Page 12 of Bad Boys Don’t Date Clumsy Girls

“Well, you guys looked done.” Dylan shoves a couple more fries in his mouth.

“We were.” Bek’s smile is way too nice.

I want to scream at her to stop being so accommodating to this jerk of a human.

“Do you want me to get a refill?” Bek offers. “My sandwich came with bottomless fries.”

No matter how hard I glare at Bek, she remains clueless. She’s too busy looking for a waitress to flag down.

“No, that’s cool. Looks like your girl here doesn’t want me hanging.” Dylan shoves the rest of the fries in his mouth and stands. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Ivy.”

My mouth drops open. He did not just call me by the wrong name.

“Bye!” Bek calls after him in a cheery tone I take as a personal afront. She turns back to me. “See, I told you. He’s nice.”

I bark out a laugh. “He just called me Ivy.”

“That’s a simple mistake. You guys only met today, right?”

“So? I already knew his name. And he ate our food without asking.”

Bek shakes her head. “I gave him my food.”

“He didn’t thank you!”

Sam places a hand on my arm. “Was that Dylan Scott?”

I emit a low, animalistic growl. “Unfortunately.”

“He’s really sweet,” Bek says.

“Not sweet. Not even close.” I slap my hands against my thighs. “How did you get sweet out of that exchange?”

“He came over to say hi to you. And he left when he saw that you weren’t receptive to him.” Bek looks at Sam. “Wouldn’t you call that sweet?”

Sam laughs. “Can’t argue with that logic, Ava.”

I fight it, but a laugh breaks through anyway. Usually, it’s Sam on the receiving end of Bek’s skewed logic. “You never can argue with Bek or her logic, can you?”

Bek tilts her chin in the air and graces us with her best smile, knowing she’s just won the argument.

I resist the urge to look around the room to find where Dylan landed. I tell myself I don’t care. That I’m only curious because this is definitely not his kind of crowd. But the last thing I want is for him to catch me looking for him and get the wrong idea. Instead, I train my gaze on the boy who is telling a funny story about a gopher on the football field during their game. But no matter how hard I try to pay attention, my mind strays. My senses are cast wide, hoping to pick up conversation about or with Dylan. Of course, he left the chair he pilfered from the other table next to me. Its emptiness loudly mocks my rude behavior and ignores his.

When someone plops down into the chair, I round on them, expecting it to be Dylan again. My mouth is open, ready to uninvite him, but I snap it shut when I discover Rex Diller sitting next to me.

“Oh, hi, Rex,” I breathe. Holy cow, I sound like Bek. Clearing my throat, I push the excess air from my lungs. “How’s it going?”

“Hey, Ava. Hey, Bek.” Now he clears his throat and says a bit louder. “Hi, Sam.”

My heart trips over a beat. Of course, he’s here to steal some of Sam’s attention. Why would he be here for me? Plain, unremarkable, clumsy me. Okay, that isn’t fair. I know I’m not plain. I’m cute, bordering on pretty. I don’t stand out because I don’t make myself. Sam is always larger than life, and I’m happy in the shadows. Why would someone like Rex notice me?

Case in point, he’s sitting next to me, and I can’t think of a thing to say to him, so instead, he stares at Sam who’s sharing a story about the time her family went to Sea World.

There must be something I can talk to Rex about. He likes baseball, but I don’t know what position he plays or who the local professional team is. That’s out. He’s in my Bio II class, I could ask about the homework. Yeah, that’s lame. We both know I get a better grade in the class than he does.

“Aren’t you eating?” I blurt. “I could get you a refill on my fries if you’re hungry.” I’ll have to thank Bek for the inspiration later.

“No, I ate, thanks.”

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