Page 68 of Celebrities Don't Date Bookworms

Hudson (Bay)

You’re the one who brought it up in the group chat

Megan

Would you rather I make a separate groupchat without you?

What I didn’t tell him was that after watching all the videos, I suddenly understood all the Take Five fangirls.

I was originally only planning to watch a couple of the vlogs from when the reality show was on, but once I watched two, I was completely engrossed. The videos mostly comprised of the boys updating their fans on how the wet went, and their progress, followed up by a small Q&A for common questions. Then they included some backstage footage about what being on the show was actually like. I knew that they hadn’t known each other before being put together on the show, but if I hadn’t, I never would have guessed that. Right off the bat, it felt like they had been friends forever.

None of Hudson’s responses in the Q&A’s surprised me, considering everything I knew about him. But it was still fun to see him answering the questions anyway. The videos were like a time capsule to two years ago—a reminder that before they were famous, before they were household names, they were just boys. Young teenage boys who auditioned for a reality show thinking that there was no way they would possibly even get selected for the show, let alone have it become what it did. It made me sympathize with them a little more; sure they probably dreamed that they would be famous one day, but there was no way they thought it was going to happen as fast as it did. And if that was the case… then I had definitely misjudged them.

That was the same thought that spiraled throughmy mind all night and the next morning as I went to school. My mom, of course, played Take Five music for the whole ride to school, giving me no space to think about anything else. Not that I would have been able to, anyway. What was I going to say to Hudson when I saw him at school? What could I say? Even if I tried to talk to him, would he want to talk to me too? His vote on the poll made me think that he would probably would, but how could I be one-hundred percent sure?

I guess I couldn’t. But that was the fun of love, wasn’t it?

As always, I got to class before Hudson. As I waited for him to show up, my leg was bouncing so hard that it actually felt like a workout. I was glad I didn’t have anyone sitting too close to me to complain about it, like Lily had when she sat next to me in math last year.

When he did come in, I watched his movements carefully, feeling like I was seeing him for the first time again. The way that he made sure to smile at everyone who was looking at him, but didn’t stop to talk to them. The pithiness in his shoulders, and his wide eyes, like despite being famous for over a year, and already having gone on his first world tour, he still wasn’t used to the attention he got from fans. And most of all, I noticed the way his smile shifted when he looked at me, like it was going from a tight, perfect one to a relaxed, genuine one. Had that always been how he smiled at me? How had I nevernoticed it before?

He slid into his seat and nodded at me.

“Hey,” he murmured. “How are you?”

I watched him for a second, the simple answer of “fine” on my lips. He wouldn’t hold it against me if I said it—but it would feel like I was turning my back on the idea that the two of us could be anything more than classmates. I wasn’t sure I was ready for that.

“Tell me a secret,” I said.

His eyes widened, and his lips parted in surprise, but it didn’t take him long at all to recover.

“I want to spend more time with you. Away from school,” he whispered. He tilted his head. “Your secret?”

“I want that too.”

“What are you doing tonight?”

My smile widened. “I guess I’m going out with you.”

sixteen

“Areyou coming to the football game tonight?”

Those were the words that I dreaded every Friday afternoon. I wasn’t sure why Sloane kept asking—when was the last time I said yes? I only went when she specifically asked me to come watch her cheer, which was usually only at Homecoming.

“Um…” I made a show of putting books away in my locker so that I didn’t have to look her in the eyes. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings by saying a blunt no, but I couldn’t think of a good way to say no either. I probably should have told her that I had plans with Hudson, but I felt like it might be better to wait, and tell her after it happened, instead of before. I was worried that she would make me more nervous than I already was. “Well, I…”

“Actually,” a British voice said from behind me. “I was hoping I could get Megan to show me around town this afternoon. I’m still getting hopelessly lost.”

I looked over my shoulder to see Hudson sidlingup to us, hands in his pockets, and a grin on his face. A pair of girls were following behind him, but I couldn’t tell what they were trying to do because they weren’t asking for an autograph or anything. It was almost like they thought walking near him made them friends.

“That is, if you don’t mind missing out on the football game,” Hudson added with a wink. How long had he been standing there and listening? Or did he just have such good hearing that he overheard the conversation from down the hall?

“She doesn’t like football games anyway,” Sloane said.

“That’s not… true,” I said, but my voice got so pathetically quiet at the end that I was sure my true feelings were obvious.

“Ignore her,” Sloane said. She pushed me toward him. “She’s all yours. Have fun!”

---