Lessons in Love (Flirt) (19 page)

“Bo-ring!” Ling wrinkled her nose. “Seriously, the girl has
no
imagination.” She leaned closer to the case. “What’s that one? The big chocolate one there?”

“That’s Great-Aunt Ellen’s newest recipe—devil’s food cake with triple-fudge frosting.” Since none of us had known until the day before that Logan was allergic to chocolate, I guessed Ling didn’t know it, either. “But—”

“That sounds amazing!” she interrupted, her eyes lighting up. “Can you put a message on that? And maybe some extra swirls or something to make it look fancier?”

“Sure, I guess. But listen—”

“How long will it take? I want to stop by his house as soon as it’s ready.” She leaned closer, glancing around to make sure nobody was listening. Since the only people in view were a couple of old ladies gossiping over tea and cookies, I wasn’t sure why she was worried. “See, I’m hoping he’ll decide to take me out to a movie or something. And the matinees all start before like one thirty.”

“Okay. But seriously, Ling, I need to tell you something. . . .” Actually, a couple of things. Like that Logan would probably break out in hives if he even looked at that particular cupcake, and that he wasn’t going to be home all day.

She looked up from digging through her purse. “By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask you.” Her voice suddenly went sharp. “What were you doing with Logan at the shelter yesterday?”

I gulped. Was that suspicion I saw in her shrewd brown eyes?

“You don’t have a little crush on him or something, do you, Bailey?” she demanded, leaning closer. “Because if you do, you’d better back off. It’s annoying enough having Megan throwing herself at him without everyone else getting into the act.”

I took a half step back, annoyance bubbling up inside me. Most of the time I liked to play it cool, avoid trouble. But this was too much. Sure, Ling could be kind of ruthless sometimes. But this was getting ridiculous even for her. What right did she have to tell me who I could or couldn’t have a crush on?

“Don’t be silly,” I said as calmly as I could. “So you want the devil’s food, huh? What’s your message?”

She examined me for another second; then her face relaxed into a smile. “I just want it to say ‘For Logan, from Ling.’ Maybe in blue icing, if you’ve got some? That’s his favorite color, you know.”

“Blue it is.” I scribbled the order onto the pad by the register. “It’ll be ready in twenty minutes or so.”

“Cool. That gives me just enough time to run to the drugstore and pick up some lip gloss. Just in case my lips get chapped from too much kissing or something, you know?” Ling pursed her lips playfully. “Be back in a few. Thanks, Bailey.”

“No problem.” I kept my smile steady until she was gone, then collapsed against the counter.

Had I really just done that? Wow. So not like me. Of course, there was no doubt Megan would have done what I’d just done, and worse, given the chance. Or Ling herself, for that matter. Somehow, though, that didn’t make me feel much better. Was I really turning into one of them?

I put my hand in the pocket of my apron, touching the smooth plastic casing of my cell phone. Maybe I should text Ling right now, tell her the truth. Well, the truth about Logan’s chocolate allergy and his plans for today, anyway—I wasn’t about to fill her in on my confusing and constantly changing feelings about Logan.

At that moment my father came through the swinging doors carrying a paper bag of sandwiches. “Bailey—just the person I wanted to see!” he sang out. “Want to run this delivery over to the dorms? It’s a nice day out there—I figured you could use the fresh air.”

“Sure. Is Great-Aunt Ellen still back there? We got a rush cupcake order.” I ripped Ling’s sheet off the pad and handed it to him. “She’s coming back to pick it up in twenty minutes.”

My dad nodded, and I made my escape with the sandwiches, telling myself it was no big deal. Logan wasn’t home anyway, and Ling deserved a little payback for the way she’d been acting.

This didn’t mean I was like her and Megan at all.

“The best part is, Ling totally blames Megan for the whole thing.” Simone dodged a distracted freshman. “She thinks she set her up by talking about that cupcake she gave him.”

We were on our way to last period. Simone was strolling along at her usual speed, but I kept catching myself wanting to hurry. I’d spent the last two periods counting down the minutes until my study session with Logan. Pathetic, right? Especially since there was no decrease in Ling and Megan’s craziness. If anything, they were getting worse. They’d pretty much monopolized his attention at lunch, leaving the rest of us talking among ourselves.

It didn’t help that my bus had been even later than usual that morning, barely giving me the chance to say hi to Logan before the bell rang for homeroom. On top of that, Ms. Blumenkranz had jury duty this week, and the sub hadn’t let us talk, or even do anything interesting. We’d spent art period reading about the history of impressionism in some dusty old textbooks she dug out of the back of the closet.

So basically, I’d only said about two words to Logan since Saturday. It shouldn’t have mattered, but it did.

“So Ling actually lurked outside his house all day until he got home?” I asked as we turned the corner.

Simone nodded. “That’s when she found out about his chocolate allergy.”

“I still feel bad for not telling her about that.” I smiled. “At least a little.”

Simone shrugged. “You said you tried and she cut you off, right? No surprise there. She never listens when she’s in that kind of mood.”

She had a point. “So what did she do with the cupcake?”

“What do you think?” Simone laughed. “It was a chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing—of course she ate it herself!”

Logan hadn’t arrived yet when we entered study hall. I felt a flutter of anticipation when I finally saw him step through the door.

“Here comes your boyfriend,” Simone whispered.

“Shh! Don’t call him that.” I tried not to stare or blush or otherwise make an idiot out of myself as Logan walked toward us, smiling. Smiling at
me
.

