But that still didn’t keep my heart from freaking out because this was Justin’s arm, and he smelled so freakin’ good.
I mean, he smelled like chlorine, but beyond that, he smelled amazing.
“No pressure, Daly,” he said.
I cringed a bit inwardly. He called me by my last name a lot, just like the coach did. I might not have known much about boys or romance, but I had a hunch that referring to me by my last name like he did all his guy pals wasn’t a great sign.
I gave him a little smile all the same. Only Justin would think to add ‘no pressure, Daly.’ He knew I wasn’t big on group hangs. Not that I didn’t like my teammates, I just didn’t really fit in outside of practice.
Justin was the only one who was as serious about swimming as I was, and everyone else treated it like a casual hobby.
He gave me a little wink, and once again I blinked because…
Two winks in one day. First Will, and now Justin. Was something going on that I should know about? Were winks back in style?
I would have liked to believe this particular wink meant something, but I knew better.
“You should come,” Bobby said. “Let loose for once.”
Justin gave his friend a shove. “Leave her alone, man, you know Hazel doesn’t like to hang.”
I tried not to flinch. Doesn’t like to hang. That was the reputation I had. Super cool, right? The school librarian and I shared the same cool factor.
I shrugged defensively. “I hang.”
Justin squeezed my shoulders playfully. “Yeah, but you don’t like to...you know...have fun.”
He said it so casually. Not like an insult, but I still felt it like a sting. Why? Because I’d known Justin for years. I’d seen the kind of girls he dated, and not one of them was a stick-in-the-mud who didn’t know how to have fun.
In my defense, I did have fun. Just...not that kind of fun.
Emma and I had fun all the time, it just usually entailed sleeping over at one another’s houses and watching movies too late.
Wild child, that was me.
“We’re seniors now, Hazel,” Bobby said, punching my arm lightly. “This is our year to let loose.”
Justin pulled me into this little side hug even tighter, and I tried not to notice how good his obliques felt against my side. “Leave her alone. Hazel’s not like the other girls.” He grinned down at me. “That’s what we love about her.”
“That’s true,” Bobby said, nudging me with his elbow. “You may not know how to have fun, but you’re one of us.”
I felt a smile tugging at my lips until Justin’s voice stopped it cold. “That’s right. You’re like one of the guys.”
His arm dropped from my shoulders as he and the others turned toward their locker room, leaving me to go in the door next to it leading to the girls’ lockers.
You’re like one of the guys…
Were those words ever a good thing? Maybe. I loved that the guys on my team treated me as an equal athlete.
But to know that Justin thought of me as one of the guys…?
Worse, one of the guys who never had fun?
I sighed as I pulled the door open and went in to rinse off and change. That overwhelming giddy sensation of winning had officially drained away with Justin’s words.
I showered and dressed quickly, throwing my long brown hair back into a low ponytail, like usual. I slapped on some moisturizer since the chlorine did a number on my skin, tossed a large hooded team sweatshirt over my T-shirt and jeans and went out to meet my friends.
Emma and Lulu were where I’d left them in the stands, their heads tipped together as they pored over some magazine.
I resisted the urge to groan because I had a good idea what the magazine article was about. For weeks now my friends had been obsessed with these girlie magazines that Rose had given us.
Rose was the school’s leading actress and could have passed for a supermodel. She probably could have gotten any guy she wanted by sheer looks alone, but she credited these magazines and their ‘how to’ articles for making her the girl every guy wanted to date.
Of course, these days she was a one-guy kind of gal, but for a few years there, she’d had her pick of the boys. With one crook of her finger, she made them her boyfriend.
When our friend Simone had a crush and needed advice, she’d gone to Rose and Rose had dumped her stash on us—the self-proclaimed lonely hearts club.
I didn’t think anyone would have taken them so seriously if Simone hadn’t had such crazy success in love less than a week after studying the love tomes, as Emma kept calling them. Our artsy geek friend had gone and stolen the heart of Lakeview High’s star pitcher, and ever since then…
Well, some of my friends were obsessed.
Our friend Avery was the biggest believer, but Emma and Lulu were pretty into it, too. Max, our resident newspaper reporter and cynic thought the whole thing was ridiculous, and Charlotte, the shyest nerd in school...well, it was hard to figure out what she thought about it since she was pretty quiet on the topic.
On every topic, really.
As I drew closer, I heard Emma’s loud laugh and felt my own lips twitch in response. Emma and I were pretty much night and day. She was short and curvy, I was long and lean. She had a cute heart-shaped face and short, chin-length black curls. I had a totally plain face with freckles being the only obvious attribute, and long light brown hair.
Our personalities were even more different. She lived to laugh. Her nature was just naturally upbeat, and she didn’t take anything seriously. And me…?
Well, as Justin and his friends just pointed out—I wasn’t exactly the life of the party. I tended to be pretty serious. Driven, I guess. I had a lot of goals, and I didn’t like to lose focus.
There would be plenty of time for boys and for parties...for all that stuff. But right now, I had other priorities.
Sure enough, when I reached my friends, Emma looked up at me with wide eyes and a big smile. “Hazel, you’ve got to check this article out. This one has everything you need to catch your crush.”
“Emma,” I hissed, my cheeks already burning as I looked around to see who might have overheard.
A few students were talking amongst themselves several rows away, but Will, the hot newspaper photographer, was lounging back against the row behind him a few feet from where we were. He was looking at something on his camera, seemingly not paying attention, but still...
I shot Emma a meaningful look, but she was too excited to notice. “Lulu agrees. There are two tips here that are perfect for someone like you.”
I widened my eyes and gave my head a little shake that said ‘seriously? You told Lulu I have a crush?’
I should have expected it, I supposed. Emma was the very best friend a girl could ask for, and she knew how to keep her mouth shut when it was something that mattered.
The problem was, Emma decided what mattered.
The fact that I had a crush did not rank high on Emma’s list of secrets to keep under wraps. She thought crushes were all fun and games. My best friend had no idea how unpleasant it actually was because, as Emma would be the first to admit, she’d never actually had a crush.
Lucky girl.
Lulu was giving me a sweet smile like she knew what I was thinking. I loved Lulu, I really did. Our resident artistic dreamer, the redhead was as sweet as could be. But the point was, I didn’t want anyone knowing.