The Crushes (5 page)

Rule 1:
Be playful, fun, and flirty! Boys like girls who know how to have a good time!

Rule 18:
Respect yourself! Demand that your crush respects you as well!

Kelly’s brother, Todd, took in a deep breath as they entered the Family Center Gym. “Ahh,” he said, “smells like rubber mats and sweat.”

“You’re such a pig.” Kelly rolled her eyes.

“Yes he is,” Drew added, sharing a knowing smile with her.

“Aren’t you two cute?” Todd said, sauntering ahead.

Kelly swallowed, and felt her face warm with unease. Whenever someone grouped her with Drew, she got uncomfortable. It was only a few, short months ago they’d shared a moment. Kelly didn’t know what it was or where it would have gone had she explored it further. She’d ended it before it even started.

She shook aside her thoughts before they went too far.
She and Drew were friends, and more importantly, he was going out with Sydney.

“I’m just going to pretend I don’t know you,” Kelly said to Todd. “So stay far away.”

“Good idea,” Drew said as he signed Kelly and himself in at the front desk. With that taken care of, they entered the main gym area together. Kelly slowed once she’d passed the threshold and looked around. A very small part of her (well, okay, maybe a medium-size part of her) was hoping she’d run into Adam.

She still thought the Crush Code was silly and that even if it did work, Adam was so out of her orbit he might as well be Saturn to her Earth.

At any rate, she’d told Alexia she’d give it a try but had been putting it off since they developed the new code on Friday.

Now, here she was at the gym bright and early the following Saturday. She’d been in the school’s gym, but until last week, she’d never been inside this one. There was a sea of white machines before her, the mirrored walls reflecting everything so that the room looked ten times bigger and that much more intimidating.

When she’d complained to her brother and Drew, they’d agreed to accompany her. It was really Drew she’d wanted along since she knew Todd would be a total dink anyway.

Drew was always helpful.

“Where do I start?” Kelly asked him.

He dropped his truck keys in his gym shorts pocket and led Kelly to the row of treadmills that spanned an entire
wall. Each machine had its own flat screen TV attached above it. The Discovery Channel was playing reruns of
Deadliest Catch
.

“Warm up first,” Drew said, hopping on a treadmill. “Ten minutes of walking fast or jogging, then we’ll start with weight training if you want.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Kelly got on the treadmill next to Drew and started out at three miles per hour. At two minutes into the workout, she upped the speed to four miles per hour and jogged slowly. Drew upped his treadmill, too, but completely outpaced her. She’d forgotten how good a runner he was.

Using the mirrors, Kelly scanned the gym behind her, looking for Adam. Every few seconds she’d check the entrance and then the locker room door. So far, no sign of him.

Five minutes into the workout, sweat beading on her forehead, Kelly decided to kick it up more and went to five miles an hour. Her legs screamed in protest, her lungs tightened. It’d been a week since she’d exercised. She was so going to pay for this tomorrow morning.

She looked up when movement at the front door caught her eye.

Adam walked inside looking even better than he had the last time she’d seen him. Was that possible?

Staring at him in the mirror, she lost her balance. One foot stepped off the treadmill, causing her to stumble and lose her footing entirely. She went down on the conveyor belt, and it winged her off the treadmill onto the floor.

“Kelly!” Drew jumped off his treadmill.

Adam ran up.

Todd burst into raucous laughter.

“Are you okay?” Adam asked.

Mentally or physically? Because physically she was fine, mentally she felt like she was about to die.

The Crush Code popped into her head. She only knew rule number one by heart.

Be playful, fun, and flirty! Boys like girls who know how to have a good time.

Now was as good a time as any to try out the Code. She really needed something smart to save herself in this situation.

She turned to Adam and gave him a demure smile. “I’m fine, thanks. I just saw you walk through the door looking gorgeous as ever, and I couldn’t seem to focus.”

Adam’s face turned a bright shade of red. He dodged her attention, averting his gaze to the floor. “Well, thanks…I guess.”

