Perks of Dating You Page 2

  We tested it out one time when we were little, but not on purpose. My jerk parents thought it would be fun for me to go to this sleepaway camp the summer I was nine and Allie was seven. I made it one week without her before the camp people called my parents and they had to come pick me up. After that, I threw the hugest fit whenever they even mentioned doing anything that would take me away from Allie for more than a day or so. See? Death.

  Rolling onto my back in the middle of her bed, I stare at the poster of N’SYNC tacked to the ceiling. And I know I’ve got to say something to make her laugh again.

  “You know, Al. The school printed these posters of all the senior football players. Full size.” I point to her boy band poster. “I’d be happy to give you one to put up right there. I’ll even help you hang it.”

  “Sacrilege! How dare you?” She pokes her head out of her closet, her face a mask of feigned outrage. “How would I ever fall asleep without J.T. and his boys right by me?”

  I grin at her, trying to hide the fact that her comment kinda made me feel hot all over. Allie’s always saying things like that, stuff that I could totally take the wrong way. Allie’s mind may never be in the gutter, but mine usually is and now I seriously want to put my poster up there so Allie can fall asleep every night looking at me and not some boy band from fifteen years ago.

  Not that our relationship is like that. At all. No, Allie and me- purely platonic. I mean, sure I’ve thought about it. Ever since Mrs. B pulled me aside when I was thirteen and told me she wasn’t stupid and let me know it wasn’t appropriate for me to sneak into Allie’s room through her window anymore and have secret sleepovers, I haven’t been able to think of Allie as just my friend. Since then, I think of her as my friend and a girl. It sucks.

  Plus, I used to love our secret sleepovers. See, there's this treehouse outside Allie’s second story window that allows easy and secret access to her room. We used to have so much platonic fun, playing video games with the sound down or watching scary movies and no one ever knew. Or at least we thought they didn't.

  I wonder if Mrs. B knows I didn’t actually stop coming over until I was sixteen and it had become damn near impossible to hide my reaction to Allie and I sleeping in the same bed. Seriously, I can’t even tell you how tempted I am sometimes to take advantage of that stupid treehouse.

  But I don’t. Everything is ‘just friends’ (well, mostly) because you see, I can’t lose Allie (please see the aforementioned sleepaway camp story). What if I try to take things to the next level? Or even mention it and Allie runs screaming from the room?

  Connor loses Allie forever.

  Not. Going. To. Happen. I just couldn’t survive that kind of world. So instead, I keep up a steady stream of girlfriends that don’t really mean anything and spend every spare minute outside of school, football, and stupid social obligations to the popular crowd- with Allie.

  And, for now, I don’t let on that my mind has gone down completely inappropriate paths, because she is smiling at me again. Instead I ask, “How do you feel about physics after your first day?”

  And all is right with the world as she launches into a detailed description of the huge homework assignment Richardson laid on her class the first day (but isn’t due until next week, she reassured me, since we’ve been playing video games for three hours). See? That’s what happens when I keep my non-platonic thoughts to myself- Connor still has Allie.

  Chapter Three

  Allie

  The first few days of school fly by in a whirl of homework, football practice, and hanging out with Connor. It’s so weird how different life at school is from life at home. At school, Connor is at the center of the popular crowd, surrounded by all the beautiful people who only see him for the pretty face he couldn’t help being born with and the physical prowess he displays. I suppose that’s not fair. I know there are some people other than me that know the real Connor. But they are few and far between and usually not female.

  When I started my first day of high school freshman year, Connor tried to pull me into this group, but I balked, already knowing I would get eaten alive by his groupies. They despised me on principle for my permanent spot in the front seat of Connor’s pickup truck every morning on the drive to school.

  Add to that my signature uniform of loose fitting jeans, athletic t-shirts, and flip-flops (or tennis shoes if it’s too cold), and complete lack of makeup knowledge and you get completely undesirable me. Even my status as Connor’s friend couldn’t secure me a position in that crowd without completely changing my wardrobe- and possibly my personality. It never bothered me before, not really, because it wasn’t what I wanted.

