by Molly E. Lee
“Watch out!” a booming voice shouted just as I’d made it up the stairs to the second-floor landing, which was quite possibly bigger than all the bedrooms combined in my entire house.
I caught sight of the source of the voice—a large boy flying from the third story landing down to the second. Two seconds later his massive frame was all I could see before his arms encircled me and we toppled to the floor. He twisted with me in his arms fast enough that I landed on top of him, his hard chest just slightly less painful a landing spot than the hardwood floor.
“Sorry,” he said, his hand touching my cheek as he glanced over my face.
I sucked in a sharp breath, realizing just how freaking green his eyes were, and how my hips were pressed against his. I jolted, leaping off him so fast I smacked into a couple who’d been making out in the corner.
I quickly turned around, muttering apologies before my mouth dropped. “Jenny?” The captain of the volleyball team’s cheeks were red, her lips swollen after being jarred out of her lip-lock with…no way. “Todd?” He was a star on the Mathletes, only second best to Jade. I’d done a write-up on him once last year because he’d answered the winning question correctly for the annual championship. Looked like graduation was propelling all sorts of people to take risks and push boundaries. The thought made me contemplate taking a chance with my own confession, but I quashed the idea as quickly as it sprouted.
“Hey, Braylen,” Jenny said before quickly resuming her make-out sesh with the stunned and hazy looking Todd.
I chuckled to myself, turning to the flying bear that had tackled me.
“Took that hit like a champ.” The same voice that had boomed a warning was softer now, and right up in my personal space. I arched my neck, following his broad chest up until I could see his face.
“Hey, even Iron Man can take a hit from the Hulk sometimes,” I said, then cringed. Usually at parties I tried to take my geek-meter down a notch, but the duties of tonight had me way off my game. “You make a habit of trying to smash unsuspecting ladies?” I hurried to recover. I didn’t recognize him, so he wasn’t in my class, and I highly doubted he went to my school. He looked older, with a mess of blond hair and sharp green eyes, and a set of ripped muscles to go with the Bruce Banner chest. Super attractive—if I was into blonds.
“Only the really pretty ones.” He smirked.
I flashed him a smile and moved to step past him. I needed to search for Katy.
Blondie Bear stopped me, his warm fingers curling around my forearm. I looked from his hand up to his face and back again, arching an eyebrow.
He instantly dropped my arm, raising his hand in an innocent defense. “What’s your name?”
I tilted my head, my long brown hair falling over my shoulder. “What’s yours?”
“Randy. I go to school with Lennon’s sister.”
College boy. Knew it.
“Nice to meet you,” I said before taking another step upward.
“Hey!” he shouted, stopping me. “Doesn’t leaping an entire set of stairs earn me a name?”
I chuckled. “You did that for me?”
He stepped closer to me. “Absolutely.”
“That is so lame it’s actually cute.”
He shrugged, his shoulder muscles rippling. “Lame enough to work?”
I shook my head. “Braylen.” I gave him a quick salute and hurried up the stairs before he could distract me from my mission for one more second.
“Farewell, beautiful Braylen! Until we meet again!” he called up after me and I grinned but rolled my eyes. No doubt the boy would be drunk and jumping off something else later to impress another girl.
After the second set of stairs, I started to contemplate my aversion to the gym. If I had as much money as Lennon’s mom, I would buy a house that required the minimum amount of physical exertion to get around in. Why had I chosen to wear my tightest skinny jeans tonight that pinched my hips with each step? Oh, that’s right—I thought Fynn would see me in them and think of me in an entirely new light. He’d barely even flinched. Thanks a lot, every rom-com I’ve ever seen. What an epic fail. I was an idiot sometimes.
Finally, I reached the third level of the house, which after a few moments of wandering the halls, I realized was made of mostly bedrooms and another sitting area that offered a floor-to-ceiling glass view of the lake outside.
“You were so right, Donna.” Katy’s voice carried through the hallway I currently walked down. “This will be the perfect room if I should find a use for it.” She giggled that same laugh I’d heard over the years. The one that came out right after plotting something or putting someone down…or leaving a girl stranded in a darkened corn maze.
“You know you will, girl!” Donna—Katy’s number one minion—responded. “It’s just a matter of picking one out of the herd.”
A heavy sigh followed by another giggle. “Anything to make Don rethink his life’s biggest mistake.”
“I thought you were over him?” Donna challenged and I stopped walking, suddenly wondering if the risk of getting caught eavesdropping was worth helping Fynn.
“I am. Doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy watching him squirm every time I date someone new.”
“With the way you’re going through them, you might as well open a Tinder account and swipe right until you find someone worth your time.”
“Donna!” Katy chided. “I don’t need an app to help me get dates.”
“Just saying. It’d be faster than weeding through the prospects here,” Donna said. “School’s out. Time to move on to bigger and better. And when I say bigger and better I mean college guys.”
“Please,” Katy said. “I’ve been there, done that. It doesn’t matter what age you pick, they all only want one thing.”
