The Secret Crush (5 page)

“Close your eyes, Hadley.” My eyes slid shut upon his command. “No peeking.”

I nodded, keeping my eyes tightly shut as he spun me around, facing him. My lips parted slightly as he reached up and cupped my face in his hands. I held my breath, anticipating whatever he was going to do next. My pulse raced as the seconds ticked by.
God I hope he kisses me
, I prayed.

“I want you to do something for me, Hadley.”

“Okay,” I murmured.

“When everything is over tonight. When the last guest has gone home and the lights are all out. When you’re back in your dorm and the world is quiet, I want you to glance out your window and look out at the stars. At how brightly they shine down from millions of miles away. And then I want you to remember what I’m telling you right now.”

He moved his face against mine, his breath like a warm caress against my cheek. “You, Hadley, shine brighter than them all. You radiate beauty and warmth and passion and determination. You put them to shame, Hadley.”

I sucked in a breath as tears pooled at his beautiful words. And just then, when I was filled to the brim with so much emotion I could explode, his lips came down on mine.

I sighed in contentment as his warm and soft lips pressed against my own with the briefest of kisses, leaving me craving more.

But before I could even flutter my eyes open, he was gone.

CHAPTER EIGHT

T
HE REST OF THE WEEKEND
was a blur. I was so busy between coursework for my classes and volunteering every night for the haunted house, I barely had a chance to see Hadley again. But when I would glance her way and catch her staring up at the sky, I knew she was thinking about what I’d said.

And I knew it was only a matter of time until she was mine.

When my alarm rang on Monday morning, I wanted to throw it against the wall. I’d been up well past midnight, studying for a statistics quiz, and I knew I needed at least three more hours of sleep to function. But it wasn’t an option.

The hot water cascaded down my body as the steam filled the shower. I stood there for several long minutes before deciding I needed to get out or I’d be late. I toweled off, then threw on a long-sleeve Henley and a pair of jeans that I didn’t think smelled too badly. I pulled a hat low on my head before grabbing my bag and a can of Red Bull from my dorm fridge, then hurried out the door.

I trudged into the humanities building, downing the tiny can as I walked. Pulling out my phone to check the time, I wasn’t watching where I was walking and almost ran directly into Aiden.

“Hey, man! What’s up?”

I nodded toward my classroom. “About to fail this quiz. You?”

He laughed. “I hear ya! I got way too drunk at the Phi Kap party on Friday and was hungover most of Saturday, which suuucked. Then with the haunted house thing Saturday night, I’m way behind. I just went to office hours to ask my professor for an extension on a project I have due.”

“That blows. Did he give it to you?”

“Yes, thank God.”

Someone cleared his throat behind me. I turned to see Professor Rubio staring at me. “Are you planning on joining us for class today, Mr. Thorne?”

“Yes, I am. Sorry!” I replied, waving goodbye to Aiden as I jogged into class and took a seat.

CHAPTER NINE

D
R. MCDANIEL STOOD AT THE
front of the auditorium, explaining the differences between investment grade versus high yield debt, but the words went in one ear and right out the other. My mind was too preoccupied. For days now, the only thing I could focus on was that kiss the other night from my secret crush. That brief moment where his lips met mine. It wasn’t the greatest kiss I’d ever received since it was so short, but it was by far the most memorable. And I really hoped there’d be more.

After class was dismissed (and I’d only taken about three sentences of notes), I met Piper for a quick lunch in the cafeteria. I filled my plate with a chicken Caesar salad, a big bowl of pineapple, and a diet Coke, before finding a table and waiting (as usual) for her to arrive.

Halfway through my salad, Piper finally showed up. “That test took a lot longer than I thought it would. I mean, he had four essay questions on there. Four! And don’t even get me started on the stupid true/false section where you have to correct the false answers. Ugh. I swear, Professor Geiger has it out for her students. I’d bet money she gets some sort of sick, perverted pleasure out of how many students she can fail a semester.”

I popped a bite of pineapple in my mouth. “So do you think you passed?”

“Oh, hells yes, I passed. I studied my ass off for that test. I’ll be pissed if I get anything lower than an A.” Piper stole one of my croutons before running and grabbing her own lunch.

She plopped her tray down on the table with a heaping plate of fries and a double bacon cheeseburger. I swore, the girl was the size of a stick and yet could still eat anything she wanted. I hated her for that.

“Oh my god, Hadley. You’re not going to believe who I just saw in line. Crap. Don’t turn around, okay?”

I immediately turned around. (Because seriously, what else would you do when someone tells you not to turn around?). Standing in line, waiting to pay for his food, was my ex-boyfriend, Brent.

My eyes widened as I took him in. He looked as good as always—tall and broad, with defined muscles that used to hold me tight. He’d cut his hair a bit shorter than I was used to, but the new style looked good on him. Then again, there wasn’t a whole lot that looked bad on him.

I turned my head away, praying he didn’t spot me. “Oh, my god. What’s he doing here? I thought his mom made him live at home for a year because of the whole scandal. Why is he eating on campus?”

Piper grabbed my hand. “We can leave if you want. Do you want to leave?”

I shook my head. “No. I’m okay. I’m just surprised, that’s all.”

“When was the last time you talked to him?”

“It’s been months. He tried to call a lot right after everything went down, but I refused to talk to him. It hurt too much, thinking about what he did.” My hands clenched, shredding the napkin on my lap. I took a deep breath and made an effort to relax them. “After a while, he just stopped trying. I think the last time I saw him was in the spring, just before finals. We passed each other on campus. He politely said hello and apologized again for everything, and then he walked away. He didn’t ask me to take him back or even forgive him.”

