She was done waiting. Emmaline was ready to start living. She didn’t want to be the girl to run from the room with her face on fire anymore, easily embarrassed and nervous around guys.
Emmaline expelled a heavy breath and interrupted her friends’ conversation. “What are we doing?” She looked searchingly into each of their faces, her frustration spilling over.
Her friends blinked. Clearly they felt none of Emmaline’s torment.
“Uh, eating?” Lia waved a chicken tender.
“That’s not what I mean,” Emmaline snapped.
“What are you talking about?” Sanjana asked.
“It’s Friday night and we’re at Whataburger. Again.”
“I like Whataburger.” Sanjana bit into a fry, her dark eyes as wide and guileless as a Disney princess.
“We were at a party tonight and we left early.” Emmaline propped her elbows on the table. “We’re juniors. And Lia, you’re a senior. Don’t you want to do something in high school besides study and—”
“I would rather not do anything that affects my getting into Stanford,” Monica cut in.
“There were plenty of kids at that party who are going to college,” Emmaline argued.
Monica considered that for a moment before nodding. “Some of them, yeah, but I didn’t seen any kids from my AP classes, so I doubt anyone else at that party is aiming for Stanford.”
Emmaline flung her hands wide. “You guys are hopeless.”
“What do you want from us, Em?” Lia asked, slurping loudly from her straw. “We went with you tonight.”
“I want things to change! I don’t want to be seventeen and never-been-kissed anymore.”
Everyone fell silent, and she knew why. She knew their experience did not amount to much more than hers.
“Well, what are you going to do then?” Lia asked slowly, wariness all over her face.
She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Hayden Vargas flashed across her mind. Emmaline wished she could be like her. Even just a little bit. If she had one fraction of that girl’s confidence, her life would be so much different. So much better.
Maybe she could get Hayden to give her lessons.
With a snort, Emmaline foraged into one of the bags on the table for more fries. She stuffed a bunch in her mouth, savoring the salty tastiness.
Priscilla laughed shrilly from the other booth and Emmaline rolled her eyes, stuffing even more fries in her mouth.
Then the thought came again. Maybe she could get Hayden to give her lessons.
Emmaline stopped chewing, her pulse picking up speed at her throat.
Lessons on how to be more like Hayden. Confident. Irresistible. A magnet for guys. Someone who didn’t sit around regretting lost opportunities and run from the guy she liked with embarrassment.
“Emmaline?” Sanjana asked. “You okay? You have a funny look on your face.”
“I’m fine. More than fine.” She looked at Lia. “And to answer your question, I know exactly what I’m going to do now.”
Lesson #5
Inspiration can come from surprising sources.
x Nolan x
“You going to eat those fries?”
Nolan didn’t even blink as Priscilla reached a hand in his basket.
A discarded bun sat in front of her. She’d eaten her cheeseburger and left the bread. Too many carbs, she claimed.
As for fries, she never ordered them for herself. She contented herself with stealing his.
It wasn’t logical, but he didn’t point that out to her.
It’s not like he was that protective of his fries anyway. He didn’t mind. Especially tonight. He wasn’t that hungry. He was . . . distracted.
That encounter with Hayden Vargas had to count for one of the weirdest conversations of his life. He couldn’t help playing it over and over in his mind. He’d never talked to her before and he didn’t know what he expected—but not that. Not what he got. She was bold and rude and blunt.
Fortunately, Nora and Reed sat with them. Nora was Pris’s best friend and Nolan played football with Reed. He was an okay guy, but Nora loved the sound of her own voice. At least he assumed she did, because she hardly ever took a breath between words. Even if he wanted to talk, it would be a challenge to get a word in, and tonight that was fine with him. They could chat. He didn’t have to participate.
He sat quietly, zoning out of the two-sided conversation between the girls. Reed sipped from a milkshake and scrolled through his phone.
His sister and her friends sat a couple booths over, lost in their own conversation. Emmaline cast him several scowls. She wasn’t happy with him. Usually they got along, but lately . . .
Lately, she had been short-tempered with him. He wasn’t certain what had changed, but something had shifted between them. It would pass. They’d always been close.
“Nolan?” At the sound of his name, he jerked his attention back to the people at his table, leaning forward.
Nora was staring at him, dragging her fry through a disgusting mixture of mayonnaise, ketchup, and mustard. “Did you hear back from Notre Dame yet?”
He opened his mouth to answer, but Priscilla chimed in, covering her hand over his. “They accepted him in December. We’re just waiting on their full offer. It’s doubtful they can beat the package UT offered him”
Nora nodded as though she agreed.
We.
He wondered when he had become a we. When had he lost his individuality?
He gave himself a mental shake. It was fine. He had a good girlfriend. The prettiest girl in school. Everyone said so. And she was sweet. Goodhearted. Only a jerk would complain.
The girls continued to talk and he glanced over to his sister’s booth again. She and her friends were gathering up their trash.
“Ready to go?” he asked the table.
“Already?” Priscilla glanced at the time on her phone. “But it’s not even eleven yet.”
He gathered his and Priscilla’s trash, wadding up the orange wrapping. “I told Beau I’d run with him in the morning.”
Priscilla’s lips thinned, but she didn’t say anything. Nora sent her a swift, meaningful look. Nolan knew the significance behind that look. Priscilla did not care for Beau. She did not say it in words—she was too sensitive of Nolan’s feelings for that—but she didn’t need to say anything. It was evident in how she shut down whenever he was around. Really, she shut down even when Beau’s name was even mentioned. He couldn’t blame her.
A year and a half ago, at Priscilla’s sixteenth birthday party, Beau disappeared into the gardening shed with her cousin. Yeah, that had not been a good idea.
Beau had only kissed the girl, but that didn’t stop a very one-sided infatuation from developing. Priscilla’s cousin called, texted, and even drove over to Beau’s house. It got awkward. Priscilla had to step in and break it to her cousin that Beau wasn’t boyfriend material. She’d never forgiven Beau for that.
Beau liked girls. He liked kissing them. He played the field. He would never change.
Nolan might not agree with everything Beau did, and Priscilla might be right about him, but the guy had stuck by Nolan when he lost his father. He’d been there for him. The least Nolan could do was accept him for who he was.