Chapter 13
It’s probably just my imagination, but Colby sounds far away when we talk on the phone. It’s like being on another continent has made his voice all well-traveled and mature, while I’m still just the guy from Texas who hasn’t done anything worthwhile.
“I’m sure it wasn’t as bad as you think it is,” Colby says after I’ve told him nearly every embarrassing detail about my exchange with Bess yesterday.
“Dude. If anything, it was worse than I’m making it out to be. Ichasedafter her when she was trying to leave. I made her stop and talk to me again.” I groan as heat rises into my cheeks. It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours since the football incident and I can’t stop replaying it all in my mind, reliving every stupid detail. There I was trying to flirt, and she wanted nothing to do with me. Why did I keep talking to her? Why couldn’t I have just left her alone the first time she tried to leave?
This phone call was supposed to cheer me up. I’m sitting on the couch in my living room, waiting for the coffee to brew so I can take a thermos to work. Mom left early to go to her sister’s house for the day, and Dad is already at the shop waiting for an early delivery of more bathing suits.
Colby assures me once more than I’m okay, but I’m not buying it. There’s some shuffling on the phone and then Maddie picks up.
“Josh?”
“Hey, Maddie. What’s up?”
“I only heard Josh’s half of your conversation just now, so tell me what’s going on. I can give you a girl’s opinion.”
An idea hits me now; Maddie is friends with Bess. “I uh, well,” I stutter into the phone as I try to decide what exactly I should tell Bess’s friend. On one hand, since they’re friends, I could ask Maddie to do some recon and find out if I even have a chance with Bess. On the other hand . . . if I spill my guts to Maddie and she tells Bess exactly how hard I’m crushing on her after only knowing her a few minutes, it might scare her away. I’d kind of rather assume she doesn’t like me than have Maddie ask and confirm it for good.
Girls are sneaky, and even if I made Maddie promise not to tell Bess, she probably would. Girl code and all of that.
I take a deep breath and make my choice. “I met this cute girl at the beach yesterday,” I tell her. She won’t find out this girl’s name, at least not now. I can’t trust her not to tell Bess, but I can trust her advice in general.
After I explain the whole humiliating story to yet another person, Maddie mulls it over, making this long “hmm” sound into the phone.
“Maybe she has a boyfriend,” she says.
I groan. “So it’s that bad? She reacted like someone who’s already taken?”
“Maybe not. But it is weird that this girl wasn’t all over you, like just about every other girl would be. I mean, you’re not as cute as Colby,” she says and Colby whoops in the background, “But you’re cute. If you’re being nice and friendly, it should attract any normal girl to you.”
“Maybe she’s not normal,” I say, desperate to get the blame off me. I can’t stand the idea that I’m not good enough for her. If she has a boyfriend, then I can wait until she’s single again.
But if she just doesn’t like me . . . I can’t do much about that.
“I think you should give it one last shot,” Maddie says after discussing it with Colby as if I’m not here on the phone able to hear everything they say. “If she truly isn’t interested in you, you’ll know by the second try. If she is, then you’ll also know.”
“Okay, thanks,” I say, glancing up when my sister walks into the room. “That’s good advice.”
“Of course it is,” Maddie says, a smile in her voice. “See ya later.”
“Bye.”
I’m smiling when I hang up the phone. This whole thing had felt hopeless a few minutes ago, but now I’m a little inspired. I shouldn’t let Bess go so easily. I should at least give it one more shot, and if she so clearly blows me off again, then I’ll know. I’ll suck it up and admit that the beautiful girl on the beach wants nothing to do with me.
“You look weird,” Abigail says, reminding me she’s still in the room.
“Who let you out of your cage?” I say, in a pathetic attempt at an insult. I’m really off my game today because I can’t stop thinking about the girl in the hot pink shirt.
“Are you going to work?” she asks, ignoring my jab as if she were the older sibling and not me. Now that I actually look over at her, I see that she’s dressed in shorts and a Flying Mermaid shirt instead of her pajamas. Her purse is slung over her shoulder.
“Yeah, in a minute. Why?”
“I wanna come.”
I roll my eyes. “Fine, get in the truck.”
She lets out a little squeal of excitement and rushes past me, through the kitchen, and out to the garage.