Had she really flustered him? Or was it an act? It didn’t seem like an act, but how in the world could someone as good-looking as Adam get embarrassed at a little flattery? He had to know he was hot. Probably he heard that kind of thing all the time.

Drew cleared his throat and hoisted Kelly to her feet. “You sure you’re fine?” He ran his fingers over her cheeks, pushing hair away from her face as he looked her over closely.

“I’m fine. Really.”

Except she felt like a moron because she’d fallen in front of Adam and Drew and…maybe a bit embarrassed that she’d flirted with Adam so blatantly.

When the attention on her started to wane, Adam introduced himself to Drew. The boys started chatting and Kelly escaped to the bathroom to make sure she didn’t have skid marks on her face or something.

Satisfied with her appearance, she returned to the main area of the gym. She overheard Drew invite Adam to the next poker night.

“Yeah, that sounds cool,” Adam said. “I’ll be there.”

And so would Kelly.

Rule 24:
Become his friend! Talk to him but do not become one of his boys!

Sydney plopped down on a bench in the back lobby of Children’s Hospital, her cell phone up against one ear, her other hand holding tightly to an 8x10 photo she’d had printed out last night at a copy shop.

On her first full day at the hospital, she’d seen a flyer announcing an amateur photo contest. At the time, she hadn’t given entering a second thought, but the contest had stuck with her, and the deadline to enter was today.

The photo she’d picked was one taken earlier this year of Drew’s friend Kenny running through the park, the sun shining muted rays on him. It was by far one of her favorite pictures, and she’d always wanted to share it with someone, someone who was honest and would tell her whether or not it was good.

A panel of judges on a photo contest would be honest, but did she really want to know? She liked the picture, wasn’t that enough?

“Hello? Syd?” Kelly said through the cell phone.

“Oh, sorry.” Sydney turned away from the photo and looked out the lobby windows at the people rushing left and right. Some wore business suits, others colorful hospital scrubs.

“You said you had something to talk to me about,” Kelly said. “What’s up?”

Sydney glanced again at the picture of Kenny. She’d called Kelly for encouragement because Sydney knew Kelly, out of all her friends, would push her more than anyone. Raven wouldn’t care one way or the other. “Just do whatever you want,” Raven would say.

Alexia would come up with something neutral, like, “Do what feels right to you.”

But Kelly, she’d shriek and cheer Sydney on and tell her she was being silly by not entering. And that’s what Sydney needed.

Sydney told Kelly about the contest and the picture she’d taken of Kenny.

“I just wanted your opinion,” Sydney said, “should I enter?”

“Well, yeah! Of course you should! What can it hurt, right? Besides, you’re perfect at everything. I highly doubt the judges would laugh you right out of the contest.”

Perfect? Hardly. Sydney’s love life was certainly not perfect.

Nothing about her life was perfect right now. But Kelly was right, Sydney had little to lose if she entered the contest, and she only had until seven o’clock tonight to make a submission. If she let the deadline pass and held onto her
picture of Kenny, she’d always wonder, What if? Sydney hated
What ifs
.

“Thanks, Kelly, for listening.”

“Hey, no problem. So does that mean you’re entering?”

Sydney stood up from the bench and headed toward the front of the hospital where the photo drop box was located. “Yeah,” she said, “I’m entering right now.”

Sydney eyed the clock that hung on the wall behind the nurses’ station in West Two. One thing Sydney hadn’t figured on was working just a few floors above the contest submission box. She had an hour before the deadline, before someone swooped in and emptied the box, taking Sydney’s photo with them.

That would be it, no going back. She would be subjected to a panel of judges, her picture analyzed and scrutinized and…

“Muffin duty today, Sydney,” a heavyset nurse said, rolling a muffin cart in Sydney’s direction. “It’s tonight’s after-dinner snack. Pass one out to each child and any of the parents who are visiting. The only rooms you should skip are 403 and 408, since those children are on strict diets.”

In school, Sydney was used to being in control. She knew the work and she knew it well. Here, it was a completely different situation. She was at the mercy of the staff to help her along. One little slip and these kids would suffer because of her.

