I grimaced. I’d have to head to the guys’ bathroom after this to make sure I got all the lipstick off.
She took a step back and laughed as I swiped at what was surely a hot-pink kiss mark on my cheek. I found myself smiling back because, in spite of the circumstances, it was physically impossible not to smile at least a little bit when Rose was grinning at me like that.
Like her whole day had just been made by the sight of me standing here.
I barely held back a sigh. This…was not going to be pretty.
“So…I was thinking,” she said, her head tilting down so she was giving me this coy look, her smile fading to something smaller and even more tempting. It was the smile she gave me before she kissed me.
Just like that my brain shut off as my blood turned to lava. It was hard to breathe when she looked at me like this. It was hard to keep from reaching out and tugging her toward me.
“About the dance tonight,” she said slowly, her voice soft and breathy and…freakin’ fantastic.
I swallowed hard. This…this right here. This effect she had on me? This was the precise reason I had to put an end to things. It couldn’t go any further or I’d be in over my head. “Yeah, about that…” I started, backing up a step so I could breathe. The fog lifted a little as I pulled away. “I was hoping to talk—”
“I was thinking it might be best if we didn’t go together,” she interrupted quickly.
I stared at her because…surely I’d heard her wrong. “What?”
Her nose wrinkled up in this cute little wince. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“What?” I said again. It was all I could manage.
She bit her lip as she took a step away from me. She was tugging at her purse strap and was starting to turn away, like she was just itching to get away from me.
“Look, it’s been fun,” she said with a smile. Her eyes glinted with that lively energy that was so very Rose. “But I’m not really looking for a boyfriend, you know?” She stopped backing away long enough to widen her eyes and give me a hopeful look. “You’re cool with just being friends, right?”
I now knew what it meant to be shocked stupid. I could only stare at her for a long moment. Too long. “What?” I said for the third time. I gave my head a little shake as I grappled for the right words—the response she wanted to hear. The one that would salvage my pride. “Yeah. No, of course. We should be friends.”
I sounded lame. People around us were staring.
Friends.
Friends?
She wanted to be friends?
Her smile was brilliant again as she backed up a little farther. Any second now, she’d spin on one of those heels and be out of here. Out of my life.
Just like I’d wanted.
She gave me a wink that no one but Rose could have pulled off without looking ridiculous. “See you around, Jax.”
I nodded. “Yeah. See ya.”
But she was gone before I’d even finished and I…was talking to thin air.
1
Rose
My sigh was loud and admittedly melodramatic. But in my defense, a loud sigh was the only type that could be heard over the cacophony of voices and laughter in the school’s cafeteria.
But as loud as my sigh was? My best friend still didn’t notice. Hannah was grinning down at her phone as she texted with her boyfriend. I didn’t need her to tell me it was River on the other end of the texting—there was no one else on the planet who made my tomboy BFF turn into a giggling, blushing, nauseatingly happy ball of goo.
“So I told my mom I’m going to shave my head this semester to make a statement,” I announced loudly. “Maybe even shave my eyebrows, too. What do you think?”
“Hmm?” She lifted her head, a dazed, happy look in her eyes. “Um, yeah, sounds good.”
I stared at her for a long moment, letting her see my disappointment. “You didn’t hear a word I said.”
“Yes, I did!”
“I told you I was going to shave my head and my eyebrows.”
Her face fell. “Oh.” She shot me a funny little grimace as she tucked her phone into her bag. “Sorry.”
I rolled my eyes, but I wasn’t really mad. It was nice to see Hannah so happy. After years of watching her play the part of the underappreciated sidekick to her ex, I loved seeing her thrive in her relationship with River, a guy who saw the amazingness that was my bestie. “It’s okay,” I said with another exaggerated sigh. “I suppose I’ll forgive you this time.”
“Gee, thanks,” she said with a totally unapologetic grin. She leaned forward so her elbows were on the cafeteria table. “What were you saying? What did I miss?”
“Only that my life as I know it is over,” I said.
“Oh, that’s all?” she teased. “What happened this time? You missed another Nordstrom online sale?”
“Worse,” I said, jabbing my spoon into my yogurt. “I found out that Monica Jefferson is doing the same contemporary monologue as me.”
She pursed her lips for a second as she narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. “Am I supposed to know who Monica Jefferson is? Do we hate her?”
I sighed. “No. That’s not the point. The point is, someone else will be performing my monologue at the scholarship competition, which means I have to find a new one and start rehearsing from scratch.”
“How do you know?”
I blinked. “What?”
Hannah picked up her previously forgotten sandwich. “How do you know what monologue she’s doing?”
“You are so missing the point here,” I muttered. When she still eyed me expectantly, I explained. “There’s a Facebook page for the organizers and students who are competing in the Northeast Regional competition. Someone started a thread about how long the monologues need to be and Monica-freakin’-Jefferson told