Donna laughed again. The amount of giggles made me want to gag, and I wondered how much they’d already drank. And the way Katy had just spoken almost made me feel sorry for her—the idea that she couldn’t hold a decent conversation with a guy because she was too gorgeous and therefore a walking distraction. Then I remembered I didn’t care. She obviously picked the wrong guys because Fynn was one of the good ones.
On that note, I was here for one purpose—to get her to realize just how wonderful a guy he was.
The sooner I get it over with, the sooner I can bail.
Sure, Fynn had invoked our you’re there, I’m there calling, but after I fulfilled my mission it didn’t mean I had to stay around to watch. I had bluffed when I told Fynn I’d find someone for myself. There wasn’t anyone who could compare to the way he made me feel. Not even Blondie Bear down there, though his hard muscles had felt pretty exquisite for all of five seconds.
“I might know someone worth your time,” I spoke up from my position in the hall.
Instantly the clicking of high-heels sounded against the hardwood floor as the two girls peered out of the room. Katy looked around the hallway, her blue eyes actually lighting up when she saw me.
“Omigod, Braylen! What are you doing up here?” She searched the area behind me. “Is Fynn with you?”
“No,” I said, keeping an easy grin on my face, though her clear interest in Fynn had my stomach rolling. “He’s talking to Lennon about the show. I’m touring the house for a story I’m doing for Lennon.” That was a bold faced lie—or rather, was it ever really a lie for a writer to say they were doing research for a potential story? Anything that happened around me was legal grounds for publication.
“Oh?” She straightened and flipped her long blonde hair back. “Want my opinion on the layout?” Her eyes brightened, as they had any time I needed a quote from her on a story. Funny, school was over but she still wanted to be the star. Maybe it was a habit she’d never break.
“I couldn’t help but overhear you’re looking for someone new.” I ignored her question and just plowed on ahead. “Can we talk for a minute?” I asked, not wanting Donna to hang on my every word. She was the snarkier of the two friends, and the wild card. Alw
ays the girl dancing on the tables or swinging from the ceiling at parties—so the rumors went—and I didn’t need her messing up any groundwork I laid for Fynn by announcing to the entire party what I was trying to do.
“Sure!” Katy said, glancing at Donna. “I’ll catch you outside in a bit.”
Donna glared at me but clicked past us and down the stairs.
“I probably shouldn’t be telling you this.” I sighed, wringing my hands. At least acting like this was difficult wasn’t a complete lie. My stomach turned over as I thought about the words that were about to come out of my mouth. Words that would seal my fate and ruin me if she reacted to them. “It’s kind of a secret, but Fynn has been accepted to every major college across the country. And some pretty popular magazines have begged him to skip school and come work for them.”
Katy’s perfect ruby red lips popped into the shape of an O. “Shut up.”
Got her on the line.
Again, not a total lie. I would consider an offer from our town’s local magazine, Thrive, a major opportunity. Not one worthy of skipping college, but hey, I was a writer. I stretched the truth a tad to gain her interest. It wouldn’t matter by the time she actually talked to him anyway—one conversation with Fynn and she’d be head over heels for him, too.
“Anyway,” I said, lowering my voice and glancing over my shoulder as I heard someone coming up the stairs. “He once told me you should be on the cover of Cosmo.” I winked, as if to emphasize that Cosmo may in fact be the magazine he had an offer from, but not outright saying it.
Reeling her in.
She could make whatever assumptions she wanted. And while I wished simply telling her how amazing Fynn was, like the way he could make pancakes look like your favorite characters—seriously, Yoda never tasted so good—would be enough, I knew I had to get her hooked first. And that meant pointing out how seriously talented he was.
“That’s so sweet,” Katy said, her hand on her chest in a classic aww movement.
Kill me now.
“Yeah,” I said, swallowing around the acid creeping up my throat. “He really is sweet. But strong, too. He slays his track meets, and yet has enough of a brain to listen to you when you talk.” I sighed, unable to stop the smile that shaped my lips as Katy’s presence faded to the background and I swooned in all things Fynn. “He’s the kind of guy who will take notice of your favorite caffeinated drink and bring it to you for no more reason than wanting to see you smile. He always gives a new movie or band a fair chance if you ask, and he’ll go out of his way to pick up your favorite soup when a cold makes you miserable.”
“Wow,” Katy said, her voice snapping me to the present.
I blinked rapidly, only now realizing my eyes were glistening. “God, the allergies, right? The lake brings them out in me!” I dabbed at the corners. “Anyway,” I said. “He’s the kind of guy you should go for. Nothing like the ones you were talking about with Donna earlier.” I motioned toward the bedroom.
Katy smiled, smoothing down her wrinkle free pink top. “He’s outside with Lennon?”
Aaand snagged her.
“Yeah.” I forced a smile and turned to leave.
“Braylen, wait,” she said, grabbing my arm to spin me around. A flicker of panic flashed over her baby blues. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you, too.”
My skin tightened as that shock rippled over my body. “O-okay?”
She sighed, dropping her hold on my arm. After a few seconds she started pacing and I half expected her to drop some sort of emotional bomb—like an admission that she’d been in love with Fynn for years and now that she knew how awesome he was she wanted to marry him and me to be her maid of honor or some other nightmare.