  But for some reason, this year- it does. A lot. I mean, Connor and I spent the whole summer together. Unless he was on a date with Kayla, his brain cell deficient girlfriend, or hanging with JJ, he was at my house. We worked out together, played video games, binge watched Netflix. He even helped out with mom’s daycare kids and mowed the lawn.

  Now, here we are back at school and sometimes it’s like I don’t even exist. Don’t get me wrong, Connor’s not a jerk about it. He’s a senior and it’s not like we have classes together. His locker isn’t even in the same wing as mine. The only time I see him during the day is at lunch. But he sits with his popular friends. And his popular girlfriend, who loves to drool all over him the whole time, like she’s doing right now. Yuck.

  “I think it’s time to do something drastic.” Eden’s tone pulls my gaze away from Connor’s lunch table where Kayla whispers in his ear before kissing his neck. Ugh.

  “What are you talking about?” I ask, facing Eden who gives me the stank eye. “What?” I ask, defensively.

  “You and Connor. I refuse to allow you to ruin another year of high school pining away for Connor Sanders. If you don’t have the guts to tell him how you feel, then this,” she gestures toward me and then at Connor, “has to stop.”

  “Eden-”

  Eden sucked in a deep breath and cut off any other words I might have said. “Allie, I love you, but I just can’t stand by and watch you do this to yourself.” She planted her palms flat against the table on either side of her lunch tray, leaning so low her necklace dangled just millimeters from her Salisbury steak.

  Uh-oh. I know that look. That look can only mean painful and embarrassing things for me. “Eden, I know you mean-”

  “No!” She says it so loud, the kids close by stop to stare.

  “Eden, shhh.” I try and smile in the direction of the table closest to us. It’s filled with all the techy nerds. You know the ones that act like teachers are complete idiots when they can’t figure out why a projector won’t turn on, then march over and plug the dang thing in, smirking the whole time? Yeah, and Brandon Marshall, King of the Nerd Herd, is definitely watching us, curiosity burning in his eyes. A vision of him whipping out his phone and recording this conversation for the next school broadcast floats through my brain.

  “Seriously, Eden.” I jerk my head toward Brandon.

  She barely spares him a glance. Instead, she reaches into her backpack and removes a spiral bound notebook, hot pink with my name written on the front in black magic marker.

  “You’ve left me no choice, Allie. I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands.”

  I watch, horror stricken, as she flips the cover of the notebook open. The first page is filled with a basic outline and the heading OPERATION: FIND ALLIE A DATE TO HOMECOMING.

  I. Kid. You. Not.

  It is there, in it’s all caps glory, Eden’s plan to completely humiliate me. I can literally feel all the blood draining from my face. She must have noticed too, because her eyes narrowed and she got that look on her face, the one that says she will not let me out of this. Briefly, I wonder if my mom will let me switch schools.

  “No. No, no, no, no.” And to emphasize, I shook my head until I felt dizzy.

  Eden

  Okay, pause.

  Eden here!

  I know! Nobody wants to he
ar my story but I just have to butt in for a minute. You see, Allie is my absolute best friend. I don’t have a Connor, so it’s just Allie. And she has always been there for me. You know, the kind of friend that tells you have broccoli in your teeth instead of letting you grin like a fool in front of your most recent crush with a big green glob lodged between your pearly whites. That’s Allie.

  And that guy over there? See him? Sitting at the popular kids table (the freaking king of the popular table), that is Connor Sanders. I’m sure Allie’s been talking nonstop about him. And can you blame her? I mean, just look at him. Tall, broad (even I want to lay my head on that chest), loads of muscle, chocolate brown hair, bright blue eyes...he’s positively yummy. And more than that, he’s amazing. Smart. Funny. Awesome football player. Good friend. The guy’s perfect.

