Reasons I Fell for the Funny Fat Friend (5 page)

“So, can I be embarrassingly honest?” she asks, cocking her head to the side and looking me straight in the eye.

“I hope you’ll always be honest with me.”
Yeah
, that was
gag-worthy. Don’t know what’
s wrong with me when I’m around her.

Her face turns pink and her eyes dart to the floor. “Well, I… uh, have like, noticed you for a while. Like how cool you are and crap, so my one major tip would be to be yourself, and not get so nervous around her.”

I know there was a helpful bit of advice somewhere in there, but all I can think about is how Hayley has ‘noticed’ me. ‘For a while’. Huh.

“So, like what kind of cool crap are you talkin’ about?” I grin and throw my arm on the back of the couch. Am I flirting? Nah, just being friendly and curious. But her gaze at my position makes me reconsider the movement. I can’t shift back right now without lookin’ like a moron.

“Lots of stuff.” She shrugs.

“Well…” I start, moving again so it doesn’t look like I’m hitting on her. “If you want me to keep doin’ that ‘cool’
shit
, I kind of need to know what it is.”

A tiny cringe goes across her fa
ce
,
and then it’s gone. What
did I just say? And why does she keep doing that? I couldn’t have imagined it… three times now?

Then it hits me.

Shit.

I mean…

“Sorry, you don’t like it when I swear, do you?”

Her face goes from pink to dark red so fast, you’d think she was on fire from the inside out. “Um…”

“It’s okay. I’ll try not to, if it bothers you.”

She looks at me dumbfounded. “Really? You don’t think I’m a major loser for t
hat stuff buggin’
me?”

Loser? Hell—heck—she had standards. There’s nothing loserish about that.

“Not at all.”

The shock disappears from her face and she half smiles. Her big ol’ eyes glisten like I’ve just made her day.

My stomach twists.

“Well, I guess that answers your question,” she says.

“What question?”

“That right there is what’s so cool about you.”

I raise an eyebrow. My brain must be running on slow motion today.

She giggles and pushes my leg—voluntarily touching me.

Stomach twists again.

“You accept people for who they are.” She smiles wide again. “Quynn will not know what hit her.”

Reason 6:
You give the best hugs

I don’t think I’ve ever been so nervous and confident all at once. Hayley and I spent the entire afternoon going over the ‘simple’ things I could do to help Quynn see me as something other
than her adopted brother.

I’m skeptical. Okay, that’s an understatement. There is no way this stuff is going to change anythin’, though it makes sense. It’s just not enough. Don’t girls like big elaborate
stuff
?

When I asked Hayley, she shook her head like I was askin’ if Santa existed. “Small and simple things are the most effective. Trust me.”

Trust her.
S
he seems to know what she’s doing, but still. I want to bolt out the ASL classroom when Quynn walks in.

“All right.” Ms. Stev
ens says
from her desk. “No talking today, strictly signing. Turn to your partners
,
and go at it.”

A few kids stifle their laughter, dirty minds at work. I roll my eyes and they land on Hayley, who’s also stifling giggles. Great, now my face is red.

So, what should we talk about today?
I sign, trying not to picture me and her ‘going at it’.

I don’t care. You pick.

I glance at Quynn who slides into her chair with a loud huff and slams her book on the desk.

Yikes.
Hayley signs as she follows my gaze.
She looks pretty pissed.

I nod, and force myself to look at Hayley and what she’s signing.

I know this is going to sound awful, but this is a good opportunity for you today.

What do you mean?

She smiles and waves me in close. That wave of mint chocolate soaks my nostrils
,
and I slurp back my drool.

You can…

The rest is way too fast for me to catch. I smile and stop her hands with mine, and mouth, “Slow, please!”

She gives me a ‘yikes! I’m sorry’ look, then goes much slower with her signs, keeping her fingers close to mine.

You can
talk to her after class. See if she’ll open up to you.

What
am I supposed to say? I’ve never been good with comforting people. Better at making ‘em laugh instead.

I don’t know…

Come on, Brody. You’ll be fine. You talk to her all the time. And trust me, girls who are that mad, just want to tell someone to get it off their chest.

I look at Quynn again. She’s tryin’ to sign to her partner, but it looks like she’s holding back tears. I hate seeing her like that. All I want to do is hold her.

Yeah, I guess you’re right.

“Uh, Quynn?” Using the name. We’re alone in the classroom again, everyone boltin’ home.

