“Hey, my sweet ladies,” he says before kissing Lindsey on the forehead.
Friend kiss,my mind helpfully supplies.
“Gross, Chase,” Lindsey says, wrinkling her cute little nose. “You’re all sweaty.”
“Mmm, you love it. Gimme a kiss.” He wipes the side of his face on her as she shrieks and pushes him away.
If I had him, I’d let him wipe sweat anywhere he wanted. I’d lick the sweat off him and beg for more. The thought makes a funny little flutter happen somewhere below my belly.
Ugh. I’m so fucked up.
Eventually Lindsey submits and kisses him. I turn away, unable to watch. A pain winds itself tighter and tighter in my chest when Chase sits down beside us in his tight football uniform.
“Hey, Sky,” Todd says, sitting down beside me. “Can I give you a lift home?”
“Okay. Can we go now?”
A dull ache clenches inside me all the way home.
The next day Daria comes bouncing into Lit with a big smile on her face. She sits down next to me in Hillary’s seat.
“I know somebody who likes you.” She sings her words, unable to contain her excitement.
“Me?” I ask, glancing around to make sure I’m not hallucinating.
Granted, I’ve had little to no experience with guys, but this seems out of the blue.
“Yes, you, silly. Don’t you wanna know who it is?”
“Sure, I guess.”
She makes a cute little pout. “You already know, don’t you?”
“No, really. No idea.”
“Todd!” I can tell she’s holding her breath, anticipating my reaction.
“Oh.”
I’m not sure I have a reaction, but thinking about it, it does make sense. Todd’s been sitting near me at lunch ever since I started sitting there a month ago. He gave me a ride home, and he acts a bit awkward around me when we’re alone, though I’d thought he just wasn’t much of a talker. He’s walked me to class three or four times. I just assumed he had a class nearby, but now that I think about it, I’ve never seen him going into a classroom near mine.
“Oh? That’s it?”
I can tell Daria’s disappointed. “I mean, that’s cool,” I offer.
“Well? Do you like him?”
I settle for the truth, though it’s not very exciting. “I don’t know. I never really thought about it.”
“Well, start thinking,” she says. “You really didn’t know?”
“I guess I am pretty clueless.”
She rolls her eyes. “You better think about it quick. Todd’s a great guy. He won’t be single forever.” She gets up with a toss of her glossy brown hair and glides over to her desk.
“What was that all about?” Chase asks. I nearly fall out of my seat spinning around to face him. For once, I was so preoccupied that I didn’t notice him come in and sit down. Usually my body has some sort of radar that goes off whenever he’s around—my face gets hot, my heart starts beating double time, my stomach drops out and is replaced by jelly.
“Oh—um—you know. Nothing, really.”