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The last thought I had before I fell asleep was of kissing a set of sweet pink lips.

I
was distracted the next day and I wanted to pretend I didn’t know why I was distracted but I totally did.

“What is wrong with you today?” Grace asked when I nearly knocked her can of soda off the table at lunch.

“Sorry. Just . . .  thinking about stuff.” I didn’t sound convincing at all. Even to myself.

“Okayyyyy,” Grace said, drawing the word out. “You’ve been weird all day. What’s up?” I gave her a look.

“Really? Whenever you have an off day and I ask you what’s wrong, you lie to me and now you expect me to talk to you?” She scowled.

“Ugh, whatever. Just be all weird and grumpy. See if I care.” She turned away from me to talk to Molly about something.

I tapped her on the shoulder a few minutes later.

“What?” she snapped. You couldn’t be sensitive and also be friends with Grace. She could be prickly, but she still had my back and if I needed to hide a body, she would be the one I would call.

“Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind. I had this . . .  crazy dream last night and it’s been throwing me off all day.” So that wasn’t a huge lie. I had had a dream last night. The kind of dream that left me waking up gasping and turned on. I could feel my face getting red as I told her. Thankfully, Grace couldn’t read minds.

I looked away from her and it was like my eyes were drawn to Stella’s table. She was there, sitting and laughing with her friends. Her hair was down in curls and she tossed them over her shoulder. Like she was in a fucking shampoo commercial. I felt my face get redder and told myself to stop looking at her. Not only was she a total bitch, she was also a
girl.

I shouldn’t be getting turned on by a girl. I was straight. I’d had crushes on boys plenty of times. Had even dated a few, but decided that there was no point until I got to college. It was a waste of time that I could better use for studying. Besides, my parents had been super strict about it, so it wasn’t worth it.

I didn’t like girls. I was just . . . whatever.

Grace snapped her fingers in front of my face.

“Are you there?”

“Yeah, sorry. Just thinking.” I kept saying the same thing over and over again and Grace was definitely suspicious.

“Uh huh,” she said and I knew she wasn’t going to drop it, but the bell rang and we had to go. I kept my head down when I walked by Stella’s table and was so focused on not looking at her that I smashed right into someone.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” I said, looking up into a set of crystal blue eyes. They narrowed before she rolled them back in her head and flounced off as I gaped after her.

“Who peed in her Cheerios?” Grace said as Stella flounced away. I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

“Don’t know,” I said, shaking my head and starting to walk again, paying more attention to where I was going.

“She’s such a bitch,” Grace said, winding her arm with mine.

“Yeah,” I said.

T
he rest of the week was similarly weird. It was like Stella kept getting tossed in my path. Or maybe I just had never noticed her as much. Hell, I was noticing her now. I hated how much I was noticing.

How thick and long her eyelashes were. How her hair fell over her shoulder. How delicate and small her hands were. How her voice had a husky, smoky undertone that was . . .

No. I wasn’t noticing things about Stella Davis.

Finally, it was Friday and time for the weekend. I could hang out with Grace and the rest of my friends and not notice Stella Davis for two whole days.

I had not counted on the fact that, of course, Stella would be at the football game. She was captain of the cheerleading squad for fuck’s sake. She’d be front and center the whole time. It was going to be even more of a chore not to look at her. I was totally up to the challenge, though. I’d spent the last three years ignoring her (for the most part). How hard could it be?

“W
hat are you staring at?” Grace said, nudging my shoulder.

“Hm?” I said, turning to face her. I had
not
been staring at Stella’s ponytail. At all.

“Um, I’m watching the game?” I said, wrapping my arms around myself. It was cold tonight and my ass was already numb on the hard metal bleachers. Grace lifted one edge of her blanket and I scooted closer and we snuggled together.

“You know, we should get one of those family-sized Snuggies,” she said as we huddled closer to the rest of our friends.

“That isn’t a terrible idea,” Paige said. Tommy made a grunting noise on the other side of her. He was too busy watching the game to chat.

