She rallied, though, I’d give her that. She ignored the blush and pretended to be calm. “I just need to make you fall in love with me.” She gave a nonchalant shrug that made me laugh. “That’s all.”
“That’s all, huh?” I shifted. “Well, you’re already off to a great start.” Her cheeks must have been burning her alive by the looks of it. “You don’t have to be so embarrassed, you know,” I said. “This sort of thing happens to me all the time.”
Her eyes widened and then she burst out in a laugh that seemed to shock her as much as me. “Oh yeah? A lot of girls practice their flirting skills on you, huh? Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
She added the last part under her breath and it was loaded with sarcasm.
I knew I had a reputation but it wasn’t like I was some player. Girls seemed to like me, that was all.
And I liked girls.
But I wasn’t some creep who hit on every female who moved, and I had no idea what I’d done to make this girl so skittish around me. It was a thought that had been bugging me for some time now. For years, actually, ever since I’d transferred to Lakeview High and started sitting at the same lunch table with this girl and sharing some classes with her, too. No matter how nice I was, how personable…she acted like I was the boogeyman. But why? Most girls liked me.
I’d said that already, didn’t I?
But it was a point that ought to be reiterated because it made Simone’s obvious dislike of me that much more confusing.
Right now she was staring down at her feet looking for all the world like she’d rather be anywhere else, talking to anyone else. Anyone but me.
I crossed my arms as I eyed her from head to toe. We had nothing but time to kill, it seemed. Maybe it was time to find out what her problem was. “Tell me, Simone, what did I do to make you so nervous around me?”
She stared at me with wide eyes, her lips slightly parted. It was pretty cute, actually.
“Did you hear stories about me that I’m unaware of?” I continued, shifting against the ledge as I entertained myself. “Maybe that I eat babies or collect human skulls or something?”
She blinked rapidly in surprise. No doubt at the fact that I’d made a joke. This girl didn’t seem to expect much from me, and certainly not a sense of humor. But after years of listening to her conversations with Jax, I knew she lived for movie references. It couldn’t hurt, right? I leaned forward and dropped my voice two octaves. “Hello, Clarice.”
“W-what?” she stammered.
Huh. Maybe Silence of the Lambs wasn’t on her radar.
“Did you...did you…” Her eyes grew impossibly wide. “Did you just quote Silence of the Lambs to me?”
She sounded so shocked and her voice was so high-pitched it was kind of hilarious. Then she blinked and her tone was back to normal. “It’s actually good evening, Clarice,” she said, lowering her voice like she was channeling Anthony Hopkins. “People are always misquoting that one.”
I felt my grin spreading despite telling myself I wouldn’t laugh at this odd little duck with her weird impersonations and her jumpy behavior.
I shrugged, unapologetic. “I’m not a big horror fan. I just wanted to lighten the mood. Help ease your nerves a bit.”
“I’m not nervous,” she said quickly. It came out sounding more like a question than a statement.
“No?” I said.
She shook her head.
I stood upright, leaning in slightly. What was I doing? I had no idea. I’d just never had a chance to talk one-on-one with this girl before, and I couldn’t seem to resist the urge to tease her. “So I don’t make you nervous then?”
Her eyes fluttered rapidly and she licked her lips. “N-no.”
I held her gaze evenly. I couldn’t have stopped my smile if I’d tried. “You’re a terrible liar.”
The pink in her cheeks turned a dark red and she shut her eyes briefly. “Flames,” she said in a weird high-pitched voice. “On the side of my face.”
I started to laugh and her eyes shot open. “Sorry, bad habit. That was from—”
“Clue,” I said. “Yeah, I know.”
She blinked three times fast like I’d just shocked the life out of her because I recognized a totally recognizable movie quote.
She shifted from one foot to the other. “Sometimes I quote movies when I’m nervous,” she mumbled.
I grinned. “From what I can tell you quote movies all the time. You’re really into impressions, right?”
Again with the wide-eyed shock.
