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We laughed together, and Josh’s laugh was as deep as his voice, catching the attention of some of the students around us. It was then that I noticed Reed further down the hallway, in the M section. Since I was in the J’s, we weren’t far apart. He leaned against his locker with his eyes on his cell, scrolling. He was propped in the same way he’d been Monday in the kitchen, with his feet crossed in front of him. He lifted his attention from his phone and met my gaze.
Inwardly cursing, I forced myself to look at Josh, hating that I’d gotten caught with my staring problem.
Rachel stood with her arms folded across her chest, looking satisfied. And then, at normal volume, she nonchalantly dropped a bomb. “I thought Josh could be a good pick for your first kiss.”
I sucked in a gasp and whirled on my friend, horrified and furious all at once. “Rachel!”
“What?” she asked, playing all innocent. “He’s totally kissing material.”
It was physically painful to look at Josh with my embarrassment no doubt on my face, but I shot him an apologetic look. “Please excuse my best friend for corralling you for her sinister and very embarrassing purposes. She was dropped as a child.”
Josh pointed a finger at his chest. “It’s okay. I’m Most Likely To: Be Forgotten After High School, so I totally get the idea of wanting to use the list like a bucket list.”
I winced at his label, the harshness of it all. I remembered the label, but I didn’t remember his picture in the yearbook. “Are you a senior?” For some reason, with the softness in his cheeks, he struck me more assophomorematerial. The way his hair was styled, with the front pieces fanned through with gel, also made him look younger.
“I have a baby face,” Josh said, reading my mind with an understanding nod of his head. “I get it all the time.”
As nice as Josh seemed, I couldn’t help but feel a bit wary of him. How had Rachel approached him, anyway? “Hey, my bestie hasn’t had her first kiss yet, and she needs someone to mack on”? And what had been Josh’s response? “Hey, okay”? I didn’t know a guy at Brentwood High whowouldturn down such an offer.
That was basically how the conversation with Reed went, only with a little more coaxing.
But if Josh’s only hopes were of being my first kiss, he was going to be disappointed.
I turned toward Rachel, giving her a glare. Josh was close enough to hear, but I hissed, “You can’t go up to people and ask them to kiss your best friend.”
“Why not?” she whispered. “You said you wanted to get it over with.”
“That’s not why I’m here,” Josh hurried to interject, raising his palms like one of us pointed a gun at him. “I mean, I’m not here thinking I’ll get a kiss out of it, I just—”
“Well, that’s a relief.” Reed stepped up beside Josh, cell still in his grip, the other hand tucked into the pocket of his jeans. “You should at least buy us dinner first.”
I stiffened at his approach, even though he barely even spared me a cursory glance. He focused on Josh way longer than he lingered on me, and then he dropped back to his phone.
“Butt out, Reed,” Rachel snapped, turning to Josh. “Ignore my brother. I do.”
I expected Reed to walk away at that, to take his languid posture and go out to his car. He didn’t. He didn’t even look up from his cell.
Though Josh kept up his smile, it was clear that he was uncomfortable. From his posture alone, it was easy to tell. “It was really nice meeting you,” I told him, squeezing my backpack strap. “Maybe I’ll see you around?”
Rachel chimed in. “You should give him your number, Ava.”
I could strangle her. My hands weren’t very big, so maybe I’d use my backpack strap. Whatever it was, my best friend seriously needed to be strangled. It wasn’t that Imindedgiving Josh my number, but I definitely didn’t need prompting, especially not with an audience.
It seemed like Josh was the one to notice my discomfort now, because he said, “I’m sure we’ll see each other around.”
I risked a glance at Reed, but he was looking at his phone. Totally disinterested. Like he wasn’t listening. I didn’t know why that propelled me forward, why that spurred me on, but it did. “Do you have your phone, Josh? I can give it to you now.”
“Oh, yeah, yeah.” Josh tapped his front pockets before finding his cell in his back one, quickly unlocking it. “Go ahead.”
Rachel peeked over Josh’s arm as he was ready to key in the numbers, but it was her twin I looked at. He’d stopped scrolling, as if his focus had sort of stalled on the dimly lit screen. Like he was listening now. I recited my cell number quickly, feeling a surge of triumph for no reason at all.
Josh’s dimples pressed in deeper. I had to admit—hewasreally cute. I wasn’t normally a dimple girl, but wow. “Cool. Well, I’ll text you and maybe the three of us can hang out or something.”
Three of us. Noticeably not the two of us. Noticeably not the four of us.
“See you tomorrow, then, Josh,” Rachel said to him happily, and then latched onto my arm to tug me away. Judging by her wide, nonchalant expression, she obviously hadn’t picked up on the weirdness of the whole situation. That was made especially clear when she leaned closer as we walked out of earshot, asking, “I told you I’d find someone kissable. He’s cute, right?”
My mouth felt dry.Kissable.Cute. Reed walked behind us, slowly enough that he wouldn’t walkwithus, but close enough that he could hear. Probably. If he cared to even listen. Which he probably didn’t.
