Will's Story Read Online Free Page B

I’m prepared. I’m all slick confidence and killer grin.
    I throw the door open. “Look who’s here. Gorgeous junior girls.” And it’s true. C.A., Cheerleader Amber, who gave Amber Vaughn a ride over, is your quintessential all-American leggy blonde, and then there’s Not So Plain and Small, pint-size, curvaceous, with the biggest brown eyes you’ve ever seen. I take a breath and remember my plan. Keep it about the music, lose the player act.
    C.A. doesn’t fall for my false confident routine, just pushes me out of the way and walks down the hall telling me to stop it. Not So Plain and Small hesitates though, and I fumble, saying some stupid thing about ogling theAmbers. My mother would fucking kill me if she heard me talk to a girl like that. And I could do the same. Why is my nervous fallback always to act like I think I’m hot shit or something? It never works.
    They both ignore me and go to find Devon and Kush, who are dancing to Bollywood movies in the den. Okay, so maybe new kid Kush has more layers than I realize.
    Things go according to plan. C.A. leaves to get ready for the game and Devon confesses he’s not going anywhere.
    Not So Plain and Small sputters a time or two and Devon is genius in his planned lightbulb moment.
    â€œWill, you can give Amber a ride, can’t you?”
    I think she’s going to faint away onto the floor. I try not to take it personal.
    â€œYeah, sure. No problem.”
    My car is small. Four windows, leather seats small. And weirdly enough, I’m nervous as hell.
    â€œSo . . .” I don’t know what to say to her.
    â€œSo,” she says in return.
    I loop my arm over her seatback, like I always do to reverse, and I guess it pisses her off because she says my name in a growl and tells me to quit.
    â€œHaven’t started,” I say, then I even freaking explain I’m doing it to back down the driveway. But as I’m lookingat her, I have to know. Was that afternoon a fluke because we were high? She’s looking straight ahead, her eyelashes curled up like one of my mom’s framed Victorian silhouettes and she’s so damn pretty that the next words just kind of fall out of my mouth without my damn brain having a thing to do with it. “Don’t you want to kiss me?”
    As soon as the question reaches her ears, she shouts my name and shuts her lips so tight I know I’ve blown it forever. I would turn around and make Devon take her to the game, but even if I’m a moron, I still want to give her the opportunity to sing with those guys so I laugh a little and try to play it off like I was joking.
    She’s silent as we drive but I don’t want to turn on any music, not yet. I want to fix this. Raindrops hit the windshield, their timing like the beat of a metronome, then slowly pick up steam. I venture speech again. “Going to be a wet night.” Good Lord, why do I always blurt stuff out like that? Such a ladies’ man you are, Will McKinney. Fortunately if she picked up on the unintended raunchiness, she ignores me, and I manage not to point out my comedic prowess.
    She sighs and looks out and up toward the sky. I notice the shift of her miniskirt out of the corner of my eye.
    â€œYou think they’ll still play?” she asks, talking about the football game.
    â€œOh, they’ll play.”
    She mumbles about not having an umbrella and I mumble about hating games in the rain and then she gives me the opening I’ve been waiting for.
    â€œDo you think people will be hanging out somewhere else?”
    It’s my moment. I pull into the parking lot of the car wash place. I’m prepared for her to say go to hell, but I’ve got to try.
    â€œListen, don’t say no until you hear me out.”
    She glances at me, sort of turning in my direction, but at the same time watching the dude in the bay about to wash his car. She nods at me to go