I felt incredibly giddy when Hollis's truck pulled into the driveway. He was here to pick me up. Me! Sure, he was giving me a ride to school because Cricket asked him to, but couldn't a guy dream a little? After all, before Cricket, I always thought that Hollis was secretly gay. Which was understandable, but this was the twenty-first century! We had pride parades and television shows and ran around screaming "Yaas queen!" Okay, maybe not everyone did the last one. Certainly not me. Fine, once! But it was totally justified!
Alas, Hollis was just waiting for Cricket, his mate. Which was so totally romantic. Why did witches and werewolves get all the luck? I wanted to be mated to a hot guy with abs and a swoon-worthy smile! Cricket was a mate to all three of them! Girl needed to rub some of that mystical luck on me and let me get some of that. In a totally platonic way, of course. Girls had cooties. So did boys, but they were hot cooties.
"Morning," Hollis said as I slipped into the passenger seat.
"Yes! Fine!" I shouted. God, what was wrong with me? No, it wasn't me, it was him. He was just too hot to exist! That's right, it was totally Hollis's fault. You know, for existing. "I mean, good morning!"
Hollis arched an eyebrow. "You okay, dude?"
Sure, now he asks that question. "Absolutely! Just too much caffeine!" I pushed my glasses higher on the bridge of my nose. Was three cups of coffee too much before school? No? Maybe?
"Better switch to decaf." Hollis brought the car back to the road and headed for the school. Why was he so chill? And hot? Was it possible to be both chill and hot at the same time? It had to, because Hollis was just that. And super nice. It was why he never told that clingy Paisley chick off, because I totally would have by now if I were him.
Was it hot in here? Was I a sweaty ass mess? As discreetly as possible, I sniffed at my armpit. Nope, deodorant intact. I was good.
"So... how's it going?" I tried to sound casual, but I knew I failed miserably. I was either a high-strung spaz or a total emotional wreck. No in-between. Maybe I should have switched to decaf. But that was silly. Why drink coffee if not for the caffeinated rush? It was like eating sugar-free chocolate. Maybe a guy just wanted a sugar high!
"Good." Hollis looked at me for a split second before returning his gaze to the road. Driving responsibly and all that. Would he survive a spectacular car crash? Probably. My squishy human ass wouldn't. Yeah, better if he looked at the road. "Wearing your glasses again?"
Feeling self-conscious, I pushed my glasses up again, even though they couldn't go any further. "Well, yeah! I need them to see! Can't go around tripping over people!"
I definitely wasn't wearing them because some jerkwad of a guy thought that I looked cute in them. I would try to look cute for nice, hot guys. Like Rainer. Or Cricket's brother, Emerson. Maybe even that new guy, Oliver. But definitely not Ralph. I didn't care how pretty his eyelashes were or how sexy his abs were. The guy was a butthead.
Hollis laughed like he didn't believe me, but didn't push the subject. "Oh, I finished that latest graphic novel you gave me."
Already? Dude read fast. Then again, they were like picture books for adults. Luckily for him, I had the next few issues stashed in my locker.
With that one little sentence, the fanboy dam inside of me broke. The rest of the trip, I wouldn't shut up about Saga. I couldn't help myself. It was like crack for geeks. Haters needed to back off.
Decaf, Brennan. Switch to decaf.
The parking lot was crowded when we pulled up. For a hot second, I thought that Cas was having another crisis, a Cas Crisis, as it were, but no, it was some other high school drama that I had zero interest in. Unless someone was messing with my pack (pack! I couldn't believe I was in Cricket's pack!), I didn't care.
Cricket, Cas, and Theo were already at Cricket's locker waiting for us. Well, most likely for Hollis. Those four were as thick as thieves, and for damned good reason. I was lucky that Cricket asked me to join their pack. The majority of people in our school would be chomping at the bit to do so, more than likely because it would bring them closer to Cricket and the guys, and somehow the delusional idea that it would increase their chances of hooking up with them. Dumb dumbs.
"Morning, Bren!" Cricket said, her entire aura brimming with happiness. And why not? She had three amazing mates and a kick ass best friend. The latter of whom happened to be me, of course. Who else was that awesome?
"Morning!" It took everything in me not to skip over and tackle her into a hug. Not only was she hot (from an aesthetics standpoint, anyway. Girls still had cooties), but she was fun, nice, and super sweet. How anyone could hate her was a mystery. Yeah, I was talking about Paisley and her groupies. Stupid, delusional Paisley.
"Morning!" a third, familiar voice called out.
Oh, hell no. I spun to see Ralph sauntering towards us, full of swagger as always. Ugh. Why did such a jerk have to look so good?
Cricket, however, didn't share my disgust. She smiled brightly and waved. "Morning!"
