by Amanda Abram
“School stuff? Are you sure it’s not boy stuff?”
“Why would you say that?”
“Maybe because you have a bunch of sunflowers lying on a table in the break room that I’m pretty sure you didn’t buy for yourself. Which means they most likely came from a boy. But you don’t seem as happy about those flowers as most girls would, so they probably came from a boy you didn’t want them to come from. Like maybe a boy you recently broke up with who has given you sunflowers before?”
I clapped my hands together in sarcastic applause. “Good job. You solved the mystery.”
Jade grinned. “I’ve been told I can be quite perceptive.” She paused. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really. But thanks anyway.”
“Okay. Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find me.”
“I do, thank you.” I gave her a smile and went back to my task.
I was just finishing up on the last table when I heard the familiar ding of the bell above the door, indicating a customer had just walked in. Figuring Jade would take care of them, I didn’t even bother to turn around until Jade spoke.
“Um, Cassie?” she said.
“Yeah?” I set down my rag and turned to see what she wanted, and instead saw Dylan standing in front of the counter, holding a single red rose in his hand.
“Hey,” he said cautiously.
“Hey,” I said, my tone of voice mirroring his.
“Can we talk?” he asked, his voice low and serious.
My gaze shot to Jade, who was eyeing Dylan curiously.
“Why don’t you two go out back?” she suggested.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she replied. She motioned to all the empty tables surrounding us. “I think I can handle the crowd on my own for a few minutes.”
“Okay. Thanks.” I turned to Dylan. “Follow me.”
I led him out back to the break room and shut the door to give us some privacy.
“What’s up?” I asked him, unintentionally lowering my gaze to the rose he was holding in his hand.
“I was told this is what husbands are supposed to do for their wives when they want to apologize for something stupid they’ve done. I wasn’t sure if it also applied to pretend husbands, but I figured it was better to be safe than sorry.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at that, as much as I didn’t want to. I was still mad at him.
He held it out to me. “I know sunflowers are your favorite, but you’ve received so many of those lately that I thought maybe you’d be ready for something new.”
I smiled as I took the rose from him and brought it up to my nose to smell it, even though it didn’t have much of a scent at all. But it was pretty, and it was sweet of him to give it to me.
“Thank you,” I said politely, setting it down on the table next to Elijah’s sunflowers.
“Cass, I’m sorry.” Dylan raked a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry I went behind your back and talked to Mrs. Andrews about our project, and I’m sorry for how our conversation went earlier.”
I nodded. “Okay,” I said slowly. I was waiting for him to elaborate before accepting his apology.
“I didn’t mean it when I said I didn’t want to work with you anymore.”
My eyes shot up to meet his. “Then why did you say it?”
He sighed and looked away. “I don’t know. I guess I just sort of freaked out about what happened Saturday night. Or what almost happened.”
My breath caught in my throat. So, I hadn’t just imagined it after all.
“I thought maybe things would be weird between us,” he continued.
“I thought so too,” I said. “But that’s why I wanted to talk to you this morning. To clear things up.”
“I know. And I was stupid and brushed you off.” He stared down at the floor and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “I’m not always great at communicating, and I’d rather avoid uncomfortable situations than deal with them. I just figured it would be easier to stop talking to you than to discuss, well, you know.”
Yes, I did know. He was talking about the almost kiss. The one neither of us had an explanation for.
“Dylan, you don’t have to be freaked out about the other night. We were just playing around and got caught up in the moment. You don’t have to worry that I’m, like, in love with you or anything.”
He looked taken aback by that. “I’m not worried. I just thought maybe you’d be worried that, you know, I was in love with you.”
I laughed. “I would never think you were in love with me, Dylan. I’m not even your type.”
“Right,” he mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck as he chuckled softly. “So, you’re not secretly in love with me?”
I shook my head and drew an invisible X across my chest. “Cross my heart. And you’re not secretly in love with me?”
Dylan’s lips morphed into a lopsided grin. “You’re cool and all, but no. I’m not in love with you.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay, then. See how easy that was? If we’d just had this conversation when I first came to talk to you, this whole situation could have been avoided.”
“I know, I know,” he said, nodding in agreement. “So, are we cool?”
“We’re cool,” I replied with a smile.
“Great.” He glanced over his shoulder at the door. “I guess I’ll let you get back to work.”
“Wait,” I said, grabbing the sleeve of his jacket as he brushed past me. “Just to be clear, this means we’re still partners, right?”
Dylan smirked and pulled down the rim of my hat, so it covered my eyes. “Of course, boo bear.”
I pushed my hat back up and made a face at him. “Boo bear?”
“I have an endless supply of pet names for you, my love, and I intend on using every single one of them before this project ends.”
I rolled my eyes and nudged him toward the door. “Okay, well, I have to get back to work now.”
Dylan laughed as he opened the door and stepped out of the room. “See you later, Cass.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I said, waving him away with my hand.
After he was gone, I sighed and turned to look at my bounty of flowers on the table. The lot of sunflowers on one side, the single rose on the other. With a small smile, I traced my finger down the long stem of the rose, being careful not to prick myself.