  Well, almost. Because all that perfection attracts hoochie cheerleaders and the idiot actually goes for them. What a dummy. Especially when a girl like Allie is just waiting for him to notice her that way. They would be so perfect together. But, I can only do what I can do. And what I can do is get my wallflower off the wall and into the dating scene. It is not fair that Connor gets to go on dates, kiss pretty girls, and Allie’s just waiting around for whatever scraps he gives her in his spare time. Nope, not going to do it. This year when Connor takes stupid Kayla to Homecoming, Allie will not be sitting at home gorging on rocky road watching Anne of Green Gables. No. She will be there with her own date (or even better her own boyfriend), looking HOT, and Connor can stick it.

  Got it?

  Good.

  Now, back to your regularly scheduled programing.

  Wait! P.S. On the other hand, and this is what I’m hoping for, Connor might wake up and smell the Allie saturated air around him and decide to make a move on her. So, in the end, all’s well that ends well, right?

  Allie

  “Why not?” Eden asks. “There are five hundred other guys in this high school, besides Mr. Holy Hotness. How do you know you wouldn’t like any of them?”

  Because Mr. Holy Hotness is Connor, my best friend. The only guy I’ve ever thought about dating or falling in love with. The guy who knows me inside and out. The guy I already love. You see, Eden doesn’t know Connor like I do. She doesn’t know that he is sweet and kind and adorably funny. She doesn’t know about his wicked sense of humor (that sends my video game characters to their death just for kicks). Or his love for old John Wayne westerns. But I do. And he is perfect for me.

  “Besides, who cares about Homecoming? You aren't even going.”

  “That's where you're wrong,” Eden replies, shocking me speechless. Eden’s been to a few dances, but since last year she's avoided them as much as the guys at school.

  “What are you talking about?” I ask suspicious.

  “I have a date,” she replied smugly.

  “Who?” I ask, floored by this revelation. Eden and I tell each other everything.

  “Dillon Parks. You know that senior from across town?”

  I just sat there gaping at her. Dillon went to another school. Eden met him this summer and they became fast friends, but just friends, nothing more.

  “Just friends. I asked him so you couldn't use the excuse of me not going to back out of finding your own date.”

  Again, I got nothing. I just sat there stunned.

  “Look,” Eden says, standing up before I could collect myself. “Operation Find Allie a Date starts today, sister.” She picks up her lunch tray. “You’ve been warned.”

  And with that terrifying declaration, Eden marched from the lunch room, leaving me sitting there with my mouth hanging open like a dead fish.

  Closing my eyes, I let my head fall to the table in front of me. Oh. My. Hell.

  Chapter Four

  Allie

  Honestly, I’d forgotten about Eden and her hot pink spiral notebook with words in all caps that is destined to humiliate me. She reminded me real fast the next morning, showing up in my room before school armed with a bag full of clothes and a Dr. Pepper.

  “If you think a Dr. Pepper is enough to bribe me into wearing those clothes, you are crazy,” I said a little while later, gazing in horror at the mess on my bed that looks as though a trendy store from the mall had upchucked on it. I’ve never seen so much bling all at once, especially in my own room.

  “You are never going to get a date looking like a hobo.”

  I’m trying not to be offended that she thinks I look like a hobo as she stands over me, back straight, hands on her hips, a determined look in her eye. “You better text Connor. Tell him you’re riding with me.”

  I mumble something along the lines of I’d rather walk to school and that I don’t want a date or a boyfriend (lie!) as I pick up my phone and send a text to Connor.

  “I heard that, Allie.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” I grumble.

  Me: Don’t wait for me.

  Connor: Why? What’s up?

  Me: Eden!

  Connor: LOL Good luck with that. See you later.

  Yeah, he didn’t know the half of it. Seriously, how was I going to get out of this. I should have paid more attention to the outline she’d brandished at lunch yesterday, but I’d been too busy processing everything she’d said to me.

  In some ways, she was right. I didn’t want to waste any time pining for Connor. But if I was going to have a boyfriend, I really wanted it to be him. I knew the boys in our school and none of them compared to Connor. Feeling conflicted, I watch as Eden eyes the vomit on my bed critically.