When he was close enough, Ralph shot me a toothy grin. "Looking good today, Brennan."
Ass. He couldn't sweet-talk me! "Duh," I replied flippantly. "Better than you."
"Cute glasses." The typical bad boy smirk on his face made my insides quiver. No, bad insides! We did not like Ralph! At all!
My fight-or-flight instinct usually fell on the fight side of things. People told me that I might have been small, but I was also scrappy as hell.
Today was a flight day.
"Tactical retreat!" I shouted before taking off. Cricket would understand.
***
By lunch, I was calm. Well, what passed for calm in my case. Which was more like a caffeinated squirrel. Either way, my run-in with stupid, definitely-not-hot Ralph was a distant memory.
I sat at Cricket's right side, while Hollis was on her left. The guys rotated days on who got to sit beside her at lunch, which was absolutely freakin' romantic and adorable as all get-out. Why were they so perfect together? What kind of idiot would break them up, thinking she had to only choose one?
Maybe I would write an RPF about Cricket's perfect date with her mates. They'd go somewhere super upscale, like New York, looking posh as fuck in formal wear (evening gown for Cricket and tuxedos for the guys, of course). They'd take her someplace ass expensive for dinner, the kind of restaurant where they don't even print the prices on the menus. It wouldn't be an issue, because Cas's parents have more money than the rest of our backwater town all put together. After that, they'd go someplace classy like the opera or the theatre and have an entire balcony to themselves because they bought out the whole section.
What happens after would be the best part. Cricket and the guys would have the honeymoon suite at the fanciest hotel booked, where they would...
I needed to stop thinking about this. If I continued, I would look like those perverted guys in anime where they have a steady trail of blood streaming out of their nose from seeing a boob or thinking naughty thoughts.
You have to admit, it would be really hot, though. Cricket's hot, Cas is hot, Theo's hot, Hollis is definitely hot...
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Cas growled.
Unsure if the question was directed at me or not, I snapped out of my daydream to find all four of them staring at me like I'd lost my damned mind. Shit, was I really experiencing a nosebleed? I stuck a finger over one nostril, relieved when it came away clean. Nope, blood-free over here. Thank god.
Concern coloured Cricket's features now. Uh oh, did she think I was having a stroke or something? Nope, not me. I was just picturing her and the guys naked, engaging in sweaty activities. Totally normal.
"Bren, are you okay?" she asked.
"Totes!" I said a little too loudly. "Just, um, imagining the plot of my next Destiel fic." Because they would totally know what that was. Way to be a lame ass, Brennan.
Cricket's expression changed from worried to relieved, but the guys, especially Cas, were still skeptical.
"The hell is a Destiel?" Cas demanded.
Oh, lordy. Did I really want to explain exactly what Destiel was without sounding like a hyperactive, obsessed fanboy?
"It's a ship," Cricket said, saving me from launching into an overly in-depth explanation. "You guys know that show Supernatural? It's from that. Basically, it's Dean and Castiel in a romantic relationship."
"Aren't they straight?" Theo asked.
Some people just didn't understand. "It's all about the subtext!" I insisted. Before I could list exactly all of the reasons why Castiel and Dean were secretly in love with each other, the bell rang, signalling that lunch was over.
It was probably just as well. People tended to give you the stink eye if you were a huge fan of non-canon ships, especially homosexual ones. Those not in the fandom seemed to morph into the Spongebob meme when they would say "BuT tHeY'rE sTrAiGhT". What did they know, anyway? It wasn't like the characters got up on rooftops and shouted their sexuality for everyone to hear. Plus, it was fiction! Did no one have an imagination anymore? Or at least decent gaydar?
"C'mon, Bren, we're going to be late," Cricket said. She and the others had already gathered their belongings and were standing by the table, waiting, no doubt impatiently, for me to haul my ass out of my seat.
"Sorry! I'm coming!" I chugged the last of my milk, threw the trash on my tray, and stood up.
***
The age old question. If I didn't go home right away, would I get roped into working by my parents? Sure, I didn't mind helping out, but I was a teenager! I wanted to hang out with my pack (squeal!). Or, if they were busy, a good looking guy whose was definitely not named Ralph Lucciano. Ugh. Why was he blessed with such hot abs? The universe wasn't being fair to me.
I bet Rainer had better abs than Ralph. Fingers crossed.
Speaking of hot guys, Oliver had just walked out of the school building and was making his way to the parking lot. Alone, even! Apparently his mom worked here, and his soon-to-be-stepsister was Sabrina (one of Paisley's goons! Ugh!), so to see him by himself was weird. If my mom worked at the school, I'd be hassling her for rides every day.
Then again, I had no shame.
"Hey, Oliver!" I dashed over to him like a madman, probably looking insane to passersby, but like I said: no shame.