My heart jumped. Okay, not really—that’s physiologically impossible, of course. What actually happened was a rush of adrenaline, causing acceleration of heart and lung function, along with various other related symptoms. All of it caused by a release of chemicals in the brain.

Even though I had a pretty good intellectual understanding of my reaction, I was a little startled by it. What
was
it about Logan that did this to me every time?

“Hey,” he said, dropping his backpack on the floor and sliding into his seat. “What’s up? I feel like I’ve barely seen you today.”

“Yeah.” I busied myself with my backpack, not daring to meet his eye. “Ready to hit the books?”

“Sure.” He bent down to grab his textbook out of his bag, and I caught myself admiring the way his bicep flexed as it moved.

Yikes. All along, I’d figured this would wear off eventually. But that wasn’t happening. If anything, it was getting worse.

Logan sat up and opened his book. “Okay, you’ll have to forgive me if I can’t focus on this stuff too well today.”

“Wh-what?” I tore my gaze away from his arm, feeling more than a little unfocused myself.

“Today’s the big day, remember?” He grinned at me. “Dad’s taking me to pick up Patch right after school.”

“Oh! Right.” I smiled back. “That’s cool. You must be excited.”

“Totally psyched. I made Mom and Dad stop at the mall on our way home yesterday so I could grab some dog food and a crate and a bunch of other stuff at the pet-supply store.”

“Doggy shopping,” I said. “Fun.”

“Yeah.” He flashed me a grin, then turned away and flipped open his textbook.

I stayed quiet, wondering if he’d mention finding Ling waiting for him when he got home. But he was scanning the table of contents.

“Where’d we leave off?” he asked.

“Chapter six,” I reminded him. I slid my desk a little closer, trying not to notice how good he smelled as I scanned the textbook. “But first, maybe we should review what we went over on Friday.”

“Good plan.” He shot me a sidelong look. “I had a pretty exciting weekend—I may have forgotten everything you taught me.”

The first thing that jumped into my mind was Ling again. Was he talking about finding her waiting for him at his house? Somehow I didn’t think so. Apparently my cardiovascular system didn’t think so either, since my heart was thumping along at double time again.

“Um, really?” I said.

“Nah, just kidding.” Logan smiled at me. “You’re a good teacher. I think I remember most of it.”

“Oh. Um, good.”

He glanced at the textbook, then back at me again, his expression suddenly turning more serious. “I really appreciate this, you know. Not just anybody would give up all their study halls for something like this.”

“It’s okay, I don’t mind.” I smiled tentatively. “I’m a science geek, remember? This is actually fun for me.”

He grinned, looking relieved. “Cool. Still—thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” I smiled back. If nothing else, we were kind of starting to feel like friends. Real friends. Maybe I should be grateful for that; maybe it was enough.

“Okay, so let’s start our review . . . ,” I began. Logan scooted his desk even closer to mine, and I tried not to notice how close his arm was to brushing against mine. That adrenaline was kicking in again, making me feel short of breath.

I was an evidence-based kind of girl, and the evidence seemed to be mounting, all of it pointing to one theory. That maybe being friends
wasn’t
enough.

Chapter
Seventeen

W
hen the bell rang to
end bio class on Thursday, Mr. Ba asked Logan to stay after class.

“Just for a moment,” the teacher assured Logan. “I want to go over the homework you turned in yesterday.”

“Okay, sure.” Logan sounded nervous. He turned around and shot me a questioning look.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’re fine,” I said as I gathered my books. “You’re making tons of progress in our study sessions. Mr. Ba probably just wants to check in and make sure you’re understanding everything.”

“You think so?” He still seemed nervous, but he gave me a small smile. “Thanks. I’ll see you at lunch in a few.”

“Okay.”

I went over and waited for Simone, Megan, and Taylor by the door. Logan walked up to the teacher’s desk. He still looked anxious, but I wasn’t worried. We really had accomplished a lot on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. I might be clueless when it came to figuring out boys, but I knew I gave good bio tutoring.

When they reached me, Simone and the others were complaining about the homework Mr. Ba had just assigned. Simone stopped when she noticed me watching Logan.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Nothing.” I definitely didn’t want to get into it in front of Megan. “Let’s go, I’m starved.”

Fortunately, she seemed to understand. She nodded, giving me a look that said,
We’ll discuss later
.

Megan headed straight to our table while Simone, Taylor, and I went through the lunch line. When we emerged with our trays, I could see from halfway across the cafeteria that Matt and Darius weren’t sitting with us today. Too bad. Just having a guy or two around tended to tamp down Ling and Megan’s antics. At least a little.

“So I can’t believe how sweet and shy Logan is,” Ling was telling Zoe when we got close enough to hear. “When I asked to borrow a pen in English, he totally blushed when our hands touched.”

Zoe sort of grunted, not looking up from her salad. Beside me, Simone let out a soft snort.

“Yeah, right,” Megan said. “He’s probably just embarrassed by how you’re always pawing at him.”

“Pot, meet kettle,” Simone whispered, making Taylor cover her mouth to keep from laughing.

Ling heard them and looked up. “Oh, hi,” she said, peering over our shoulders. “Where’s Logan? Didn’t he walk with you guys?”

“Had to stay behind and talk to the teacher.” Simone dropped her bag lunch on the table. “Who knows, he might have to miss the entire lunch period.”

“What?” Megan and Ling squawked in unison.

Taylor looked amused. “Relax, she’s just messing with you. He’ll probably be here soon.”