Page 6 of Crushed

Janelle and Cristina turned their attention to Faye, and Cristina noted, “She’s got a point.”

My shoulders fell. This was how it had been for the better part of the last six months now.

Faye, Janelle, Cristina, and I had been close friends for quite a few years now. The four of us had always been a bit of a reserved group. We were good students, we followed the rules, and we never really did much outside of our comfort zone.

Or, we hadn’t until recently.

Following my father’s death—something my friends had been there to see me through—it took me a while to get my mind right again. I struggled to remember the most important lessons he’d given me, and I wanted to make him proud.

So, I got up, dusted myself off, and started living the promise I made to him. I was daring to be the bold and brave girl he had been raising me to be, the girl he believed I already was. I intended to honor my word to him and live the fullest life I could by filling my days with laughter and heart with love.

For the last couple of months, I’d been attempting to do just that. Granted, it was only the summer before my sophomore year in high school, so my options were limited. Since I couldn’t exactly do things like climb Mount Everest just yet, I settled for smaller goals that I knew I could execute without much hassle to anyone else.

Of course, my dad’s advice to me was something I believed could be inspirational to anyone, and that was the reason why I’d attempted to bring my dearest friends in on the fun.

As was not uncommon, Janelle and Cristina generally sat back and watched as Faye scolded me for my crazy ideas. Apparently, I was being far too rebellious by suggesting we see just how hot a variety of hot sauces were.

Before I arrived at Faye’s house, I had my mom drive me to the grocery store. I picked up some breaded chicken tenders and more bottles of hot sauce than any one person could need. We’d just cooked the chicken tenders, and I had lined up every bottle of hot sauce.

Janelle was not on board with this, but even she hadn’t pushed away her plate of tenders.

Cristina loved spicy food, so she wasn’t the least bit worried.

Faye had clearly thought I’d lost my mind. She was not impressed. Even still, I encouraged her to try it.

“This is not a big deal. There is so much worse you could be doing,” I told her. “In fact, I’ll say that if—”

“What’s going on here?”

At the sound of the masculine voice that had just cut me off, my friends and I all turned to look behind me. When my eyes landed on the guy that was there, I suddenly realized I was the one who needed a cool drink.

Faye had an older brother, but I’d met him two years ago. This guy was not Faye’s brother.

“Jesse!” Faye announced as she zoomed past me and toward the newcomer.

She threw her arms around him as he wrapped one around her waist and gave her a hug.

Though I didn’t want to peel my eyes away from him, I managed a quick glance at my other two friends. They were both just as dumbfounded at what was happening in front of them.

“Guys, this is my cousin, Jesse. Jesse, these are my best friends,” Faye shared. As she lifted her finger in our direction, she clarified, “That’s Janelle. Cristina is sitting right next to her, and this one here is Sawyer.”

Jesse’s eyes connected with mine briefly before he gave us all a nod and said, “It’s great to meet you.”

There was a moment of silence before Faye asked, “What are you doing here?”

Throwing his thumb over his shoulder, he answered, “My mom wanted me to drop something off for your mom on my way to practice. I have a few minutes before I need to leave, so I thought I would stop and say hello.”

“I’m so glad you came in. I’ve been dying to introduce you to my friends, and I thought I was going to have to wait until you saw us in school together this coming year,” Faye replied before looking at us. “Jesse is going to be a senior this year.”

I didn’t care if he had already graduated. He was, without a doubt, the first boy I found myself attracted to. It had been so strange to me last school year. While all of my friends had seemingly gone boy crazy, I had zero interest. Sure, I’d had guys that I was friendly with and talked to on occasion, but I didn’t have any desire for a boyfriend. Initially, I had simply assumed it was all because I was coping with my father’s death.

Now, I wasn’t so sure.

Because, looking at Jesse, I was beginning to understand some of the sentiments I’d heard from my friends last school year. Suddenly, the phrase ‘he’s so cute’ made sense to me.

Or, it did on some level. Because Jesse exceeded what I would consider to be cute. He was good-looking, but it was on another level than the boys my friends had been interested in.

Maybe it was because he was older.

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