Seriously, how was she so surprised? I didn’t know whether to be amused or insulted. Amusement won out. It typically did. I’d learned a long time ago not to take life too seriously. Or at least, not to take non-serious things seriously. But this girl…
Either she thought I was truly stupid or she just thought I was deaf. “You do know I sit next to you at lunch almost every day of the week, right?”
She blinked. “I sit next to Jax.”
I arched a brow. “And I sit next to you.”
It wasn’t like I’d intended for us to sit next to each other all the time but more often than not, that was where I ended up.
“And?” she said warily.
“I hear you guys talking.”
I seriously saw the air rush out of her. It was like I’d popped a balloon and heard the helium squeak out. “Everything?”
I shrugged.
She moaned as she lifted her hands to cover her face. “This day can’t get any more humiliating.”
“Why? Because I hear you do impersonations and cast people in this school as though someone is going to make a biopic about Lakeview High some day?”
She groaned again and I laughed. She was really kind of cute when she was embarrassed.
She was cute when she was doing impersonations, too, even though they were usually terrible. But if I were being honest, listening in to Simone and Jax bickering like an old married couple or squabbling like siblings every afternoon had become the highlight of my school day.
It just would have been nice if one half of the bickering duo didn’t treat me like I was some terrifying devil incarnate. “So?” I asked.
“What?”
“Why are you so nervous around me?”
“I’m not nervous,” she said automatically.
I met her gaze in silence, calling her out on her lie with a simple arch of one brow.
She groaned again, this time with a roll of her eyes. “It’s not you, it’s just…you’re just…” She waved a hand in my direction. “You’re so…you.”
I let a heartbeat pass as we both absorbed that statement. “I apologize for that.” I kept my voice even and her lips trembled with a near-smile that made it hard for me to stay serious.
“I just meant that you’re…you.” She said again with another flail of her hand.
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Yes, well, you’ve certainly cleared that up for me.”
She rolled her eyes with a huff. “You know what I mean…”
“I really don’t.”
She pursed her lips for a second and huffed loudly. “You’re all cool,” she said, making cool somehow sound incredibly lame. “And you’re so…easygoing. Like nothing bothers you.”
I shrugged. “Very little does.” At least, not anymore. Once you’ve lost the most important person in your life, it was sort of hard to get worked up over high school drama.
“And you have that confidence,” she said, clearly on a roll now. She seemed to be getting into it. And while I didn’t love that she was finally coming to life over my many detriments, so far I had to admit they didn’t sound all that terrible. “You have like…” Her nose wrinkled up in disdain. “Swagger.”
I tipped my head back with a laugh. “How do you make that sound like a bad thing?”
She shook her head with a little rueful laugh of her own. “It’s not. Obviously. It just makes me uncomfortable.”
“I see.” I narrowed my eyes and prete
nded to think it over. “Would it help if I acted neurotic at lunch? Or would you still run away if Jax doesn’t show?”
She blinked at me, her lips twitching before she bit her lip. “I didn’t run away.”
It was a lie and we both knew it. I didn’t bother to call her on it. I just watched her and waited. I had a feeling if I was quiet long enough, she’d—
“How are you so calm like that?” she snapped. “I mean, you just got dragged into a super weird situation and yet you’re all Matthew McConaughey over here.”
I fought a crazy grin because…there it was. I’d listened to her and Jax ‘cast’ everyone in our school on days when they seemed to be particularly bored. But they’d never cast me…probably because I was sitting right there.
“Matthew McConaughey, huh? Isn’t he, like, fifty years old?”
She tilted her head to the side to study me. “A young Matthew McConaughey.”
I nodded. “I’ll take it.”
She smiled. An honest-to-goodness smile that transformed her from ordinary to beautiful in the blink of an eye.
She seemed to catch herself quickly and that smile was gone just as quickly as it had appeared.
That was a shame.