She hated feeling out of control.

After writing down the restricted room numbers, Sydney wheeled the cart away from the nurses’ station and headed toward the first room. The little boy was sleeping and his mother declined a muffin. In the next room, the little girl, clutching to her stuffed rabbit, nodded emphatically when asked if she liked chocolate chip muffins.

“Here you go, then,” Sydney said as she handed the muffin over along with a napkin. Her mother and older brother both took one, too.

So far, so good.

Sydney went back to her cart and rolled along to room 403.

Strict diet, she thought, remembering the nurse’s orders.

Sydney glanced inside the room. The little boy was on his side facing the hallway. The blanket was kicked off his legs. Tubes snaked from his hand and his mouth. The machines behind his bed beeped and whirred.

And, sitting close to the child’s bed, holding his tiny hand, was Quin. His back was to her and his black hair was untied, creating a curtain between his eyes and Sydney.

But if he’d been able to see, he’d have most definitely caught her staring.

There was something awe-inspiring about a guy Sydney’s age who sat in a Peds ICU room with a little boy who was a stranger to him, holding his hand while he slept.

Sydney finished passing out muffins just in time for her break. Plopping down at the round table, she brought out her cell phone and hit number two on speed dial. The phone rang several times before Drew’s voice mail picked up.

Sydney hit END and then number five on speed dial. Kelly answered on the third ring.

“Hey, Syd. What’s up?”

Sydney clacked open a can of Sprite. “Is Drew over there?”

“Umm…”

Sydney could hear music playing in the background. It was that new singer, Kay-J. She’d apparently gone double platinum, or whatever it was, and was on all the top billboard charts.

“Hold on a sec,” Kelly said, turning the music down. “I’m in my room. I heard a car pull up not too long ago. Maybe it was Drew.”

Sydney pulled an orange from her bag and peeled back the rind. Her day so far had been pretty uneventful except for entering the contest. She really had nothing to talk to Drew about, but that didn’t stop her from
wanting
to talk to him. Just hearing his voice on the phone made her happy. And she figured, the more they communicated, the stronger their relationship would be.

Like Rule 24 said,
Become his friend!

Sydney figured a good relationship started there, with a friendship. She and Drew, they’d skipped that part and gotten right to the making out. If their relationship was going to survive this time, she had to be his friend
and
his girlfriend, someone he could trust, someone he felt he could talk to.

And most importantly, someone he could count on to listen, to be understanding.

That was the new and improved Sydney.

“Yup, he’s here,” Kelly said a minute later. “Hold on.”

The phone switched hands. Drew came on the line. “Hey. Did you get off work early or something?”

“I’m on break.”

“Oh. Everything okay?”

“Fine. I just…I don’t know, I missed you.”

“Oh.” He sounded surprised. A good surprised. Maybe Sydney needed to do this sentimental thing more often. “Well, I miss you, too.”

Silence filled the line. Sydney peeled off a slice of orange and bit into it. “I guess I really don’t have anything else to say. I just called to tell you I love you.”

He laughed that easy Drew laugh. “I love you, too. And hey, Syd?”

“Yeah?”

“You can call more often like this. You know, just to tell me you miss me. I kinda like it.”

Sydney grinned wide. “I can manage that.”

Rule 30:
Do not tell anyone that you have a crush on someone unless you know you can trust them not to tell your crush!

The early afternoon sunshine spilled over the porch railing as Raven swung slowly in the hammock. She chewed on the end of her pen, trying desperately to ignore the sound of a skateboard hitting cement across the street.

On her lap sat a journal, one she’d made at Scrappe a few weeks ago specifically for her lyric scribbling. There were musical notes glued to the front of the white notebook. Across the bottom of the cover, she’d drawn the words
Musical Ramblings
with a purple calligraphy pen.

So far, she had about ten pages full of rhymes and thoughts but nothing substantial. There were so many things she wanted to say in a song, but she wasn’t sure where to start. The major thing she was experiencing right now was heartache. She wanted Horace here, now, not thousands of miles away.

