Chapter 4
Four
RHOADS
AFrench fry smacks me on the nose.
I glare at Dillon, who just smiles and shoves a handful of gloriously crispy potatoes into his mouth.
“What was that for?” I rub the smudge of grease off with a napkin.
“You’re sulking.”
“I am not.”
He points a fry at me. “You are.”
I groan.
“Why didn’t you just ask her to come with us?” Dillon leans back against the bright red vinyl booth. “Peggy’s was the perfect opening.”
“It’s not the right time,” I mumble.
“Dude. She’s finally single. It’s been, what, three months since she and Graham split? That’s plenty of time.”
I shake my head, grimacing, and breathe in the diner aroma—fry oil and syrup. “I’m not looking to be a rebound.”
Dillon leans forward on the Formica table. “Rhoads, my man. Sometimes, the guy who gets the rebound also scores a basket.”
I understand what he’s saying, but I’m still in my head.
I’ve waited so long for a shot with Chloe that I’m afraid to screw it up.
Her seeing me flirt with Katie isn’t exactly going to help my case.
As soon as Katie walked away, I realized how things looked.
I’ve spent so long projecting a playboy image that it’s not exactly easy to turn it off.
It’s like a very dumb reflex I have to retrain.
The last few drops of Dillon’s milkshake slurp into his straw. “If you wait too long, someone else is going to step up.”
I blow out a breath. “I know.” My fork scrapes my plate as I push the remaining three bites of hash browns around and mix them with the ketchup until they’re all the same shade of reddish pink.
I’d planned to go in with confidence, to woo Chloe with my charm. I had one serious girlfriend, and after she broke up with me and moved away, I met Chloe, and it was game over.
Of course, like a scared idiot, I didn’t ask her out fast enough, and Graham swooped in.
My paper napkin turns into a tight ball in my clenched fist as I remember.
I was cleaning machines in the weight room, grunt work for the freshmen soccer players, while Graham got in an extra lifting session on the football team’s night off. We’d been friends since I was in fourth grade and he was in fifth, and though we played different sports, we still hung out a lot.
“Spot me, Simpson?” he asked.
I tossed the wipe into the trash and stood behind him at the bench press. “Ready?”
He nodded, and I assisted as he lifted the bar up over his chest, brought it down, then pushed it back up. “So, how are you liking high school so far?”
“It’s good.”
“Any girls catch your eye yet?”
I flushed. “Maybe.”
“Dude. Tell me.” Down, up. Down, up went the bar.
“There’s this girl on the soccer team. Chloe something?”
“No way. She’s in my study hall. I can hook you up.” Down, up.
“Really?”
“Yeah. Of course.”
A few weeks later, after Graham was supposed to have talked me up, he met me after school. “I can see why you’re interested. She’s cool. And, uh, listen. I was trying to talk you up, you know, get her interested in you.”
“And?”
“She and I actually kind of hit it off. So I…”
My stomach wrung out like a sponge. “You, what?”
“I asked her out.”
The words echoed in my head, but they might as well have been another language for all they made sense. My friend wouldn’t do that to me. “You asked out the girl I like?”
Graham stared into my eyes as if he hadn’t stabbed me in the back. “But I kind of did you a favor, right? If she liked you, she wouldn’t have said yes. And now you don’t have to feel weird or rejected when you see her. No hard feelings, right?”
My fists clenched at my sides.
I could have punched him. Wanted to. Instead, I buried the truth. “Nah, man. Thanks for looking out. It’s all good.”
Now, in the diner with Dillon, I drop the mutilated napkin on the table and focus on the indie rock crackling through the speakers.
“That’s not happening. Not again.” I let out a breathy, self-deprecating laugh.
Dillon points another salty fry at me. “Good. Because if it does, I’ll beat you up.”
“You’re a good friend.”
“I know.” He shoves another handful of fries into his mouth and chomps thoughtfully.
I shake all thoughts of Graham and Chloe together out of my mind. If this is going to work, I’m going to have to forget they ever had a relationship. That he and I ever had a friendship.
“So, what’s your plan?” Dillon asks. He mops up the excess ketchup on his plate with the rest of his fries.
I think back to my conversation with Chloe’s teammate, Piper, over the summer during the school trip to the amusement park. I accidentally let it slip that I’m into Chloe. Well, I never said her name outright, but Piper is smart, and she guessed it pretty much immediately, and I didn’t deny it.
“It’s pretty half-baked right now, but she loves soccer and she loves breakfast.”
“So do you! There you go. Built-in connection.”
“I don’t think that’s going to be enough to convince her to give me a chance. Over the summer she was pretty adamant about not dating anyone. At least, from what Kyle said.”
My teammate Kyle’s sister is one of Chloe’s best friends, so I got a bit of a scoop on her this summer. There were a few guys hanging around, but Chloe wouldn’t give them the time of day. She’s been completely focused on her training regimen, and it paid off.
“It’s a start, though. All you need is time with her. You’re Rhoads Simpson! Every girl in this school who likes guys has flirted with you and probably dreamed about dating you.”
I grimace. It sounds terrible when he says it out loud, but he continues as if that’s actually not an issue.
“Unfortunately for them, you’ve been stuck on this one girl. So make it worth it, my dude.”
Everyone deserves a hype-man like Dillon. Already my confidence is boosted.
“Kendry was giving me the side-eye in last period.”
“You think Piper told her? You think she told Chloe?”
“Nah. Piper’s chill. We had a pretty good heart-to-heart. She promised to keep it to herself.”
“Well, then maybe you’re not as smooth as you think you are.”
I run a hand through my hair, messing it up even more. “That’s what I’m afraid of. I don’t want to spook Chloe, you know? Kendry even came up to me after class and whispered out of the side of her mouth about Chloe and me and vibes.”
Dillon laughs. “Dude, if Kendry’s calling you out about vibes, there is no way this thing is staying a secret anymore.”
“I even tried to laugh it off and flirted with her a little to throw her off.”
“Did it work?”
“Heck no.” I laugh again. “She just rolled her eyes and patted me on the back as if she thinks I’m hilarious.”
Maybe Kendry is right, and the universe will provide me with some way to get to know Chloe.
Regular charm isn’t going to work on her. She’s seen me flirt with other girls too often. Recently, even. No, what I need is a way to show Chloe that she’s special.
My remaining hash browns spark an idea. She gave me the tip about Peggy’s. I bet she knows all the best breakfast spots in town. Maybe there’s a way to get her to share her intel with me without it being an official date. That’d be less intimidating.
Like Dillon said, all I need is time for her to get to know the real me.
And maybe a few hundred cups of coffee.