  “I see how this could be overwhelming. I might have gotten a bit excited.”

  Ya think?

  Eden sifts through the mess and plucks out a black fitted tee with black lace sleeves.

  “Um-”

  “Sshhttt!” Eden shushes me. With a groan, I fall face first into my pillow. Beside me, Eden rustles through the clothes again. After a few minutes of wallowing, I feel a nudge on my shoulder. “Here. Now get dressed.”

  I lift my head to see that she has bagged up the mall barf, leaving only the black tee, a pair of skinny jeans, and some low, black boots with a small heel.

  “Hurry up! We still have to do your hair and makeup.” Eden tugs on the waistband of my mesh shorts when it becomes apparent I’m not getting up.

  “Hey!” I grumble, but get to my feet anyway. It’s no use. Eden’s like a bulldozer when she wants to be.

  “I’ll go get us some Pop Tarts while you change.” Eden races out of my room and I quickly change into the clothes she picked out. Looking in my mirror a few minutes later, I realize it could have been much worse. I kind of like the top. It makes me look like I have some curves, unlike the boxy sports t-shirts I usually wear. Between the shirt and the skinny jeans, I’m a little shocked.

  Still studying myself, I consider for the first time what other people might think when they look at me. I’m tall, I guess. At almost five seven I tower over Eden, who is ultra-feminine and petite. I always feel like an uncoordinated horse beside her.

  Still eying myself critically, I catalog my assets. Like my hair. It’s probably my most feminine attribute. Hanging almost to my hips, it’s blonde, nearly white, but with enough gold in it to not be pale and lifeless. My hazel eyes aren’t anything to get too excited about, but I feel lucky that my lashes and eyebrows are not as light as my hair. I have clear, tanned golden from all the time spent outside with Connor this summer. I admit I’m extremely thankful I'm not one of those people who just burn in the sun. Overall, nothing remarkable really, I’m just kinda- average.

  “Oh, my goodness, Allie. Who knew you had hips?” Eden startles me from my reflection, her eyes traveling up from my hips. “And boo-”

  “Shhht!” I shush her, blushing to the roots of my hair. Really, there is only so much I can take.

  Vulnerable. That’s the only way to describe how I feel walking into school without my comfortable, baggy clothes and ponytail I’ve worn for so long. For years, no one seemed to notice me at all. Ex
cept for Connor’s girlfriends ridiculing me, that is. The eyes of the rest of the student population just sort of slide over me, like I’m invisible.

  Today, though, I’ve been on the receiving end of more than a few double takes. Before first period even started, I already needed a reprieve. I slid into the bathroom to look at myself in the mirror again. Do I really look that different?

  Eden convinced me to wear my hair down rather than my signature ponytail. She’d wrestled it straight with a flat iron until it fell across my shoulders like a golden waterfall. Surprisingly, I really like it. Ugh. See? A golden waterfall? What the heck is wrong with me?

  I’m not the only one who liked my hair, either. Jamie Barnes, this cute guy from my physics class, couldn’t stop touching it. He sits behind me and I swear he ran his fingers through the ends at least ten times until I threatened him with a throat punch if he didn’t stop.

  “How have I never noticed your hair?” he asked, his voice filled with wonder while his fingers hovered a few inches away from the bottom of the strands. I must have sounded serious about the throat punch because he threw me a goofy grin before lowering his hand to his side.

  Things got even weirder at lunch. I hadn’t seen Connor yet today, like I said, no classes together and senior lockers were too far away from any of my classes. As I made my way into the cafeteria, I’d kinda forgotten about my fresh look. I walked in and as usual my gaze immediately found Connor. I’d never really thought about it before, but he must look for me too, because he almost always catches my eye as soon as I walk in the room.

  Today is no exception. Only today, when our gazes connect, Connor doesn’t smile at me from across the room before turning back to his friends and their conversations over rubbery pizza. Instead, he freezes, his gaze traveling over me in a way it never has before. Shivering at the sensation, I watch as his eyes snap back up to mine. I probably looked like a deer in the headlights.