Page 15 of Finding Her
“Like I what?” I demanded.
“Like you don’t think you can do it,” Lilah finished for her.
I was tempted to sayand whose fault is that?Because I hadn’t asked for any of this. But all that would accomplish was starting a fight between me and Lilah, and I didn’t want to do that.
“Because I can’t,” I said instead. “I don’t know this guy. And maybe he’s just not interested in dating. Isn’t that a possibility?”
“Nobody has sworn off dating completely,” Lilah said dismissively. “They’re just waiting for the right person to come along.”
I glanced at Saylor, waiting for her to combat that. But she stayed notably silent, and I frowned. I’d always assumed someguy had broken her heart so badly that she thought love wasn’t worth it anymore, but maybe there was a little more to the story than that. Did she fit into Lilah’s theory that everyone was just waiting for the right person?
I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. I can’t worry about Saylor’s love life right now. I had too much of my own to worry about.
“Okay,” I said. “I’m not saying that I’m going to do this, but if I was going to do it, what would you suggest?”
Lilah’s face lit up, telling me that she thought that I absolutely, one-hundred percent was going to be doing it.
“We’ll make a list!” She grabbed a notebook from her bag and a pen. I noticed that the notebook was still completely fresh and untouched, so she clearly hadn’t been using it for school.
“I’m so glad you found a use for your notebook,” I said dryly. “You know, since your classes don’t give you any reason to write in it.”
She glared at me, clicked her pen, and said, “How to make Levi Barrett fall in love with Poppy.”
For goodness sake, she even wrote it as the title on the top. This girl was ridiculous.
“Number one,” she said. “We update your wardrobe.”
“Hey!” I snapped. I prided myself on my good fashion. Not to mention we had to wear uniforms during the school day, which was the only time I ever saw Bear. Lilah, to nobody’s surprise, ignored me.
“Number two: you have to practice flirting.”
“I have to practice?” I repeated, sounding out the word slowly.
“Of course,” she said. “That way, in the moment, you know how to flirt properly.”
“I know how to flirt!”
She peered at me with narrowed eyes. “If you did, he would already be in love with you.”
I threw my hands up. “Lilah, he’s never asked a single girl out! And besides, I haven’t been flirting with him because I don’t like him.”
“And that’s what we need to change,” she said. I ignored her as she continued down the list, not even wanting to know what else she put on there. I was pretty sure I saw the wordbikiniand I didn’t even want to ask what she thought I would be doing inthat.
I turned to look out the window, which overlooked the path toward the gym and ice rink. And, of course, at that exact moment, some boys came walking out. Well, not just any boys, but what seemed to be half the hockey team. And without consciously doing it, my eyes immediately drifted to the boy in the middle.
His dark hair was wet like he’d just taken a shower, or maybe he’d just dumped a water bottle over his head. That was something sports guys did, right? He was walking with his hands shoved in the pockets of his varsity jacket even though it was still summer weather outside and seemed to be ignoring the boys on either side of him as he scowled at the floor. I wasn’t sure if he even knew how to smile.
“Enjoying the view?”
I jumped at the sound of Saylor’s voice so close to my ear. When I spun around, I realized she was leaning over my shoulder and looking out the window as well. How had I gotten so distracted by Bear that I hadn’t even felt her come up behind me?
“No,” I lied. “I mean… I’m enjoying the sunshine.”
I awkwardly waved a hand at the blue sky outside. Saylor raised her eyebrows, clearly unimpressed by my lie. Luckily,Lilah chose that moment to interrupt us by asking Saylor for her phone number.
“I’ll make us a group chat so we can strategize,” she explained. She glanced at me with a light in her eyes that made me nervous. “Oh and we can Elodie too! She’ll love this.”
“We don’t need to drag her into this,” I said, rubbing a hand over my face. “The whole school seeing my humiliation is bad enough, let’s not spread it to Westwood too.”