I watched her closely, waiting for it to appear again, but she’d crossed her arms over her chest and was kicking at the ground beneath her feet. “This was such a stupid idea. I don’t know what Rose was thinking.”
Yeah, about that…
“So, why exactly are you trying to make me fall in love with you?” I asked.
She looked so distraught I almost felt sorry for asking. For a second I thought she might not answer, but I kept my mouth shut, my gaze even, my expression blank, and, sure enough—
“I have a crush on a guy, okay? But he doesn’t know that I exist so Rose is trying to teach me how to be a real girl and—”
“A real girl?”
“Yeah, you know, like how Pinocchio has to learn how to be a real boy.” She was on such a roll, all I could do was nod.
Pinocchio. Yeah. Of course.
“But Jax doesn’t know and I don’t think this is going to work and—”
“Hey, hey, my faux lovers,” Rose called out as she bounded over to us. “How’s it going over here?”
“We haven’t even started,” I said at the same time that Simone said, “Badly.”
Rose looked from me to Simone and then back again, her excitement visibly fading. “Not a success, then.” She made a pouty face. “But the party is tonight,” she said on a moan. As if it was her love life at stake and not Simone’s.
“What party?” I asked.
“A house party over by Fairmont,” Rose said.
She looked so distraught and Simone seemed so disappointed, like she’d honestly just failed some kind of test.
“I have an idea,” I said. “Why don’t I go to this party with you?” I met Simone’s gaze. “You can warm up on me and then I’ll send you on over to this lover boy of yours.”
I sounded a bit too snide when I’d said ‘lover boy’ but if anyone noticed, they didn’t let on. Rose was too busy jumping up and down and thanking me, and Simone was…
Well, she was staring at me like she’d never seen me before.
One side of my mouth quirked up in amusement at her befuddled state. “I guess I’ll see you ladies tonight,” I said.
“Wait, you don’t have to—” Simone started.
Rose cut her off. “We’ll pick you up at eight.”
I grinned at Rose but cut my gaze to Simone as I donned a Southern accent. “Well, alright alright alright.”
4
Simone
* * *
I was still laughing when I reached my friends.
It was either laugh or stew in the humiliation that was that bizarre interaction. I didn’t love stewing, and also...who knew Andrew could crack a joke?
Or do a Matthew McConaughey impersonation?
Would wonders never cease?
I made a mental note to tell Jax that the boring, vanilla jock king might actually have a sense of humor and a surprisingly good grip on movie classics. I mean, he’d quoted Silence of the Lambs, recognized a scene from Clue, and used a line from Dazed and Confused.
Color me impressed.
“What are you grinning about?” Emma asked with an answering smile when I rejoined my friends. Each and every one of them was poring over the magazines that Rose had delivered like some kind of modern-day fairy godmother.
“What were you talking to Andrew Jacobs about?” Lulu’s eyes were wide with awe.
I shrugged. “Nothing much. Rose wanted me to practice what she’d taught me on him.”
Hazel’s jaw dropped in disbelief. “She wanted you to practice on Andrew Jacobs?”
I glanced over my shoulder, nervous he’d hear my friends squealing about him like he was some sort of rock star. Which he kind of was...you know, aside from the fact that he didn’t play an instrument or perform in a band.
“How’d it go?” Emma asked.
I cringed, but before I could say ‘trainwreck’ Max interrupted with a loud cackling laugh. “Oh my goodness…” She held up the issue she’d been reading. “Get a load of this. Ten ways to catch his eye. Number six? Share a warm beverage.” She bent over with laughter. “Apparently that’ll give him a warm fuzzy feeling whenever he thinks of you…” She almost didn’t finish, she was laughing so hard.
I started laughing, too. “It doesn’t really say that.” I went to grab it from her and she handed it over.
“It totally does!” she wheezed. “Seriously, who would take this seriously?”
“I don’t know…” Avery looked up from the magazine she’d been reading with a hopeful expression. “Some of this sounds reasonable. Like…” She pointed to something on the page before her. “Find common interests. And encourage him to talk about himself….” She dipped her head down again and it seemed like she was looking for more helpful hints.
