True Love and Magic Tricks (13 page)

And I think your lips are
the pinkest I’ve ever seen.

I let out a long sigh as I reread, my
heart pounding in my throat.

“
You okay?” Lexie asks as I
set the note in my back pocket.

“
I have a secret
admirer.”

She laughs. “And you’re sad about
it?”

I stick my tongue out. “No. I just… I
thought it was Nate. Now I don’t think it is. And I don’t know how
to tell this guy who’s been dropping these in my locker for like,
six months, that I’m taken.”

She stands up, wiggling her jeans into
place. “You could always write him back. Say you’ve loved all the
notes, but you have a boyfriend now.”

“
That’s a good idea.” I
frown. “Still, I feel bad.”

“
Better than dragging him
along.”

I nod, my stomach sinking even more.
Lexie would tell me to not worry if she knew it was Nate. Just
another clue that it’s not.

Then who is it?

Lexie shuts her locker and pulls her
brown hair into a loose side pony. “I’ll see you later,” she
says.

“
Wait!” I push my locker
shut and struggle to get my shirt on before she leaves. “Hey, um,
my mom is coming home this weekend, and she said she wanted to do
like a hotel getaway with a spa and stuff. She said I could bring a
friend. Can you come?”

Her nails clack against her backpack
strap. “I don’t know. A whole weekend?”

I nod. “Should be fun. We could get
really hot masseuses.”

She laughs. “It sounds like fun. I
just… my mom.”

“
She won’t let
you?”

“
It’s not that. I have to
sort of watch her.”

“
Oh.” I frown, but then
quickly wipe it away. “Okay. Well, let me know if you
can?”

“
Sure.” Then something
amazing happens, and
she
gives
me
a hug goodbye.

I head back to my gym locker to grab
my shoes, and then whip out my notebook real quick before next
period.

Hi awesome
note-guy,

You have no idea how much
I love getting these. Total boost in confidence, I’m telling you.
And I’d so go out with you and give you a shot… but I have a
boyfriend, and I’m sort of crazy about him. Probably not fair to
either of you if I wasn’t upfront about it.

Wish I had a clever way of
telling you, but I’ll leave that to you, since you’re brilliant at
it.

-Kaylee

I cap my pen and fold the note. Once I
drop this off in my locker and hope he sees it, then that’ll be the
end of it. My stomach feels a little hollow at the
thought.

I’m the last one out of the locker
room, and when I hit the science hall, my phone buzzes.

Ryan: Lex’ll be there this
weekend.

Me: Really???

Ryan: If anyone needs a
stress relieving weekend, it’s her. So thanks for inviting
her.

Me: Thanks for watching
her mom ;)

Ryan: Nate is too. We’re
tag-teaming it.

Me: He shall be rewarded
for it. You will too, but probably not in the same way.

Ryan: lol

Me: Thank you!

Ryan: np

“
Score!” I shout in the
middle of the hallway, getting a few random high-fives from people.
It’s funny because I know most of them… their names, their faces,
even what classes we share. But not a single one of them would’ve
done what Ryan, Nate, and Lexie do for each other. And now
me.

I happy dance with my phone all the
way to class.

***

“I’m heading to the hot tub now.” Mom
throws her wrap around her suit. She’s lost a few pounds since I
last saw her. She looks happy, too. It’s sort of weird. “Sure you
girls don’t want to come?”

“
Maybe later, Mom,” I say,
waving her out. She’s been pestering me about Nate all day, and I
just know she’s going to pull out the condoms if I let her keep
going.

Mom totally mocks me, waving back,
then picks up her book and the hotel door clicks shut. Lexie pulls
a mini-suitcase out that just holds her nail polish collection, and
she pulls my toes to the end of the bed.

“
You talk, I
paint.”

My smile spreads across my face, and I
can’t help but dance a little in the mattress. “So my dad totally
caught Nate and I going at it and long story short, he called my
mom and she’s here to give me ‘the talk.’ So you’re totally saving
me from it.”

Something wet and cold streaks across
my middle toe as Lexie misses my nail. She makes a choking sound,
falls back to the floor, and clutches her stomach as she
laughs.

“
Please tell me the long
version,” she manages to say through her giggles. I chuck a pillow
at her and let my mouth fly with details. My cheeks spread red when
I tell her my attempt at dry humping, then her cheeks follow suit,
but she doesn’t stop me from talking. She actually looks interested
in all of it, excited for me, and equally horrified that my dad
walked in.

“
Are you guys going to…”
she asks, rubbing remover across my toe. “Well… I mean, that’s way
fast right?”

I pull at the ends of my braids. “I
seriously have no idea. The thought makes me completely nervous,
but when we’re together I just…”

“
Forget?”

My teeth grab onto my
bottom lip, and I nod. “I like him though. Like
super
like him. We’ve only been
officially dating for three weeks, four days, and two hours. So I’m
not sure if it’s because we’re in the honeymoon stage still or if I
actually maybe sorta could be falling falling falling down down
down in super amazing, all-out love with him. That’s totally
bonkers!” I slap my hands over my face. “You think I need to go
into an asylum don’t you?”

The mattress sinks next to me, and
Lexie grabs one of my hands and starts rubbing a wet cotton ball
over my thumbnail. “Love is funny like that.”

I drop my other hand and
watch her pull out something called
Significant Other Color
telling me
it’s perfect right now. “You think people can fall in love that
fast?”