“Hmm?” She doesn’t look up from her book, her eyes watery and a little red.

“A-are you okay?” Dude, I’m so bad at this. Already my palms sweat rivers.

A puff of air escapes her mouth, blowing her bangs away from her face. “No. Not really.”

What do I say now? I glance at the door. Hayley peeks through the window, sticks two fingers toward her eyes then out at Quynn. Clearly a ‘Focus, Brody!’ motion.

My eyes flash back to Quynn. She’s got her hand over her face
,
and she’s doing some kind of meditative breathing.

“Can I… Do you mind if I ask what happened?”

She drops her hand, finally lookin’ me in the eyes. Her mouth opens and closes a couple times. I wait. Not goin’ to push her if she doesn’t want to be pushed.

“Did… did you know G-Gabe is living with… with Nicole?” A fresh wave of tears and hurt rise in her eyes.

Shit
.

“Oh dude, I’m sorry.” How can I make this okay? I’m not supposed to talk about douchebag brother. “But
yeah
, I found out the other day. I should’ve told you.”

“No.” She shakes her head, a tear finally making its way down her cheek. “It’s not your fault I found out the way I did.”

“Uh, how did you?” Was that too nosy?

Her mouth twitches at the corner, as if the whole thing is somewhat funny. “You’re going to think I’m pathetic.”

Doubtful. “I don’t think I’ll ever think that about you.” Whoa, layin’ on the cheese, but I don’t care. I’m bein’ honest.

She half smiles. “Well, I drive by his apartment sometimes. I don’t know why I do it, but I find myself down that street a lot.”

“That’s not pathetic.” ‘Cause it’s not. I do the same thing to… uh, other people. “You saw her there?”

She nods, her mouth back down in a frown.

“Hey,” I say, squatting down next her desk so we’re kind of eye to eye, “it’s goin’ to be hard for a little while. But it’ll be okay. I promise.”

I know that’s so generic, but I mean it. When someone cheats on you, it’s goin’ to hurt like hell for a long time, probably the rest of your life.

She nods, and her breath hitches.

This is the part where I should touch her, hug her, or squeeze her hand or somethin’, but I can’t. I’m too nervous to do any of that.

Her eyes tear up
,
and she reaches out and pats my hand. Guess
she’s
ballsy enough to touch
me
. “Thank you, Bro.”

I nod and give her a dorky half smile as I stand upright. “Uh, no problem. Let me know if you need me. Even if it’s just to talk or whatever.”

Her eyes flick to the door
,
and I follow her gaze. Either Hayley left or she’s lightning quick ducking down ‘cause there’s no one in sight.

Before I have the chance to look back at Quynn, she’s in my arms, holding tight to my neck and squeezing like she hasn’t hugged another human being her whole life and she’s been dying to.

She’s never touched me like this. Always been those playful touches that didn’t mean anythin’. And I’m tryin’ to feel somethin’ about this that makes it feel different than any other time she’s touched me, but I can’t even hug her back before she jumps away. Her face looks as hot as mine feels.

“Um, thanks again, Bro.”

“Uh…”
Think Brody. Find words to say
. “Y-your welcome.”

A sigh of relief explodes from her lips before they upturn into a smile. “Okay, well, I
’ve
got to head home. Thanks for listening.”

“Uh huh.”

She goes out the door, and I should’ve followed her. Should’ve walked her outside to her car. But I’m frozen in place. Not sure what to think about what just happened. ‘Cause if I’m bein’ honest, it wasn’t as big a deal as I thought it would be.

“So…?” Hayley asks, falling in step with me as we walk down the hallway.

I shrug, still stunned about the unexpected hug. The hug that should’ve felt d
ifferent, but didn’t. Where
did it come from anyway? I didn’t do anything really.

“Come on. Tell me. It couldn’t have been that bad.”

“It wasn’t bad.” I scratch the back of my neck. “Just surprising.” And weird.

Hayley stops and yanks my arm back. “Explain,” she says with a wide smile on her face.

“Later,” I whisper, leaning in and pointing to all the surrounding people.

She nods and zips her lips, but it doesn’t wipe away the smile. My stomach twists a little bit.

“Library today?” she asks.

“How about now? Or do you have to go home first?” Why am I so anxious? I guess I could wait to talk to her about it, but in all honesty, I kind of want to spend time with her. She knows how to relax a situation. And everything in my system is so tense, I’m goin’ to need someone to calm me down.