“Okay, I’m just going to say it.”
I blinked at the sound of Jade’s voice and glanced up to see her standing in the doorway.
“Say what?” I asked her.
“That boy likes you.”
I felt a weird flutter in my chest as I snorted. “What? Dylan does not like me.”
“And how do you know that?”
“He literally just told me he didn’t.”
“And you believed him?”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Yes. He was very convincing.”
But Jade wasn’t convinced. “Okay, then, what about the rose?”
“What about it?”
“It’s red.”
“So?”
“So, red roses are a symbol of love. Lust. Desire. I’m telling you, that boy wants you.”
I shook my head in disagreement. “Believe me, you’re reading way too much into this.”
I could tell from the look on her face that she thought she was right and there was nothing that would change her mind.
“Whatever you say,” she said in a singsong voice. “I’m going back up front.”
“Please do,” I said with mock irritation.
Jade just grinned before disappearing from the doorway.
I stepped away from the table and glanced back down at the flowers. Jade could believe whatever she wanted to believe, but she was wrong. Dylan didn’t like me as anything more than a friend.
I was sure of that.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“Well, this is fun,” Lauren said, glancing at Elijah, Dylan, a
nd then me. “A real blast from the past.”
I could tell she was just trying to be polite as the four of us sat in uncomfortable silence around Elijah’s kitchen table. Earlier, when I approached Lauren with Elijah’s idea of studying together after school, she seemed on board with it, but now I could see she was quickly changing her mind.
“I know, right?” Elijah grinned. He seemed oblivious to the fact that none of us shared his enthusiasm. “We should go back to doing this every week.”
Neither Lauren nor Dylan looked particularly excited at the prospect, and I can’t imagine I did either.
“I don’t know…” Dylan said, staring down at his notebook.
“Yeah, I don’t know either.” Lauren tapped her pencil against the table. “We don’t even get much studying done.”
“But that’s what makes this so great,” Elijah said, glancing back and forth between Dylan and Lauren with a hopeful expression on his face. After they both refused to look him in the eye, he sat back in his chair and sighed. “Okay, fine. If you two don’t want to be involved, then I guess this study group will have to be just me and Cassie from here on out.” He smiled and placed his hand over mine, giving me a wink.
“Whatever,” Dylan mumbled. “I’m in, I guess.”
Elijah flashed him a grin. “I knew I could count on you. Lauren?” He arched a brow in her direction. “What do you say?”
She turned to look at me, as if wanting to get permission from me first. She knew that despite the fact I’d said yes to Elijah’s Winter Formal invitation the day before, I was still on the fence about my feelings for him. “I guess I’m okay with it if Cassie’s okay with it.”
Everybody’s eyes turned to me. The fate of our study group was now solely in my hands.
I shrugged. “Sure. Why not?”
“Great.” Elijah’s grin widened as he pushed back his chair and stood from the table. “You guys want something to drink?”
The three of us shook our heads as he went to the refrigerator and grabbed a can of Mountain Dew for himself.
“So, Lauren,” he said, returning to the table, “I’ve been meaning to ask you, how’s the single mother life treating you?”
“Horribly,” she replied. “Do you know how high the price of childcare is? I can barely afford to feed my child, let alone myself.”
“Yeah, but you’re a lawyer. You should be able to afford that, right?”
“Not anymore. I lost that job, and now I’m working a minimum wage job that barely pays the bills.”
My eyebrows shot up at that. “You didn’t tell me you lost your job.”
Her gaze flickered over to me and she smiled. “I didn’t want to worry you.”
Elijah’s eyes darted between me and Lauren. “You guys are aware that this is just a school project, right? I mean, none of it’s real.”
Lauren brought her hand up to her mouth and gave him an overly exaggerated gasp. “Wait, what? You mean Dylan and Cassie aren’t really married, and I don’t really have an invisible baby that I drop off at daycare every morning?”
Elijah rolled his eyes before turning them on Dylan. “Please tell me you’re not taking this project as seriously as these two are.”
“Nah, of course not,” Dylan said, but then he and I exchanged a small smile because we both knew Dylan was taking the project way more seriously than everyone. I guess he hadn’t told Elijah about taking me car shopping and grocery shopping, or about our darling daughter Madeline.
It was probably just as well.
“So,” Lauren said, changing the subject, “does everyone have their Winter Formal tickets yet?”
“Yep,” Elijah said proudly. “One for me and one for Cassie.” He grinned across the table at me.
Lauren turned to Dylan. “How about you?”
“No,” he replied, shaking his head. “Not yet.”
“Well, what are you waiting for?”
“He’s waiting to choose a special girl to go with,” Elijah answered for him. “He has a lot of options to go through.”
Dylan chuckled nervously. “Actually, um, I’ve already made my choice. I just haven’t asked her yet.”
I blinked over at him in surprise. “Who is it?”
He lowered his gaze and cleared his throat. “Uh, Claire Wheeler.”