“I’m such a bitch,” she said, shaking her head as she avoided looking at me. “I should’ve told you years ago, but I was always too wrapped up in school, my clique, Don…” She finally looked up at me and I swallowed hard.
What the hell?
“You probably don’t even remember, but I do.” She stopped pacing. “That time we invited you out to the corn maze?”
My stomach dropped and I nodded.
“We shouldn’t have done that to you. It wasn’t my idea, but I shouldn’t have gone along with it.” She ran her fingers through her perfect, practically glittering blonde hair. “You were always so nice, too. Even after. Whenever you’d get quotes for the paper. I wanted to say sorry for so long, but I just…well, I didn’t know how. And then tonight, you seek me out to tell me all these great things about Fynn, and I…” She sighed. “I’m sorry.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes to the ceiling and ask God why he had to make her do this now? It was so much easier to think of her as the vapid girl who had left me alone, lost, crying in a corn maze. “It’s all right,” I said, waving her apology off like I never thought about the event.
She arched an eyebrow at me, and for the first time ever, she looked vulnerable. Without her clique around her, or Don the over-zealous bully as her boyfriend, she seemed more human to me than ever before.
Brilliant.
“Thank you,” I said when her eyes begged something more of me. “It means a lot. And it was in the past.” I forced a smile.
“So, we’re good?” she asked, her voice almost timid.
I cleared my throat. “Yeah, of course. Now, go,” I said, motioning toward the stairs. “Fynn’s out there.”
She flung her arms around me, gripping me in the most awkward hug of all time. I stood board stiff with my arms pinned to my sides. “I’m so relieved!” She released me. “I didn’t want to go to UCLA without saying that.” She sighed, like the biggest weight had been lifted from her chest. “Thanks for the intel on Fynn! I’ll go talk to him now.” She rushed toward the stairs, only stopping to make room for Zoey, who pinned me with a shocked gaze as she hurried up the last of the stairs.
Katy didn’t give her too much attention—the blondes avoided each other as if they secretly knew the two of them together would be too much beautiful for the human race to handle.
I leaned against the wall, clutching my stomach as it twisted. Her words made me feel even more conflicted than when this damn day began. Had graduation turned everyone into a sentimental mess? With her embracing the future, Fynn would get what he wanted and Katy would get everything she didn’t know she was missing. I would be left out in the cold.
“What the eff was that?” Zoey stomped across the room, halting before me in the hallway.
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Damn, why did she have to walk in on that conversation?
She crossed her arms over her chest. “It sounded like you telling Katy to go after Fynn.”
“So?” I swallowed the acid creeping up my throat.
Her pink lips dropped open as she scoffed at me. “Fynn. Remember him? The boy you’ve been madly, Notebook-worthy in love with since, like, forever?”
I pushed off the wall, shushing her as if the entire party downstairs could hear.
The hardness in her eyes melted into pity.
Great.
“What happened?” She touched my shoulder, her voice much softer.
I shrugged, closing my eyes. “He asked for my help. I gave it.”
She hissed. “This? This is the other thing you had to do tonight? Hook up the boy of your dreams with Katy ‘Killer Boobs’ Evans?”
I looked up at her, trying not to appear as pathetic as I felt.
Zoey straightened, shaking her head back and forth rapidly. “Have you lost your mind?”
“Insanity may be settling in. Jury is still out,” I said.
“Oh no it’s not,” she said. “I’m making the ruling here and now. You’ve lost your damn mind.” She stomped her gold-flat-covered foot, as if this was a colossal inconvenience to her and not me. “You have to go undo what I can’t believe you so just did.”
I scrunched my eyebrows at her. “I can’t. It’s done.”
“But…you love him.”
“Like you have him?” she countered me.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Look, she is what he wants. He’s been painfully clear on that topic. Obviously. And Katy…” God, I couldn’t believe I was about to say this. “She just apologized to me.”
Zoey’s mouth dropped. “Shut up.”
“I’m serious. I don’t know what kinds of drugs were served in the graduation punch, but everything is upside down. It’s okay, though, because Fynn will get what he wants. That is what matters.”
She sucked her teeth. “You have to tell him. The lengths you go to make this boy happy—”
“We’ve been over this, Zoey,” I cut her off. “I can’t risk it. The rejection would kill me for certain, and our friendship would be ruined.”
“You don’t know he’d reject you,” she said, walking toward the sitting area.
“He wants Katy. Not me.” I sunk next to her on the couch.
“He’s spent almost every waking minute with you since grade school.”
“So? That doesn’t mean anything. He’s just as close with Gordon.”
She flinched at the name and I tilted my head. “Whatever,” she said. “He is not. He doesn’t sneak over to Gordon’s house every other night to do…whatever it is that you two do.” She waved a hand to indicate my entire body.
I laughed, heat flushing my cheeks. “Trust me, Zoey. If we were doing that I wouldn’t have indulged his request at being wingman tonight.”
“Why the hell did you, then?”
“He deserves to be happy.” My voice was barely a whisper as the reality of what I’d done sank into my gut with a sour aftertaste. I’d spun a story that ensured Katy would seek him out, but she was clearly, genuinely interested in him.