Page 26 of Catching Feelings

Today she’s driving me to the Lakeside for an evening shift, where she’ll meet Kara to work on college apps over onion rings. She visibly sags with relief when I tell her Ryan took the news just as hoped—unfazed by our just friends explanation and planning to find a new date.

The intensity of her reaction tells me just how out of character her rash decision was this morning. She must have been pretty pissed at Ryan to risk it.

Or… pretty excited to hang out with me? I have to bite the inside of my cheek to restrain a smile. No need to get carried away.

A new looseness enters her posture as she briefs me on Gilmore Girls lore while the breeze rips through the open windows of her car, sending the loose tendrils of her ponytail whipping against her cheek. “You have to run from Dean girls like a serial killer is chasing you,” she says solemnly. “What a toxic man. Almost makes season one unwatchable.”

I hum in agreement, but I’m distracted by wondering what her hair would feel like against my fingers. Does she ever wear it down? Maybe for special occasions?

To distract myself, I crack open the lid on the protein shake I saved for postpractice, then pause with it halfway to my mouth. Is it rude to drink when she doesn’t have anything? “Um. Do you want some?”

Sabrina’s wide eyes flash my way, flicking between the shake and my mouth. I flush, wondering if she’s imagining our lips touching the bottle’s rim. If she’s disgusted by it—or if it makes her think about our lips touching for real.

“No, thanks,” she says lightly, recovering first. “I hate the taste of protein powder. Too grainy.” Her nose wrinkles in an adorable, bunny rabbit kind of way.

I raise my eyebrows in mock outrage. “How do you know it has protein powder in it?”

She raises her own right back. “Doesn’t it?”

I frown and fall silent, making a mental note to bring her a simple fruit one the next time she drives me home.

“Okay, so you need to understand the difference between being a Logan girl and a Jess girl.” Sabrina returns to the topic at hand, fixing me with such an intense stare that I immediately snap back into the moment, reminding myself to focus. “Jess girls are suckers for the ‘he hates everyone but her’ trope. I mean, there’s something incredibly appealing about a guy who annotates books for you. Who loves the same movies and music you do, who you can have deep conversations with. Who is so jealous of your ex that he smashes the car he built you.”

She pauses, as if waiting for me to contribute. I push away thoughts of figuring out how to annotate and venture, “So… we’re Jess girls?”

“WRONG.” She slaps the dashboard so violently, I jump in my seat. “Did you hear that bit about smashing the car? The problem with the Jess girls is they overlook toxicity for the sake of a romanticized ideal of a man! Jess never made any effort to get along with Rory’s friends and family, he left town without even telling her, and he’s not very good at taking no for an answer! The writing was on the wall.” She raises an emphatic finger in the air. “Logan, despite the way his privilege makes him act like an asshole sometimes, genuinely loves Rory and does his best to support her! He grows! He loves her family! They’re both dumb college kids—who cares about a little yacht stealing?!”

Another pause. I’m not quite following the yacht thing, but I know my line. “Oh, we’re so Logan girls,” I say.

Sabrina grins, wide and unfiltered. “We so are.”

I grin back. If you’d told me a year ago the highlight of my day would be catching rides from this tiny blondie and learning all the ins and outs of 2000s TV shows, I would’ve told you that you’d lost your mind.

But right now, it feels like ending up in Hamilton Lakes was the best possible thing that could happen to me.

Then the car jolts forward jerkily, as if threatening to stop. The smile slides right off Sabrina’s face, and she catches my eye with alarm. “Is that—”

And then the car carries through on its threat, sputtering to a stop in the middle of the road. “Pull over,” I order.

Sabrina obeys without question, jerking the wheel to the right so momentum carries us to the shoulder. If I’d been attracted to her hair blowing in the breeze before, the way she keeps her head in a crisis is even better. Her knuckles are white on the wheel, but she steers us past all obstacles, flicks on her hazard lights, and waves other drivers around us.

When we finally stop moving, she lets out a slow breath, like she was holding it right up until this moment.

“Good work,” I say, reaching out to touch her thigh reassuringly. She startles, and I withdraw immediately, flushing. “Sorry. I’m just gonna… check it out.”

I’m relieved to slide out of the passenger seat and bury my flaming face under the hood. I do my best to distract myself with diagnosing the car—probably an alternator on the blink, so I fiddle with the battery connection to confirm—because I can’t go around touching that girl’s thigh. She’s been nice, but that doesn’t mean she wants anything else! Don’t take advantage of a near-death experience!

I grit my teeth and circle around to the driver’s seat, where Sabrina’s waiting and watching my every move. I grimace, meeting her eyes apologetically. “I hate to break it to you, Sabrina, but I’m not sure our rituals are gonna do the trick this time. I think she needs a jump.”

13. SABRINA

Tyler frowns at the hood for a moment, then turns to me with an apology in his eyes. “ ’Fraid I can’t do anything without some cables.”

I prop my hands on my hips. “What good is having a hot football player ride shotgun if he doesn’t even know how to fix a simple engine malfunction?”

His mouth twitches in a suppressed smile. “I can call Ryan for help—”

“No way.” I’m not pushing our luck after how easily he took the news today—I’m already grabbing my phone, deeply irritated with myself for not having cables in my car. Our only set is in Mom’s, and we were supposed to get this one all fixed up and ready to drive this summer, but then her schedule changed, and I didn’t want to ask her to make a special trip to the store, and I was putting it off until we had some more time together… and here we are. I sigh. “I do not need him taking advantage of this damsel-in-distress situation. There would be no shaking him for months.”