“I just want to drop off my bag. That okay?”

“Sure, I’m parked out this way.” I gesture to the doors down the hall.

When we get to the Corsica, I open the door for her before getting behind the wheel. She’s bouncing up and down in the seat.

“Tell me now!”

I laugh and shake my head as I start the car. “It’s really nothing, Hayles.” It’s out before I realize I said it—a nickname. But it fits her. If she’s not going to say anything about it, that’s what I’m goin’ to call her.

“Nothing, really?” She cocks an eyebrow. “You look like you swallowed a gallon of way hot coffee.”

Hayles it is, I guess. “I just talked to her. She was upset about my brother. I know, I know, I wasn’t supposed to talk about him, but she brought him up.”

“Okay…” She keeps leaning toward me. Dude, she smells real good. I think all girls do. Must be something in their genetic make-up.

“And she hugged me.”

She smiles. A big huge one that stretches across her entire face. It’s her smile, I’m realizin’. “Has she ever hugged you before?”

I shake my head. “Not like that, no.”

“EEEP!”

Her exclamation makes me jump in my seat. “You okay there?” I laugh.

“Oh my flying monkeys, this is real good. Small things bring big results. You must’ve said some serious cheesy crap to make her hug you the way she did. Not that I’m surprised of course.”

She talks so fast
my mind has to catch up with her.

“Okay, first off… flying monkeys?” I laugh
,
and she grimaces. “And second, you think it’s ‘cause I spewed a bunch of sonnets or something?”

She giggles and rolls her eyes. “No. I’m saying you were probably very comforting. So comforting she let her guard down, even if it was just for a second.” She pauses as I pull in her driveway. “I told you, you’re closer than you think, with her.”

Yeah
, I guess I am. Either that or Quynn was giving me a ‘friend’ hug. Maybe that’s why it didn’t feel like more. But I don’t want to think about it that way. It happened too fast for me to overanalyze it.

Hayley sighs before hookin’ her bag over her shoulder. Before she can freak out on me, I jump out of the car and open the door for her.

“Thanks, but I’ll be real quick. Wait here?”

I nod. No point in arguing. That and death-stare mom is looking out the window at us.

Hayley jogs into her house and the drapes swing shut. Some muffled shouting rumbles the window, but is soon covered up by dog barks.

Whoa. What
is going on? I
kind of
want to knock on the door and see if Hayley is all right, but something tells me that would piss her off.

A few minutes later, Hayley comes runnin
g out, the dog still yappin’ it
s mouth off behind the door she slams in its face.

“Uh, hey. I’ve got some stuff I gotta do here,” she says forcing a smile. Not one of
her
smiles. Her face is a bit splotchy, her eyes puffy red. “Can I take a rain check?”

“Are you okay?” No way am I goin’ to ignore this.

She nods, her fake smile getting wider. “I’m fine. Just have to do some laundry and stuff I promised my mom I would. No big deal.”

I study her face. Her smile usually goes to her eyes when she’s happy. I’ve noticed, and that’s one of the best things about her. But now it’s flat.

“Hayley…”

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” She looks back at her house, at her mom who’s back to staring at us.

“Uh,
I guess.”

“Hey,” she says, grabbing my attention back to her eyes. “A step in the right direction today. At least I think so. You should be happy.”

I
should
be happy. But I’m worried as
shit
right now. There’s no nerves or nothing rumbling through me, and I know Hayley hates being touched, but I can’t help it. I pull her into my arms and hold her there.

She’s so cold, but hugging her freezin’ skin doesn’t bother me. It feels… good. The stomach twists begin as I breathe in her hair. Hot damn! This! This is what a hug with a girl should be like. The stuff in my chest goin’ crazy and noticin’ everything about the person I’m holding. The curves along her sides, her eyelashes batting against my t-shirt, the fact she’s holdin’ her breath, but I’m suckin’ in her scent like it’ll be the last thing I ever smell.

Whoa, what the hell? This is Hayley. Not Quynn.

Hayley.

She hesitates
before wrapping her arms around my torso for a split second, then she pushes away, leaving a wide space between us.

“Uh, thanks Hayles.”
I don’t know what I’m thanking her for.

Her cheeks match her red eyes as she says, “No problem. I’m glad the little pointers I gave you are helping.”

Huh? Oh, right. She’s talking about Quynn.

I nod
,
and she leaps back into her house before I get another word in.