Oliver stopped in his tracks (and was it me, or did he flinch?) and looked in my direction. He visibly relaxed when he saw it was me, but yikes! Who would make him tense up like that? Boy needed a massage. One I was more than willing to offer.
Slow down, tiger. Didn't want to scare the prey away so soon.
"Oh, hi." He looked at me with an awkward expression.
Did he forget my name? Lots of people did. Sometimes they would be like, "Oh, yeah, the spaz." That was me. Brennan "The Spaz" Sanders.
"Brennan," I said helpfully.
"Right." He smiled and goddamn, I wanted to melt into a puddle. The guy was so cute! People prioritized hot over cute, but what the hell was wrong with cute? Sure, he didn't look like Rainer or Emerson (or stupid Ralph, but stupid Ralph was still stupid and we didn't like him at all!), but that didn't dial down his attractiveness at all. He was like a puppy, one of the playful ones that you couldn't help but hug and give head pats for being a good boy. Not that I would do that to Oliver. I had some sense. And didn't the guys say he didn't smell like a wolf? Maybe he was one of those cats that acted like a dog.
I needed to focus here.
"What's up? You busy? Wanna hang out?" I scuffed the toe of my shoe against the pavement and gave my best no-I'm-not-crazy smile.
His smile was apologetic, which meant that rejection was coming. "I wish I could. Really. My mom wants me home to help her finish unpacking all of our stuff."
Swing and a miss, Brennan.
"How about another day?" If he said no, it was definitely time to give up. I didn't like being strong-armed by pushy people (especially ones named Ralph!), so I didn't want to be a pushy person.
Oliver shifted the straps of his backpack on his shoulders. "Yeah, sounds fun. Um, lemme get your number."
A guy was asking for my number? Hyperventilating time! Was it considered cheating that I kinda sorta led him into it?
It was hard to keep my hands from shaking with excitement when I pulled out my phone to exchange numbers with Oliver. Score one for me! I wondered if he liked Saga. Or maybe even anything I liked. A completely adorable face did not a relationship make!
Who said anything about a relationship? I needed to slow my roll. Not everyone could fall madly in love with someone upon their first meeting. Wait, wasn't that a myth? It wasn't love, it was lust? Physical attraction?
I needed to Google that later.
"I guess I'll see you later?" The awkward look was back as Oliver fidgeted with the zipper on his hoodie. Ouch. What did he mean, he guessed?
"Totally!" I nodded enthusiastically. "Text me anytime! I like talking about stuff!"
Just like that, he looked at ease again. "Yeah, I like stuff, too. Okay, see ya!"
Well, he didn't run away like he was being chased by a serial killer, so I'd call that a win! Was it too fast to text him right now? Maybe? Hell with it. I sent him some happy face emojis anyway. Because I was happy and I wanted him to be happy, too! Especially because he met me!
"What're you so stoked about?" a voice asked me.
Goddammit, no! I spun around to see Ralph, looking as cocky as he always did. Why did he have to show up and kill my buzz?
"I'm always stoked," I retorted. "About life! Because my life is awesome and you're not a part of it!" I stuck out my tongue for emphasis. Would it be wrong to smack him? I was still holding the issue of Saga that Hollis had given back to me. It would only hurt a little to get whapped with it.
"Such a tease," Ralph said. He batted those gorgeous eyelashes at me and I wanted to die inside. It was a crime that a pile of jerk looked that good.
"Better a tease than a butthead!" Even though I definitely wasn't a tease. I was drunk when we made out! That couldn't be held against me!
Undeterred, Ralph stalked closer to me. "Come on, Brennan, how about one kiss? You know, for old times sake?"
Old times? When he used to torture me? No freaking thank you!
"Ugh, fine. Just go away after."
A cocky smirk was plastered on his face like he'd won. Won what? I wasn't a prize! This wasn't a competition! Still, he leaned in close, lips all puckered out like he was going to eat me alive.
"Psyche!" I yelled at the last second and smacked him in the face with the Saga issue I was holding.
Ralph stepped back, stunned, like he wasn't expecting that from me. Too bad, loser! I was small, but scrappy! "Not cool, Brennan!"
I stuck out my tongue again. "You're not cool! Leave me alone!"
Before he could say anything else, I ran away at top speed. Hopefully that would show him!
After half a block of running, because who were we kidding, I was not in shape whatsoever, I slowed to a walk. Stupid Ralph! Like one moment of drunk making out could erase all the crappy stuff he did to me. How delusional was that guy?
My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out. Oliver had text me back! Sure, it was identical to my text from earlier, a few happy emojis, but still! So cute!
Smiling like an idiot, I resisted the urge to skip home, opting to hum instead.
I think I'd rate this day a seven out of ten. Nobody died, nobody lost an ear, and I got a cute guy's number. Go me!