“Unpopular opinion time,” I said, but only loud enough for Grace to hear. The ref blew a whistle on the field and all the players jogged back to their benches for a time out.

“Yeah?” Grace said, watching the huddle.

“I’m not a fan of football,” I said. “Shhh, don’t tell anyone.” I put my finger to my lips and she rolled her eyes.

“Tell me something I don’t know.” I went to say something else, but she shushed me. Grace did like football, which was one of the other reasons I came to these things. She got all riled up and it was really funny. More often than not, I watched her instead of the game.

Tonight was different. Tonight I was extremely distracted by a certain cheerleader with blonde hair. It was so cold that instead of wearing the skirts they usually wore during basketball season, they had pants on, but those didn’t leave much to the imagination either.

God, what the fuck was wrong with me? I looked around to make sure no one had seen me staring and felt my face get hot. Of course no one was paying attention to me, which was a good thing.

How was it possible that you could be in school with someone for nearly four years and then BAM, you can’t stop thinking about them or staring at them or wondering about them . . .

It couldn’t be due to Stella’s awesome personality. She was generally acknowledged to be not very nice. Not that she did anything overtly mean, but she just gave off that “I’m better than you” vibe and walked around like she owned the world.

I shook my head at myself. I wasn’t going to think about Stella’s personality. It was irrelevant. I forced my eyes back on the players on the field. I had no idea how anyone could tell them apart with all that gear on Sure, they had their names and numbers on their backs, but still.

Of course, the minute I decided to actually pay attention to the game, it was halftime. The band played first, walking in unison over the field, making a few different formations. We all cheered for our friends and then it was time for the cheerleaders to perform.

Great.

“Wanna get some popcorn?” I said in a strangled voice, grabbing Grace’s arm.

“Yeah, sure. You okay?” I nodded jerkily.

“Yeah, just hungry and cold.” I didn’t let myself watch as they started their cheer and got the crowd to yell back at them. Nope. I kept my back turned and stood in line at the concession stand with Grace.

I was so focused on not paying attention to what was happening on the field that after we got our snacks loaded up in our arms, I nearly ran right into Stella.

“Sorry,” I said and she just gave me another look. Like I’d done it on purpose.

“What is your problem?” Grace said. She’d been next to me and had seen the whole thing. Fortunately, only a few kernels of popcorn spilled and I had managed to keep my balance. I wasn’t normally this bad at bumping into people. It felt like someone was playing a joke on me.

Stella glared at us both for a second. Her makeup was perfectly in place, despite the fact that she’d been cheering for half of the game. But that was normal. She always looked perfect. Even when she was glaring.

“Nothing. I just don’t like people getting in my way,” she said and then crossed her arms. I kept my eyes on her face, but I could feel my face getting red.

“Well maybe you should watch where you’re going and then it won’t happen,” Grace snapped, shifting the food so she could take my arm to lead me back in the direction of the bleachers. I couldn’t make my mouth work and say words. Why couldn’t I say words?

Stella Davis had me tongue-tied and I wanted to scream.

Her blue eyes locked on mine and it was one of those moments when everything goes quiet and it’s like you’re the only two people in the world. And then she blinked and rolled her eyes.

“Come on,” Grace said, tugging at my arm. I stumbled a step before I could regain my footing. Grace was always nice about not walking too fast for me and she held onto my arm all the way back to the bleachers and we sat back down in front.

We handed out the snacks and then Grace turned to me.

“Okay, what the hell was that? You looked like you were . . .” she trailed off.

“I looked like I was what?” A cold drip of fear slid down and pooled into my stomach. I didn’t want her to say it at the same time I almost did.

Grace studied my face and then pressed her lips together.

“Never mind,” she said, brushing a hand over her hair. It sprung back immediately.

I let it drop. I had been friends with Grace for a long time and I knew her face probably better than my own. I knew what she was going to say without her having to say it.

And it scared the ever-loving shit out of me.