“Full of what?” I prodded. The sound of car doors being slammed and people whipping out of the school parking lot momentarily ceased the pounding of my heart in my eardrums.
“You are so into her and she’s so into you but for some reason, you both deny it.”
I scoffed. “What the fuck ever, dude. She’s just my best friend, so leave it at that.”
He snickered, pulling open the passenger door a little further. “So why do you become livid whenever a guy takes an interest in her? I mean, you pummeled Tyler pretty fucking hard a couple days ago…”
My chest tightened. “Because she’s my best friend and those guys aren’t good enough for her and Tyler deserved to get his ass beat for fucking around on her.”
Max’s face twitched and then he chuckled, sliding his body into the passenger seat and out of my sight.
I leaned my head down into the car. “And don’t even fucking think about asking her out.”
Max pulled his hands up like a surrender but not before he grinned.
Once I stood up again, still looking around the parking lot for Ivy, I replayed the mantra over and over again in my head: “She’s just my best friend, so leave it at that.”
Yeah, fucking right.
Chapter Three
Ivy
Holy moly, holy moly, holy moly!
My breathing had never been so crazy from a single conversation until now. But after all, what did I expect after hearing Andy call my name? My heart halted in my chest when I turned around and realized that he was, in fact, talking to me.
Little ol’ me.
Andy was probably the hottest guy at our school, besides Dawson, of course. But Andy…he was a senior and he was the star baseball player for our school; the mighty Wildcats baseball team was led solely by him hitting multiple homeruns every game. And to top it off, he had already signed with one of the D1 colleges next year to play for their team. Andy was the epitome of cool.
He was dreamy and totally swoon-worthy and I knew for a fact that every single girl would unashamedly agree. I took in the shine of his kelly-green eyes as he sauntered up to me (standing awkwardly, no doubt) adjusting the straps on his backpack. He had on a sly grin, one that made butterflies awaken in my lower belly.
“Hey,” he intoned and I swear I almost fainted right then.
“Uh, hi,” I replied. My voice came out shaky and insecure but I gave myself a three second mental pep-talk and was able to calm down (a little).
“So I saw what happened a few days ago…during lunch.”
My face instantly felt hot. Of course he did. The entire school was talking about Tyler being an asshole and then Dawson losing his shit. Still, even three days later and after Mrs. Smith had fallen off the stage during an assembly and flashed everyone her hot pink, unicorn underwear. No one cared about that…
“Yeah,” I said, not really sure what to say. I was embarrassed. I knew that much.
“I just wanted to let you know,” Andy said as he leaned against the wall closest to the exit. He crossed his tanned forearms over his tightly-fitting t-shirt and smiled genuinely at me.
“Yeah?” I asked, because he didn’t finish his sentence.
He took a deep breath. I watched his strong chest rise and then fall deeply. “I just wanted to let you know that I think Tyler is an idiot for letting you get away.”
Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa…
Just whoa.
Those butterflies that were awakened earlier? Yeah, they’d completely filled my stomach to the point that I was forced to swallow back puke.
“And,” he started again, his eyes took in every bit of my face and I couldn’t help but feel like he’d just captured me up in a single whoosh. “I think that Dawson is absolutely nuts for not making you his.” My face flamed, again, as I sucked in a shallow breath.
I whispered, “Dawson and I are… just friends.”