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Mia scrunched her nose and shrugged. “Doesn’t bother me.”
I turned and stared at her, willing her to move with my gaze, but she just sat there, completely oblivious. Certain if I pushed the issue she’d see right through my plan, I accepted this small loss with a bit of frustration and changed tactics. “So, Barry,” I said, turning to him. “Did you know Mia’s in almost every accelerated course at Lakeview? She’s like the female equivalent of you, only a junior.”
“Oh, yeah?” Barry pushed his glasses up his nose and leaned forward, angling his head so he could better see her beside me. “I bet you have Mrs. Aiken, then.”
“Ugh. Yes. She’s the worst.”
“She gives so much homework, but she’s a pretty good teacher. Her class really helped prepare me for the SAT’s.”
Mia nodded, but the pinging of her phone distracted her, and she glanced down at the screen. Even from where I sat, I could see it was Ethan. Ugh.
I swear if I didn’t know better, I’d say the two of them were more than friends.
More than a little annoyed, I leaned into Barry and whispered, “She’s really shy.”
“I’m not shy.” Mia jerked around, a furrow between her brow, and I cursed her supersonic hearing.
“Yes, you are,” I said, gritting my teeth.
“Whatever. I just choose not to talk much. And what’s wrong with being selective about who I spend time with? Because there’s a difference.”
“I agree, actually. I’m kind of the same way,” Barry said.
“Wow!” I shouted, and Mia jumped at the sharp octave of my voice. I motioned between them. “You guys have so much in common. I knew you two would hit it off.”
“It’s one thing. We have one thing in common,” Mia said with a frown, and I wanted to throttle her.
“Don’t forget the AP class thing, too.”
A long silence followed with her staring laser beams into my soul before she drawled, “Okay, two things.”
Encouraged, I glanced back over at Barry, but his eyes were trained on the field in front of him, his gaze unfocused. The tips of his ears had gone pink.
Crap. Maybe I was pushing too hard.Was I that obvious?If I wasn’t careful, I’d screw this up and scare them both away.
I chewed on my lip as the game started in front of us, and Luca waved from his spot behind the bullpen, which I returned half-heartedly before he disappeared into the dugout. I needed to find a way to get things back on track, because I felt this ship sinking. Fast.
“I’ll be back.” Mia’s voice interrupted my festering.
“What? Wait. Where are you going?”
“Relax. I’m coming back.” She rolled her eyes. “But if I have to endure god-knows-how-long watching these meatheads hit balls with sticks, I’m at least going to do it with nachos and cheese.” Then she took off down the bleachers and headed for the concession stand before I could say anything more.
With a sigh, I glanced over at Barry, and a ghost of a grin crossed his face at what I assumed was Mia’s parting words.
He thought she was funny. Great. Maybe there was hope yet. Barry + Mia = Forever. It had a nice ring to it. They could go to the prom together, and we could double.
All the possibilities started running through my head at warp speed.
“So your sister’s not a fan of sports?”
I huffed out a small laugh. “How ever did you know?” I asked, then shook my head. “Mia’s more into studying . . .” Gosh, I wasn’t exactly selling her, was I? “Anyway, I just mean, she’d rather be writing one of her poems or reading a good book than going to a school event on a Friday night. Which is a shame, because she’s seriously amazing, and the only one who gets to see it is her best friend. I just . . . want her to put herself out there more, you know?”
Barry nodded, quietly taking this in, and I had to admire the way he really processed things before responding. “She writes poetry?” he asked.
Was that a spark of interest in his eyes?Please be a spark of interest in his eyes.
“Yeah. She’s pretty good, too. Some of it’s a little dark and edgy, and definitely way over my head, but . . . She even won an award for one of her poems last year. It was a pretty big deal.”