It’d been so long since she’d seen him (okay, only two weeks). She was finding it hard to conjure an image of him in her mind. And if she didn’t think it extremely dorky, she would have asked him to send a picture message of himself so she had something to look at.

She closed her eyes, daydreaming about Horace, when the front door of the house opened and Jordan clomped out in a pair of espadrille sandals.

“What are you doing?” Jordan asked, plopping down in one of the wicker chairs across from the hammock.

Raven sighed. “Trying to write a song. Something. Anything! But I can’t concentrate with all that noise he’s making.” She nodded her head in Blake’s direction.

Jordan smiled. “Yeah, because you really don’t get any enjoyment out of watching a hot skater boy get all sweaty and stuff.”

“Very funny.”

“Just admit it, you’re crushing on him.”

Raven put pen to paper but drew a blank. “I have a boyfriend, Jordan. I do not have a crush on Blake.”

“Having a boyfriend has nothing to do with it.”

Oh, it had everything to do with it because Raven having a crush was the same as Superman being exposed to red kryptonite. Raven would go bad in a second if she had a crush. She couldn’t let it happen.

Blake kicked off his driveway and rode out into the middle of the street. He did some sort of kick flip or something (Raven wouldn’t pretend to know what all those skateboarding tricks were) and landed smoothly on his board.

She sat up straighter in the hammock to watch him. It was hard to admire his body in all those baggy clothes, but
she could see the intricate muscles working in his forearms as he balanced and then grabbed the board when he slid down the stair railing in front of Mr. Kailing’s house.

If that small part of him looked that good, then what did the rest of him look like?

Oh stop! she chided herself. Get it together.

“Hey, Raven!”

Raven jumped and lost her balance in the hammock. It rolled over, tossing her out and onto the porch floor.

Jordan erupted in a shriek of laughter.

Raven scrambled to her feet. “Shut up!” she whispered.

“Come on over!” Mil-D called, waving frantically.

“I can’t,” she said.

“Yes she can!” Jordan said.

“What are you doing?” Raven gritted her teeth. “You’re…you’re…such a meddler!”

Jordan stood, smacking her lips together. “I might be a ‘meddler’ but you’re crushing on him, and I like watching you squirm because of it.” She giggled again and shoved Raven off the porch. “See ya, sis.”

Grumbling to herself, Raven went across the street. She could feel Blake’s eyes on her as she passed him.

“Thanks for the invite,” she said, once she was in close enough range of Mil-D to have a normal conversation. “But I’m really busy right now.”

From here, Raven could smell something barbecuing in the back of the house.

“You’re never too busy for food, girl. Stay.”

Blake skated up behind Raven. “Yeah. Stay for just a little while. My grandpa skipped out on us for bingo so we’re grilling the goods he bought last night.”

“Umm…” Her stomach growled when she smelled the cooking food. It did sound good…

No, she was busy and Blake was…sweaty and looking extremely good. But she was starving and, really, what could it hurt? As long as she didn’t indulge in anything inedible, she was safe.

“Fine,” she said. “But just for a little while.”

Raven had expected to sit down at the table, eat, have light conversation, and then leave. What she got instead was a lot of insight into Blake’s life. It turned out, Mil-D was not, in fact, Blake’s uncle. He was Blake’s bodyguard.

“Then why did you say he was your uncle?” Raven asked as she wiped her hands on a napkin. They were sitting in Mr. Kailing’s backyard on his deck. The sun was still bright behind her, warming her bare shoulders.

“Because some people treat me differently if they find out I have a bodyguard.” Blake shrugged and tore apart another piece of barbecued chicken. “Besides, Mil-D’s been with me so long, he’s like family.”

“Aww,” Mil-D said, “thank you, son.” He gave Blake a hearty pat on the back.

Blake laughed, shaking his head.

“So,” Raven said, looking between the two guys, “he’s your bodyguard because you’re actually a somewhat famous skater?”

Blake gave a half-hearted shrug.

“Yes he is,” Mil-D filled in. “You should see him when we go to New York. The boy’s like a mini Tony
Hawk or something. Little high school girls fawning all over him.”