I dared a glance back over in Brent’s direction. He caught my gaze, and his eyes crinkled a bit as he smiled. He gave me a small wave. I waved back to be polite before returning to my food, pretending to be enamored by the salad.

Seeing Brent again brought back way too many emotions. Catching him with Becca was still so fresh in my mind. We’d been sorority sisters for two years, and I’d thought she was my friend. When I left class early with a massive headache and headed back to Brent’s to lie down, seeing them in the shower together had ripped my heart to shreds. She’d transferred to State after that (thank God). I was pretty sure I’d never be able to erase the image of his hands and lips all over her body from my mind.

“Hadley?” Piper whispered. “He’s coming over. Do you want me to stop him?”

I was immediately shaken out of my thoughts at her words. I wiped my mouth with a napkin and shook my head. “No. It’s okay.”
At least, I hoped it would be.

“Hey, Hadley,” Brent began, standing in front of us.

Piper’s finger drummed softly on the table, and she had a stabby look in her eyes. I knew she was ready to intervene at a moment’s notice. I took a deep breath and stood, facing him.

“Hi, Brent.”

“I, um, I just wanted to come over and tell you what a great job you’ve done with the fundraiser this year. It’s all anyone can talk about. You should be really proud of yourself.”

“Thanks. I had a lot of help, though.”

Brent’s eyes swung over to Piper, who was staring daggers at him. “Yes, well, in any case, you’re doing a fantastic job. I just wanted to tell you that.”

“Thanks.” I wasn’t really sure what else to say. We stood there, awkwardly, for a few seconds until Piper stood, too.

“Hadley, we have class in like ten minutes.”

“Right.” I nodded, grabbing my tray.

“I’ll see you later, Hadley.” Brent gave me a little smile before turning and finding a table with a few of the other guys on the football team.

“See ya.”

I threw the rest of my salad away and left the cafeteria with Piper. We actually didn’t have class for the rest of the day now, but I was glad she’d gotten me out of that awkward conversation with Brent. I zipped up my jacket and swirled a thick bright red scarf around my neck before heading outside.

“You want to grab a coffee before heading back to our room?” she asked.

“Yea. That sounds perfect. And a cupcake. After dealing with that, I need a cupcake.”

We ordered and plopped into the soft leather couches by the window. It wasn’t very crowded today, just three or four other people at a few tables studying. I slipped my jacket off, but kept the scarf. It was cashmere and a present from my grandma last Christmas. It was so soft. I could probably wear it every day.

“All right,” Piper started, taking a bite of the red velvet cupcake she picked out. “Let’s forget about Brent and talk secret crush.”

“Good idea! I need something positive to talk about.”

“Wait, I just had a horrible thought.” Piper set her cupcake down. “What if
Brent
is your secret crush?”

The words hit me like a Mack truck. “No. He couldn’t be.”

“Think about it,” she pressed. “Your secret crush is someone who insists he can’t reveal who he is because you don’t see the ‘real him yet. It makes sense if it were Brent. Right now, you still see that skank Becca with him every time you look at him. And the hurt is still fresh. So maybe he’s thinking that you’ll take him back or something if he does this elaborate crush thing.”

She made a good point, but I refused to believe it was true. I couldn’t. “No. I’ve kissed Brent hundreds of times. The kiss that I had on Saturday was nothing like Brent’s. Nothing.”

Piper licked a bit of cream cheese frosting from her thumb. “You said yourself it was a very brief kiss. Maybe you just didn’t get enough of a sample to tell.”

Crap. It couldn’t be. I refused to believe it. “The voice was different, too. I know it was only a whisper, but it wasn’t Brent. I would have recognized his voice.”

“That’s easy enough to alter though, Hadley. You can buy those little machines that change your voice on Amazon.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to remember any small detail I could that would refute that my secret crush was Brent. They were both tall and broad, and both had large hands. But my crush’s lips were soft, and Brent’s never were. Too much time outdoors playing football made them chapped, especially in the fall and winter.

“Then who else could it be? Let’s say for now it’s not Brent. Who exactly does that leave?” Piper must have seen the pained expression on my face, and I was very happy when she went another route with the conversation.

“Well, it has to be someone I’ve known since freshman year. Someone tall, soft lips, broad shoulders. Lean. His whisper was a low pitch—”

“No, you can’t use voice. That could be altered too easily.”

“Um…” I sighed as dozens of faces flashed in my mind. It was so hard to narrow it down. “I just don’t know. There’s something about him that makes me think I know him, but I can’t put my finger on exactly what. It’s like, I know him, but I don’t know him. Ugh! I just want figure out who he is already.”

“Let me ask you this. If whoever it was were to reveal themselves to you, today, what would you do? Go out with him? Would it even matter who it is?”

I thought about her question for a few minutes as I sipped my latte. “I think that as long as it’s not Brent, and as long as it’s a person who isn’t some giant douche canoe, then yes, I’d agree to go on a date with them at least. Get to know them better.”

“Even if the person isn’t someone you were attracted to.”

“That’s just the thing. I am attracted to him.” I thought about all the things he’d already done. My favorite flowers… the sweet words in the letter…more romantic things than my last two boyfriends combined. “It doesn’t matter what he looks like. I’m attracted to him as a person.”