Max rolled her eyes. “Well, yeah, but that’s just common sense. Everyone knows guys love to talk about themselves.”
Jax’s voice behind me gave me a start. “What are you ladies talking about?”
“Nothing!” I said it too loudly and threw the magazine that was in my hands back to Max, who arched her brows in surprise but said nothing.
None of them did.
I shouldn’t have been surprised, they were always like this around Jax.
Yes, he was attractive, and sure he was popular, but he was friends with me. It was hard to imagine that didn’t make him at least a little less intimidating. But, for whatever reason, this group of strong, independent young women seemingly agreed as a unit that they would become mute in Jax’s presence.
That was probably one of the reasons Jax always referred to them as ‘the girls.’ They weren’t exactly personable around him.
But their muteness worked in my favor right now because none of them would spill the beans on this ridiculous undertaking of mine. The whole ‘learning how to flirt’ thing might be seen as cute by Rose but I knew without a doubt that Jax would just find it pitiful.
“You ready to go home, dweeb?” Jax asked as he threw an arm around my shoulders.
“Yeah. See you guys.” I tossed that over my shoulder and saw Avery hold up her copy with a wide-eyed eager look. I’ll bring it to school on Monday, she mouthed.
I clamped my mouth shut and fought a laugh as I turned back around and let Jax lead me to his car.
I hadn’t learned to drive yet, and even if I had I couldn’t have afforded a car, so I was pretty much always running on Jax’s schedule. “Rose says you’re coming to the party tonight.” He grinned down at me. “Good for you, letting loose for once.”
I stuck my tongue out at him at the age-old joke.
Jax was convinced I was too straightlaced and ‘good,’ whatever that meant.
“Oh, hey,” he added as we reached his car. “Andrew wants to come along, too. That cool with you
?”
I opened my mouth and closed it, oddly touched by the fact that Rose hadn’t told him why Andrew was going. I mean, it wasn’t that I didn’t trust Rose, but her first loyalty wasn’t to me. It occurred to me now that maybe I shouldn’t have asked her to keep a secret from her boyfriend...
Jax arched his brows at me as he started the car. I still hadn’t answered.
“Yeah, of course,” I said quickly. “That’s fine by me if Andrew wants to tag along.”
I was regretting those words hours later.
To be fair, I was regretting a lot of my life choices when eight o’clock rolled around and Jax had to drag me out of my house.
Not before my dad caught us, though.
“Whoa, look at you,” my dad said, using that weird dad voice that made me cringe.
My dad was the best. Really and truly the best. But he was still a dad and he had a tendency to do dad thing, like—
“Don’t let those boys get too close to this beauty,” he said as he nudged Jax’s elbow.
Jax grinned at my discomfort.
“Dad,” I whined as I tugged at the too-tight jeans that Rose had insisted I wear instead of my baggy ones. She’d also replaced my totally fine V-neck T-shirt I’d planned to wear with a tighter black shirt that had me clenching my belly muscles in case my pudge was showing.
And...the makeup.
Don’t forget the makeup. To be fair, she hadn’t gone crazy, but since I barely ever wore any makeup, I currently felt like a mime.
“You’re so beautiful, honey,” my dad said with a teary-eyed shake of his head.
Ah crap. I so didn’t have time for this.
“Isn’t she, though?” Rose came up from behind me and gave my shoulders a little squeeze. She actually sounded like she meant it. But then again, Rose was a trained actress.
We were late picking up Andrew, but this didn’t seem to faze anyone but me.
It didn’t even faze Andrew. But then again, nothing fazed this guy from what I could tell.
The car ride was uneventful, and basically a circle because we had to pick Andrew up in the nice neighborhood near school before circling back to the neighborhood that was on our side of town.
Striking Out With The Star Pitcher: How to catch a crush #1 Page 3