged. “I haven’t even looked yet.”
I watched her for a moment in stunned silence. “Why, Edie Zindell…” I drew her name out teasingly as I took a step closer. “I never took you to be a liar.”
Her gaze shot up to meet mine and we stood there in silence for what felt like a lifetime. I was afraid to move, afraid to breathe for fear of breaking this moment. In the orange flickering firelight, even with the sound of chatter and music all around us—I’d never felt more connected to another human being.
For a heartbeat, it felt like we were the only two people at this party, or even on this planet. The look in her eyes was unreadable but deep. Emotions I couldn’t begin to name flickered there beneath the surface.
“Whatever.” She took a step back, her voice a little too loud and jarring. “We need to meet up this week to discuss the results for the group members, but until then…” She started to walk away, heading toward the street where her car was parked. “Why don’t you do me a favor and stay far, far away from my love life?”
I watched her go, staring into the dark long after she’d disappeared. With Danielle and my buddies occupied by some game they were playing, I fished my phone from my pocket and finally opened that stupid, ridiculous app.
For the first time I clicked on the results. I couldn’t tell if it was dread or excitement that had me tapping the back of the phone in impatience as I waited to see if my hunch was right. I didn’t know if I wanted it to confirm my suspicions or not.
But when Edie’s name popped up as my number one match I let out a long breath.
I didn’t believe in this app nonsense. Not one bit.
But I did know that I’d been lying to myself for way too long now. Denying what was right in front of my face.
There was only one girl at Coleridge High who I wanted to date. Only one girl who’d ever gotten under my skin and burrowed deep down into my heart.
She just happened to be the one girl who hated my guts.
Chapter 3
Edie
The smell of chlorine was overwhelming, even up here in the bleachers. The echoing shouts of the swim team’s coach bounced off the walls along with the sounds of splashing water as the team practiced.
There was a big meet coming up and they were practicing overtime, which was why Dane had me meet him here.
I watched him pull himself up over the edge of the pool when he finished his laps. My belly did a backflip as I took in his bare chest, the lean muscles, the broad shoulders, the—
I tore my eyes away and took a deep breath of the humid air. Holy cow. I’d always known the guy was ripped, but this…
I did a quick check to make sure no drool had escaped my mouth. This was probably why he had me meet him here. Arrogant jerk. He just wanted to show off, no doubt.
And with good reason.
“Is this seat taken?”
I glanced over to see Danielle smiling at me a couple seats down. She was giving me the sort of patient smile of someone awaiting permission to approach.
I hated that smile.
“No, of course not,” I said, a little more abruptly than intended. I moved my book bag to the side for her so she could sit next to me.
We sat in awkward silence for a moment before I remembered that I was nice and she was new and I should be more welcoming. “So,” I said. “Are you into swimming?”
She shot me an amused little smile and I noticed just how pretty she was. Not ‘cute’ like I was often described. She was pretty. Classically so, with her long blonde hair and blue eyes.
She was Cinderella and I was…not Snow White.
I was a dwarf. Bossy Dwarf.
“I like swimming okay,” she said, interrupting my downer thoughts. “But I like swimmers even better.” She gave me a wink before nodding toward the benches below where Dane was towelling off.
You know that sound that Homer Simpson makes when he sees donuts?
My inner voice made that noise.
It was humiliating, even if I was the only person to hear it.
“He’s so hot, right?” Danielle said beside me, leaning over and lowering her voice like we were sharing secrets.
Apparently she didn’t get the memo that I wasn’t really the gossiping, boy-crazy type. I wasn’t even really the friend type. I had friends but no besties and no super tight clique. I was the loner type. The type who liked to sit by herself while she waited for her lab partner to finish—
Oh for the love of Pete.
Was he trying to put on a show for Danielle? Was that it? There was no earthly reason it should be taking this long for Dane to put on his shirt.
“I heard you two are working on a project together.” Danielle might have been pretty, but she was no actress. Her attempt to bring up the topic of our Love Quiz experiment was clumsy at best.
But she was new, and I was determined to be nice so I smiled and nodded. “It’s for Mr. Portman’s class.”
“Is that why he hasn’t checked his results?” Danielle toyed with her hair as I stared at her.
He hadn’t? I kept that to myself. “Um…”
“I mean, not that I really care,” Danielle rushed to add. “It’s not like I believe in that stuff.”
I studied her. I knew her type. If I waited her out, she’d fill the silence.
“I mean, it’s stupid, right?” she said.
“That’s what we’re trying to prove,” I said. But as I said it, all I kept t
hinking about was how Dane hadn’t checked his results. I’d accused him of getting Danielle and he hadn’t denied it.
Not that it meant anything. But a little voice was nagging at me that it did.
I just didn’t know what.
“Exactly,” Danielle said as if I’d just said something brilliant that confirmed her suspicions. “I mean, I thought it was odd that you guys have to go to the dance together but…”
I shot her a sidelong look. We had to? Was that what Dane had told her?
Ugh. A whole new suspicion hit me. Was he using me to shake off Danielle?
The thought disgusted me.
Mostly.
I ignored the flicker of pleasure because no—I did not have a crush on Dane. Not anymore. I’d learned my lesson on that one.
Besides, I had a new crush and his name was Derek. I frowned down at the pool area where Dane was talking to his coach. Still shirtless.
The jerk.
It was his fault that Derek had walked away, and right when I was starting to make progress! How was I ever going to get my Love Quiz results to change with Dane interfering?
“Anyways,” Danielle said with a sigh. “It’s too bad you guys are forced to go with each other.”
I shot her a look because…she was trying to say something. Awkwardly, but still. I waited her out.
“I mean, it’s obvious you guys don’t get along,” Danielle prompted.
“Mmm.” So that was it. Danielle was jealous. Ha! If I were really nice, I’d put her at ease. I stared at this girl who stared right back.
Yup, right about now was the time to put her at ease.
This would be the time to tell her she had nothing to worry about.
My lips stayed firmly shut as if they had a mind of their own.
“Hey ladies.” Dane’s voice was like a rifle shot. I jumped in my seat, that low voice of his seemed to reverberate in the echoing space.
“Hey! You looked great out there.” Danielle was speaking next to me, but I didn’t look her way.
Neither did Dane. He was staring straight at me, like I was supposed to say something.
“Yeah,” I said, my voice stupidly croakey because—for Pete’s sake! Was it asking too much for him to put on a stinkin’ shirt?! “You looked good.”
The Match Makers: Love Quiz #3 Page 3