Page 5 of Heat Advisory

I wasn’t embarrassed by it. It was who I was. I was a self-proclaimed bookworm and loved school—especially science and math.

“I wish we had better options at our school,” Morgan whined. “The cute ones are jerks, the ugly ones don’t want to go to the dance, and the few in between who are left don’t notice us.”

Outside of each other, Morgan and I didn’t hang out with many people. Unfortunately, this meant not a lot of people knew us.

“Yeah, well, we’re kind of invisible to most people,” I told her, not that she didn’t already know it. “I’m pretty sure most of the guys don’t even think of us as an option.”

Morgan opened her mouth like she was about to argue, but my stomach growled before she could, loud enough to derail the moment.

“Snack time!” Morgan said, switching gears to the new topic at hand. “Will you go get the snacks? I’ll get us some new jams to listen to.”

I had just sat down and was nice and relaxed, but I got up and made my way into the hallway as Morgan turned up the stereo. I almost ran straight into Jay, who was just a few feet away from the door, his expression so serious, it made me stop short.

“There’s no way you could ever be invisible, Cora,” he said quietly, or maybe it just seemed quiet compared to Morgan’s music. “You’re too pretty and smart for that to happen.”

I froze.

Did he just say that?

For a second, it felt like my heart forgot how to beat, and clearly my brain did too, because I couldn’t even muster a thank you. I just stared at him. He smiled, like he knew exactly what he’d done to me, winked, and then walked away like he hadn’t just shattered my entire sense of reality.

It was winter break, and we were out of school for a full two and a half weeks for the holidays. It was five days before Christmas, and Morgan and I were having a sleepover before her family left in two days to go visit their grandparents who lived up in Oregon.

We had just settled in to the living room to watch a movie with all our snacks when Jay walked in.

“What are you two up to?” He was leaning against the doorframe with a big grin on his face. God, he looked so good standing there in a pair of gray sweatpants and a long-sleeved white tee. The tee was tighter around his upper arms where his muscles were, and I felt myself getting warmer just picturing what those muscles would feel like if they were wrapped around me, holding me tight.

“We’re watching a chick flick, so go away,” Morgan responded.

“I thought we were watching the new James Bond movie?” I asked her, confused because we had just talked about it.

“Ooh, I’ll watch the Bond movie,” Jay said and then began to walk into the living room toward the couch where I was sitting.

Morgan sighed dramatically. “I didn’t want him watching with us.” Though she grumbled the words quietly, Jay must have still heard her.

“Too late,” he said, taking a seat to the right of me on the couch.

It was a small couch and only fit the two of us. Morgan was to my left in the recliner with the side table between us, filled with snacks and drinks.

“If you talk during the movie or ruin it in any way, then you’re getting kicked out,” Morgan threatened.

Jay used his fingers to zip across his lips—giving the universal signal for “my lips are sealed.” While Morgan grumbled a bit more, she let it go and began to use the remote to cue up the movie.

I, however, looked over at Jay after having felt his gaze directly on me. As soon as our eyes made contact, he gave me a small smile and shot me a sly look.

What was that for?

The three of us watched the movie intensely, all keyed into the action scenes, at least until the last twenty minutes…when Morgan promptly fell asleep.

“I have no idea how she can fall asleep during the best part of movies,” Jay whispered, leaning into me. He was so close I could smell his Axe body spray.

Why was he wearing Axe body spray before bed?

“I don’t know, but she does it all the time,” I replied with a smile.

“She’s done it for as long as I can remember,” Jay added.

We finished watching the movie, and then Jay leaned over me, his left arm behind me as he grabbed onto the back of the couch, his right arm reaching over to grab the remote from the side table.