Not Okay, Cupid

by Heidi R. Kling

  And then I caught a glimpse of Felix and gasped.

  “What?” Jay asked. I guess it was pretty loud, that gasp. Felix, dressed head to toe in adorable powder-blue vintage tux took my breath away. Leave it to Felix James to look absolutely gorgeous in the most ridiculous outfit possible.

  “Nothing,” I said.

  The song was an old eighties song called, “Someone.” It was over-the-top romantic and I felt over the top ridiculous dancing with Jay.

  He caught a glimpse of Felix and suddenly pulled me in closer to his chest. A quick pull on my waist. “You look beautiful tonight, Hazel,” he said into my neck.

  “I do?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Uh. Thanks.”

  “Maybe this…” he said, “Was all just a mistake. All just part of the plan, you know, the greater plan.”

  Felix James stopped and watched us.

  My eyes widened.

  “What plan?”

  “You know, a test. How all the great relationships get tested in some way? Me with Kimmy, you with that ridiculous Felix James. And now…maybe now that we survived it, we can get back together. Move on to college with our plans intact. It was a good plan, Hazel McAllister.”

  He smiled sweetly, and looked like old Jay for a minute.

  I blinked.

  Dear Cupid, the plan was working! He wanted me back! He just said he did!

  I looked over at Felix. Felix with his soulful brown eyes was looking at us and frowning.

  Could he hear Jay? Or was it just the way he was leaning into my shoulder, breathing these words onto my neck?

  “What do you think, baby?” Jay said. “Forgive me? Give me another chance?”

  “I…”

  Suddenly a familiar voice behind us. “May I cut in?” Felix James said. Felix James was here on the dance floor and looking hotter than ever,

  “No,” Jay said.

  “I don’t…”

  I didn’t know what to do.

  I swallowed and tried to give Felix the signal with crazy eyes. It’s working, Felix! Our plan is working! He wants to get back together with me!

  I could see his Cupid boxers sticking out from the top of his powder-blue polyester pants. His eyes didn’t register what I was saying. He was staring at me like he did in the hallway. Like he did in my kitchen.

  He was looking at me like he wanted me.

  He was the cutest boy, sweetest, most appealingly challenging boy I’d ever known, and now he was asking me to dance.

  “Excuse me?” Jay kept his hands on my waist, kept swaying back and forth. “Hazel is dancing with me right now, Felix.”

  “What are you, a Mad Men character?” Felix growled ironically with a twist of his lips.

  “Ask her then,” Jay said. “Hazel, do you want to dance with this clown or stay with me?”

  Now was my chance. If I told Jay I wanted to stay with him, and pretended to get back with him, I could dump him hard-core and really break his heart.

  I looked at Felix with pleading eyes. But he was just standing their reaching his hand out to me.

  “I never should’ve let you come to the dance with him,” Felix said.

  “What?”

  This wasn’t part of the plan.

  “I wanted to take you. I wanted to pick you up. I wanted to help you pick out a dress that matched my tux. But you look so insanely gorgeous in that pink dress, I might omit that last regret.”

  “Dude. It’s too late. She’s with me. You’re with that Barbie. Go back to her.”

  “Don’t call her that. Her name’s Barb. And I don’t want her, and she doesn’t really want me, either.”

  Felix James stared at me.

  “I want Hazel. If she’ll have me. Hazel, if you’ll have me, I want you.”

  My heart went bananas.

  Felix was for real. This wasn’t a game. This wasn’t revenge. This was real.

  “Felix,” I heard myself whisper his name.

  I thought about Mom’s words.

  I could say, Yes, Jay, you and me. And then once he got his heart filled with hope I could dump him again.

  Make him feel the way I felt.

  Dumped in front of the whole school.

  But what would that get me?

  “Oh, Felix. For real?”

  He grinned. The famous Felix James grinned. “For real.”

  He reached out his hand.

  I took it, and he spun me into his arms, pressing me into his chest protectively. Briefly, I let my cheek rest against his heart. I never wanted to leave his arms again, not for a minute. No, not for a millisecond.

  His hand gently pressed the small of my back into him.

  “I’m sorry,” Felix said. “I should have said something sooner. I should have told you how much I care about you as soon as I knew.”

  Then I heard Jay’s crass warning. “He’ll never settle down. You’ve seen those floozies he dates and then ditches. You’ll be next. It’s a conquest. That’s it. The ultimate conquest maybe because he never thought he could get you. Come back with me, Hazel. Forgive me. We have plans. Your plans. I’ll do them all, college, kids, picket fence. Whatever you want from now on, I swear.”

  Jay looked earnest.

  I glanced up at Kimmy, who was fuming. Tears streaming down her cheeks.

  Swallowing I turned and looked up at Felix.

  His eyes were sunlight on the foggiest day. His hand warm in mine. His arms strong, holding me close.

  Maybe he would dump me.

  Maybe it wouldn’t last forever.

  But we had tonight. And it was worth the risk.

  For once in my life, I would trust my heart instead of my head. Poison arrows be damned.

  “No, Jay. You had your chance and you blew it,” I said. “But I think you’re right about the test thing,” I said.

  “You do?”

  “Yes. We were tested. And I aced it.”

  “How?”

  “I won the best guy.”