Blake slapped Mil-D on the arm. “Shut up, dude. They do not.”

When Blake turned his back, Mil-D looked at Raven and nodded.

Raven leaned into her cushioned patio chair, biting her lip. How had she managed to
not
notice there was a semifamous celebrity living across the street from her? And more importantly, how had Jordan missed it? She was usually on top of celebrity news.

“You know what else?” Mil-D said. “My boy here, he’s sponsored by some pretty big names. Red Bull, Volcom, Etnies…kid’s sick.”

Raven raised her brow. “Really?”

Blake pulled the brim of his hat down even more as if to hide beneath its shadow. “Dude,” he muttered.

“Sorry, son. I just like to brag about you. Can’t I be proud?”

“Wow, that is cool,” Raven added reluctantly. She didn’t want Blake to get a big head, but still…what he did and how successful he was at it had Raven more than impressed.

Maybe being around Blake wasn’t so bad after all.

Alexia scraped spinach dip from a plastic dish and slopped it in the garbage. The stuff looked like mushy seaweed in a creamy dressing, but she had to admit, with bread, it tasted really good.

She’d been at Cherry Creek Specialty Store for over a week now and she felt like she was finally getting the hang of it. Of course, there were still many things she didn’t know. Thank god for Jonah.

He was always patient with her, no matter how many questions she asked. He’d been at the store the longest, which meant he knew everything. Even some of the employees who’d been there for months occasionally had to ask him questions.

Bella came into the kitchen, her hair mussed at the top, wispy strands floating around her forehead. “You’re doing great,” she said to Alexia. “We sure had a rush today.”

Alexia nodded and set the plastic dish in the large industrial sink. “Saturdays are always busy in here, huh?”

“They are.” Bella turned the oven off, then grabbed a pan of cooling bread. She set it on the countertop to slice. “It dies down in the wintertime.”

Jonah pushed through the swinging doors at the front of the kitchen. “Can I take my lunch, Bella?”

“Sure. Why don’t you go, too,” she said to Alexia.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. We can handle it.”

Jonah grabbed a sandwich from the refrigerator. “Alexia, you want one?”

“Umm…sure. Turkey, please.”

He grabbed her a turkey and brought it over to the sandwich counter.

“Want to come with me outside?”

“Sure.”

They headed out the back door and to the small patch of grass on the store’s lot. There was a metal table there with
four bistro-style chairs. Alexia sat and Jonah picked the seat across from her.

A line of elder maple trees kept the hot afternoon sun at bay. A slight breeze cooled the sweat at the nape of Alexia’s neck.

“Nice day, huh?” Jonah said.

“Yeah. I wish I wasn’t working, though. So I could really enjoy it.”

Jonah laughed. “Yeah. Don’t we all.” He ripped his sandwich in two and took a bite. “For some reason, my girlfriend works, despite not having to. She’s odd like that.” He smiled as if his girlfriend’s eccentric qualities were her most endearing.

“How long have you guys been together?”

“Two years.”

Alexia widened her eyes. “Wow. That’s a long time.”

He nodded before taking a drink of his soda, then, “I love her a lot and maybe it’s old-fashioned of me, but I’d like to think there’s only one love of your life. I think she’s it.”

“Really?”

Alexia wasn’t sure if she agreed with having only one major love, but she liked that Jonah admitted to being old-fashioned and romantic. She admired that. Ben was romantic. Too bad he wasn’t old-fashioned. If he was, he’d want to wait until they were married to have sex. That would save her a lot of stress. She could spend the next five to ten years (okay, maybe not ten) blissfully relaxed while she waited for her marriage to come along.

Then she wouldn’t be constantly thinking about It and worrying about Ben breaking up with her if she didn’t do It.

He didn’t seem like that kind of guy, but Alexia was definitely not like the other girls he’d gone out with. What if he realized he missed having sex and found someone else?

Her friends would say that she didn’t need Ben if he turned out like that anyway, but Alexia really loved him. Maybe she didn’t need him, but she sure did want him.