“
I don’t know.” A dimple
twitches in her cheek. “I’d like to think it could happen for me
someday.”

Oh! Finally, an opportunity to figure
out what is up with her and Ryan.

“
You haven’t been in love
yet?”

She shakes her head, brown
hair falling loose from her ponytail. “Not like you and Nate. Like,
I can tell with you guys…even
without
the PDA.” She wrinkles her
nose at me, and I laugh. “It’s the way you look at each other. And
I’ve known Nate for a while. He’s never looked like that. Ever. So…
you know, gotta be something he’s never experienced
before.”

My heart flies straight out my mouth
in a blissful sigh.

“
I’ve noticed someone who
looks at you that way.” I nudge her shoulder, picturing Ryan
teasing her, tickling her, getting her the burger he absolutely
hates, offering his coat every time he sees goose bumps on her
arms. Come on, Lexie, give me
something
.

“
Please tell me it’s Sean
Dixon.” A blissful sigh slips from her lips now. I’m so taken back
I nearly topple off the mattress. She laughs at my confused
expression. “What? He’s perfect. And not just in the
face.”

“
The body too?” I joke. She
threatens to paint my nose.

“
I just wish he’d notice
me… in a good way. Not by my reputation.”

“
What
reputation?”

“
You know. White trash.”
Her face stays impassive, but there’s a hitch in her voice that
makes me want to hug her. But she’s still got my hand.

“
If it helps, I never once
thought that.”

Her dimple creases again. “That does
help. Thanks.”

After she finishes my nails, I paint
hers and we turn on Pitch Perfect and laugh at how similar the
magician character is to Nate. The subject of Ryan—or Sean—doesn’t
come up again, even though I so want it to. But Ryan might just be
her friend and I wouldn’t know the difference. I’ve never had that
close of a relationship before… well, before now. I’d like to think
even though Nate and I are dating, that he’s my friend, just like
he said.

Chapter 14

It’s been a month since Kaylee’s and
my first date—and not the nipple shirt first date. I’d like to
pretend that one never happened—so a month since the most perfect
day of my life. Every day since has been equally
perfect.

Kaylee wraps her arms around me, and I
bury my face in the crook of her neck, mainly because I can, but
partly because she smells so darn good. I press a kiss to her soft
skin and she giggles my favorite giggle.

“
Oh my god, is this what I
have to look forward to for the rest of my high school career?”
Lexie whines.

Ryan pokes her stomach, and she swats
his hand away, but he grabs it then turns her until he is behind
her in a bear hug. “Ryan!” Lexie yells but it’s muffled by
laughter.

“
How is our PDA any
different than yours?” Kaylee asks. Ryan and Lexie freeze. Ryan’s
hands fall to his sides.

“
This
is not PDA,” Lexie says, wiggling her finger between her and
Ryan.

“
Uh…yeah definitely not,”
Ryan mumbles.

“
He’s my best friend. It’s
not like I’m going to shove my tongue down his throat like you
two,” Lexie says, and I can see the disappointment on Ryan’s face.
Poor guy. Will he ever get the girl? Maybe he should just tell her.
It worked for me.

Ryan doesn’t skip a beat. The
disappointment is only a flash. I doubt anyone else notices. He
straightens and pokes Lexie again. “Trust me I wouldn’t be doing
any shoving either. Have you seen what you eat?” Ryan sticks his
finger in his mouth and pretends to gag.

“
Mmm… bacon
cheeseburger—”

“
Stop.” Ryan puts his hands
over his ears. Lexie pulls on them.

“
With a side of steak and
sausage and—”

Ryan growls and tosses her over his
shoulder.

“
Ryan!” Lexie punches his
back, but he just laughs.

“
See you guys later,” he
says and disappears amongst the crowd.

Kaylee blows out an exaggerated
breath, her arm flinging toward their retreating backs. “How is
that not PDA?”

I wrap my arm around her waist and
pull her to me. “It is. They’re just too blind to see
it.”

“
We should totally make
them see it.” A mischievous look darkens Kaylee’s green
eyes.

“
Oh no! No. No. No. We
are
not
to get
involved. Ever.”

“
But—”

“
No buts.” The last thing
Ryan wants is Kaylee spilling his best kept secret. Not exactly
best kept since I’m pretty sure everyone knows
except
Lexie, but that’s the point.
Lexie doesn’t know, and it needs to stay that way.

Before Kaylee we were always the Three
Musketeers, but there’s always been a connection between those two.
Something deeper than friends. Beyond boyfriend and girlfriend
status. They are each other’s glue, and I’m afraid if I said
anything, or tried to get them together, it would
backfire.

“
But—” Kaylee continues. I
rest my finger on her lips.

“
Please. For me?” I give my
best puppy dog look, blinking my eyes a mile a minute.

“
Fine, but only because
you’re so darn cute.” She jumps up and plants a kiss on my
lips.

“
Ready for rehearsal?” I
ask, draping my arm over her shoulder and guiding her out of the
school.

“
You bet. I think I finally
got that box thing down.”

“
It’s not a box thing. It’s
the zig-zag box.”

“
Yeah, yeah that thing.”
She waves her hand, and when she smiles, I know she’s joking.
“Anywho I think I got it down, now if you’ll just stay out of the
box when I’m in there, we may actually be able to finish the
trick.”