  “If this was an 80s movie, I’d punch you clear out of your tennis shorts for how you treat ladies, you know that, right? But I want to have my dance with my girl. And, like the boss that she is, Hazel told you all that needs to be said.”

  Felix grabbed my hand and pulled me into the farthest corner of the dance floor. Away from Jay. Away from Kimmy. Away from the stares and the whispers. It didn’t matter anyway, they all disappeared, and all that was left was the two of us as he twirled me in his arms.

  I rested my chin on his shoulder and felt him sigh under its weight.

  “I’ve missed you,” he murmured into my ear.

  “I’ve missed you, too.”

  “For reals,” he said. “Not as part of the plan.”

  “Me too. I really, really missed you. I thought I’d die without you.”

  He grasped both of my hands and pushed me in front of him so he could see me. “Really?”

  “Really.”

  “Wow.” He smiled. “Wow. Hazel McAllister likes me?”

  “Yes.” I smiled back. “Hazel McAllister likes you a lot. Too much in fact.”

  “Holy shit.”

  “I know. So don’t screw this up, Felix James, or you’ll be sweeping my broken heart off the floor for the rest of your life.”

  “That will never happen. Never. Thank you, Hazel.”

  “For what?”

  “For giving me a chance like this.”

  “Oh, Felix.” I sighed into his chest. “Thank you.”

  As he pulled me closer, the MC took to the stage. “And now’s the time of night when we announce Sunny Cove High’s Valentine’s Day Dance Cupid and Psyche.

  “Oh, God,” I said.

  “Here we go,” Felix said. “And Baze?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Whatever happens with Cupid and Psyche, I just want you to know, our ‘fake’ relationship was the most real relationship I’ve ever had.”

  Standing as close as I could to Felix, shoulder to shou
lder, we reached out simultaneously, twining our fingers together. I felt a pleasant ping in my heart as the MC announced our names, and Felix, with surprised eyes and in a powder-blue tux with red Converse grinned all soft, soft hair and big brown eyes. I didn’t know what would happen next and suddenly I didn’t care.

  I turned to him and threw my arms around his neck and kissed him bold and triumphantly.

  And he kissed me back.

  In front of everyone, the Player of La Playa and Perfectly Planned Hazel were kissing.

  The rest of the world disappeared. Again. The disco-sparkling gym, the shocked student body, even Kimmy and Jay.

  It had nothing to do with revenge, this kiss.

  Instead, it had everything to do with knowing that this was the boy I wanted. He was the right boy. It didn’t have to be perfect—he didn’t have to be perfect, and neither did I. It just had to feel right.

  He held me close to him and whispered in my ear, and the moment lasted forever. I felt Cupid’s arrow not just vibrating through my heart, but buzzing through my entire body, tingling, everywhere. I sucked in a breath, and we locked eyes.

  “Wow,” Felix said, a low, gasping sigh. His face was so close to mine that my lips were brushing his neck.

  “I know,” I replied into the wisp of his hair. I rested my cheek on his powder-blue shoulder and held on tight. This was going to be a wild ride, and I couldn’t wait.

  Okay, Cupid—I guess you know what you’re doing after all.

  Afterward

  After the Valentine’s Day Dance

  CUPID

  Lit only by a small candle in between them, Hazel McAllister and Felix James sat cross-legged facing each other on top of a table booth hunched over sweet potato French fries. Felix, smiling, offered Hazel, also smiling, a pesto-mayonnaise dip that he made himself. He points out the menu, shyly, that it’s named after her—Hazel’s Basil—and this gift is better than all the pearl necklaces and future tennis bracelets and diamond earrings Jay could offer her in a lifetime.

  PSYCHE

  Amidst romantic staging unlike the last scene of Hazel’s favorite Classic Sad, Sixteen Candles, Hazel realized that sometimes dreams do come true—with a little risk—and a little bit of take-a-risk mojo from the tip of Cupid’s arrow, helping her to realize what she already knew all along. When Felix leans over to kiss her, she tastes summer peaches. She has a zap of love in her heart that makes her feel soft and alive all over, and at that moment, the jukebox plays her favorite song.

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  Acknowledgments

  Many thanks to Heather Howland (PAINT MY BODY RED’s wonderful editor) for inviting me to write my first rom-com. (I’m hooked! Why did I not think of this before?), to my charming male editor, Stephen Morgan, for being my perfect match for this book. I’ve never met you, but I love you! Let’s write the next JM or YGM! To all the behind the scenes folks at Entangled—what a unique, gutsy and inspiring company you’ve created—thanks for inviting me onto your crew. I’d like to thank the Wyatt family for use of their screened-in porch and lake deck where I revised this entire novel, Samantha and Miss Jean for their Southern hospitality and kid entertaining, and Drew for his delicious cuisine and boat rides. I couldn’t have finished this novel on time without your generosity. And, lastly, to my agent, Sara Crowe, for general awesomeness in all things Teen Lit. I’m so glad you’re by my side.

  About the Author

  Heidi R. Kling writes novels about contemporary teen girls set in fantastic situations. She’s the author of the acclaimed novel SEA, bestselling fantasy series Spellspinners of Melas County, and more. A native Californian, she currently lives with her husband, two children, and scruffy Sailor pup in Palo Alto, California, where she also teaches self-esteem building classes for kids. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from The New School in NYC. Visit Heidi @ http://heidirkling.com or on social media. She loves to chat with her readers!

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