Page 19 of Grumpy Darling

“No, Bonnie!” I shook my head. “He’s already agreed to help, but not like that. I’ve asked him to back off and maybe talk me up around the guys a bit. That’s more than enough.”

She let out a short, disbelieving laugh. “Look, Paige, you’re desperate for a guy to kiss, and Grayson is one of the hottest guys in school. Most girls would kill to have him pay them a fraction of the attention he pays you. I’m surprised you haven’t made a move on him already.”

“I’m not desperate for a guy to kiss!” I protested, still doing my best not to draw attention to myself, but it was getting more difficult as I became more flustered. “And it’s not like that between me and Gray. You know we’re just friends.”

“Yeah, well, I think if you threw in a little kissing, you’d be a match made in heaven.” She emphasized her point by making kissing sounds in the air.

“Stop!” I pressed my hand over her mouth. “I’m not kissing Gray!”

“It could just be a one-time thing.” Her voice was muffled as my hand was still clamped across her lips, so I pulled it away. “I bet he’s a great kisser...”

I immediately wished I hadn’t released her mouth.

“We’re not kissing, that would be totally weird. And, more importantly, I don’t want my first kiss to be a pity kiss. I could think of nothing worse.”

“Okay, okay. You’re right,” Bonnie finally agreed. “Besides, there’s plenty of eligible bachelors at this school.” Her face lit up as a group of boys on the athletics team wandered by. “How do you feel about runners?”

“I’m not going to pick the first guy that walks past.” I’d never even spoken to any of those boys.

“Fine,” Bonnie conceded, although she was soon smirking again. “But would it be the worst idea to choose a guy who can run fast? At least he could escape if Grayson came after him...”

I decided I’d heard enough and started into the cafeteria. Bonnie was chuckling as she caught up with me. I knew she was joking around, but the thought of selecting a guy to kiss felt daunting. I’d never really considered or noticed just how many different guys went to our school. So many eligible bachelors to choose from, as Bonnie had put it. In my case, it just felt like a ton of different ways to experience rejection. This wasn’t going to be as easy as Bonnie made it sound.

I turned to my friend as soon as we sat at our usual table, and she pulled out her packed lunch. She’d refused to eat anything from the school cafeteria ever since she’d done an exposéon the lunch menu for the paper. With the nerves currently thrumming through me, I wasn’t sure I could stomach the food today either.

“How on earth am I supposed to pick a guy?”

“That’s where I come in, obviously.” She looked almost too eager, and I felt both a sense of relief and trepidation at her enthusiasm. Bonnie knew everything about everyone at this school, so I had no doubt she was the perfect person to figure out who was the right guy for me.

“You really want to help?”

“Of course I do!” Her expression quickly shifted as she went into investigation mode. “We’ll start with the most obvious question. Are you interested in anyone?”

“Uh... not really.” The sad truth was I’d all but given up on guys. It felt pointless when none of them seemed to like me back.

“No one? Are you sure?” Bonnie pressed me for an answer.

“Not at the moment.”

It wasn’t like I’d never crushed on a guy before, but I certainly couldn’t think of anyone recently. Was there something wrong with me? I should be able to get my heart fluttering over at least one boy, right? Unless I’d just closed it off to protect myself.

“Hmm, okay,” Bonnie muttered. “I guess that just means every boy has potential. We’ll have to narrow it down a little though. Ideally, he’ll be someone who hasn’t already been intimidated by Grayson.”

“You know what his reputation’s like,” I replied. “That could rule out every boy in school.”

“Surely noteveryboy.” When Bonnie caught my dubious expression, she quickly continued. “Okay, so, maybe we’ll need to search a little further afield. But don’t stress, Paige. Even if we have to go all the way to Antarctica, we’ll find you a guy.”

That did not sound promising, but Bonnie wasn’t letting anything deter her. “There’s a hockey after-party this weekend. That would be the perfect chance for a first kiss...”

“You think I should kiss someone this weekend?” Things were already happening too fast for my liking. “You just said we were going to have to go to Antarctica to find this guy!”

“I mean, it’s ambitious, but why not? It’s always helpful to have deadlines.”

I was running out of ways to argue with her. And, in all honesty, this first kiss was quickly becoming like a rotting Band-Aid on my arm. It had been left there for far too long and needed ripping off as soon as possible.

“Maybe we can start making a shortlist now?” she suggested. “We can see what kind of guy you like and then start refining our selection.”

“Oh, okay, sure.” That didn’t sound too bad.

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