Elijah gave him an approving smirk. “Nice.”
Confused, I narrowed my eyes at Dylan. “Claire Wheeler? Do you even know her?” I didn’t know much about Claire other than she was a senior, she was a blonde, and she was pretty. And I was willing to bet that was the extent of what Dylan knew about her as well.
“Yeah,” he replied. “We had the same study hall first semester. We sat next to each other and wrote notes back and forth all period.”
“Oh,” I said, scribbling nonchalantly in my notebook. “Well, I’ve literally never seen you talk to her before.”
Dylan eyed me curiously. “That’s because you literally weren’t in our study hall.”
“Yeah, I get that. I just think it’s weird you want to ask a girl you’ve never talked to outside of study hall. It’s kind of random.”
“What’s so random about it? I know her. I like her.”
“Yeah, okay,” I snorted. “You like her so much you’ve never introduced her to us? You’ve never asked her to sit with us at lunch? You’ve never even said hello to her in the hallway between classes?”
His eyes narrowed into a glare. “How do you know I’ve never said hello to her between classes?”
“It was just an assumption. Am I right?”
He opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by Lauren.
“You know, I think I would like something to drink after all,” she said to Elijah, who had been watching me and Dylan with a look of amusement on his face. “A water if you have one.”
“Sure thing,” he said, getting up to retrieve it. “You know, Dylan,” he said over his shoulder, “I think you and Claire would make a cute couple.”
“Yeah,” Lauren agreed, although she was looking at me as she said it. “I think you two should totally date.”
“I’ll just start with asking her to Winter Formal,” Dylan said, sitting back in his chair. “If it’s okay with Cass, that is,” he added sarcastically.
All eyes turned to me. “Honestly, Dylan, I couldn’t care less who you ask to the Winter Formal. Claire is a fine choice. I’m sure you two will have a great time together.”
“Oh, we will,” he said confidently.
I began scribbling in my notebook again. “Well, I’m sure I speak for everyone at this table when I say I can’t wait to meet her.”
“I’ve already met her,” Elijah said, taking a swig of his soda. “Beginning of the year. He couldn’t wait to introduce me to the hot senior he was flirting with in study hall. I’m actually surprised he’s waited so long to ask her out.”
Dylan’s face turned a slight shade of pink as I shot out of my chair, nearly knocking it over in the process.
Everyone turned to me with curious looks.
“May I use your bathroom?” I asked Elijah.
He nodded. “Of course.”
“Thanks,” I muttered, turning and leaving the room.
When I reached the small room at the end of the hall, I went inside and shut the door behind me. Taking in a deep breath, I slowly let it back out as I glanced at myself in the mirror. My face looked as tense as my stomach suddenly felt. Was I coming down with something? I placed a hand over my belly and frowned. No, I didn’t feel sick. I felt irritated. Annoyed.
But why?
It’s just PMS, I assured myself. My monthly mood swings. Sometimes they hit me hard and out of nowhere.
I sat down on the edge of the bathtub and leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees as I stared down at the tiled floor and took a few more deep breaths. The feeling would pass, but I didn’t want to leave the bathroom until it did.
A few minutes later, I stood up and glanced at myself again in the
mirror. I looked a lot more relaxed than I had before, and I felt a lot better too. Running a hand through my hair, I gave myself a small smile before turning and opening the bathroom door…
…to find Dylan standing there, hand frozen in the air as though he’d just been about to knock.
“What are you doing?” I demanded.
He looked slightly embarrassed as he lowered his hand. “I was just coming to check on you. To see if you were okay.”
“Why wouldn’t I be okay?”
“You looked kind of queasy when you left the kitchen. Are you coming down with something?” He took a step forward and placed his hand gently against my forehead as if to check for a fever.
I swatted it away as I pushed past him. “I’m fine.”
“Hey, are you still mad at me?” he asked. “Or mad at me again?”
I stopped and turned back around to face him. “No. Why would you think that?”
“You were acting kind of weird earlier. Like you have a problem with me or something.” Furrowing his brow, he added, “Did my apology from last night expire?”
I could feel every muscle in my body relax as I chuckled. “I’m not mad at you, and your apology is still accepted. I think I’m just hungry. I get kind of cranky when I haven’t eaten in a while.”
Dylan’s expression softened as his lips morphed into a small smile. “Well, you’re in luck. Elijah just made some popcorn for our movie.”
“Our movie?” My eyebrows shot up in pretend surprise. “We’re not even going to try to study first?”
Dylan laughed as we headed back down the hall. “I think Elijah feels that asking Lauren about her project was enough study-related activities for one afternoon.”
I shook my head and smirked. “This really is like old times, isn’t it?”
“You bet.” He mirrored my smirk and led me to the small family room off the kitchen where we always watched movies.
Normally, Dylan would sit in the one armchair in the room, Elijah and I would cuddle up next to each other on the loveseat, and Lauren would sit on the floor leaned up against it. Today, however, the setup was a little different. Lauren was still on the floor, but Elijah was in the armchair, leaving the loveseat for me and Dylan to share.