Page 17 of You Belong With Me

It would be hard to continue using him as my fake crush if I blundered in front of him here, because it would be obvious to everyone that nothing was ever going to happen. If I tried to say I was still interested, everyone would just feel bad for me, knowing that nothing would ever happen between us.

“Well, don’t you three ladies look nice?” Thomas said as he walked up. The sun glinted off his hair, and I realized with a touch of disgust that it wasn’t that his hair was wet—it was that it was sweaty from running around. Obviously, I understood that people sweat when they were doing sports, but I didn’t want a visual of it, especially when I’d just been forced to dress myself up for this interaction. Couldn’t he have showered and gotten changed as well so we both looked nice? I tried not to hold it against him, because maybe Clementine hadn’t been clear and made it sound like a super casual thing, but as I looked at him now, I wondered if Sebastian would have done the same. I bet the answer was no.

“Thomas, I’m not sure if you know my friend Nora,” Clementine said, putting a hand on my shoulder. Since she was facing me a little bit more than him, she winked at me, and I felt some of my annoyance towards her dissipate. She thought she was doing me a favor, and I appreciated the thought, but I was so uncomfortable that Ididn’t know how to deal with this. “Nora, this is Thomas.”

“Hey,” I said, awkwardly twisting my fingers in front of me. What was the right way to introduce yourself to somebody? Was I supposed to shake his hand or would that feel too much like we were at a business meeting? Girls were easier because you could almost always go in for the hug, but I didn’t think boys did the same. Plus, I really didn’t want to hug this near stranger, anyway.

“Hey,” I said, “it’s nice to meet you.”

“You too,” he said, and then the awkward silence prevailed because I did not know how to keep up the conversation. Really, the fact that I could even talk to Sebastian whenever we were in his car was a miracle. But even when we didn’t talk, the silences there were normal, comfortable. I felt like we could sit in them for a long time. This silence was awkward and stifling, and I wanted to get away from it as soon as I physically could.

“So, you just finished soccer practice?” I asked, looking at the field behind him. And oh boy, was that a mistake, because who else should be walking off the field right at that time but Sebastian Novak?

And, of course, he immediately spotted me.

ten

When it cameto fight or flight, I had always been aflightkind of person. And when that option wasn’t available, I would freeze instead. That was exactly what I did now, as I watched Sebastian walk toward us in what seemed like slow motion. Thomas, of course, was completely oblivious to what was going on in my mind. He started going on about how he had just finished soccer practice and how lucky it was that he had run into us. I made a couple of humming noises, pretending to be focused on what he was saying, but my thoughts were only on Sebastian and the way he was coming toward me.

Unlike Thomas, I was pretty sure Sebastian’s hair was actually wet, and he was dressed in a pair of jeans and a tight t-shirt that showed off every defined muscle on his upper body. I knew I should look away and focus on the boy in front of me, but my eyes felt glued to the boy further away.

Thomas fell silent and when I finally dragged my eyes over to him, he was looking at me expectantly. He probablyasked me a question, but even as I sifted through my mind, I couldn’t remember what it was.

“Well, it was really nice to meet you, Thomas,” I said, hoping he wouldn’t mind me ignoring whatever his question was. Maybe I was lucky and he hadn’t asked me anything, just paused and was waiting for me to fill in the silence. “I’m sure I’ll see you around school, but it’s getting late now, so?—”

“Hey, Nellie!” Sebastian called across the parking lot. And of course, everyone turned to look.

Clementine grabbed my wrist and squeezed hard, hissing in my ear, “Oh my gosh, Sebastian Novak is coming our way!”

Ainsley glanced at her, clearly trying to hold back a laugh at Clementine’s reaction. I wished I could laugh along with her, but unfortunately, my heart was currently pounding so hard that I felt a little nauseous.Just a friend, just a friend, I reminded myself. Barely even that—just your brother’s best friend. Your brother’s best friend who had been treating you way too nicely while he was going through a hard time.

“Oh hey man,” Thomas said as Sebastian walked up, but then he immediately turned his attention back to me. I probably should have been happy that he was so interested in me, but instead, I wished he would forget about me and go back to the time when we were just strangers who knew of each other. He looked at me curiously, “Nellie? I thought your name was Nora?”

“It is,” I said quickly, not wanting him to get confused and think that he should have been calling me Nellie this whole time. “Sebastian is the only one whocalls me Nellie anymore. It was a childhood nickname that I have,” I glared at Sebastian, “completely outgrown.”

“I think it suits you,” Sebastian said with a shrug. He leaned between me and Thomas curiously. “So, what’s going on over here?”

“Oh, these two lovebirds were just getting to know one another,” Clementine said. I tried not to groan at the wordlovebirds. Even if I had been interested in Thomas, I wouldn’t want her to do this.

“And now I was headed off,” I said, smiling kindly at Thomas. “My brother’s gonna come pick me up and?—“

“I can wait with you,” Thomas interrupted. He smiled at me, and although he did look pretty cute like that, I couldn’t say it was winning me over at all. I held back my sigh, trying to think of a polite way to sayplease don’t.

Then Sebastian made it that much worse by adding, “I can give you a ride.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, hating this whole situation. “No, that’s okay. I’m sure Dean will be here any minute.”

“Dean hasn’t picked you up in days,” Sebastian pointed out. “And I’m pretty sure he’s out with a girl right now anyway.”

My eyes widened. “What?”

He shrugged. “I mean, I can’t say for certain, but I’m pretty sure he’s out with somebody right now. That’s what it seemed like anyway. So if you want to get home at any reasonable time, I should probably take you.”

All this time, I thought Dean had just been forgetting about me because it was so late after school and he didn’t want to have to drive back to get me. But if he was actuallygoing out with a girl every afternoon, I was going to kill him.

“I can walk,” I said quickly. “I don’t mind.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Ainsley said. “We’re all going to the same place, we might as well give you a ride.”

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