Page 71 of Dreaming About the Boy Next Door

“I do not, in fact.”

“Do you want to come with my friends and me? That way, you don’t have to go alone?”

Josh stretched his hand to me over my bike seat, offering a handshake like a business deal. It mimicked the way we’d first been introduced to each other, and it made me smile. “I’d love to. Like I said, I’m in the market for friends.”

“And we’re always in the market for adding more to our lunch table.” I slid my hand into his and squeezed it. “We have four empty seats to fill.”

“Dang, wait, so am I saddling myself with the loser crowd?”

I gave a mock gasp and squeezed his hand harder.

A car pulled up at the stop sign beside us, and the passenger rolled their window down. “Hey, you two!” Rachel greeted, frantically waving as if to grab our already-captured attention. “Stop flirting in public!”

Josh waved back. “Hey, Rachel. Hey, Reed.”

Refusing to look past Rachel was a futile thing, because as soon as Josh mentioned his name, I couldn’tnotlook. Reed sat in the driver’s seat, his profile barely visible by the wall his sister created, but he lifted a hand to acknowledge Josh’s greeting.

“Ava asked me to homecoming,” Josh said suddenly, causing me to turn toward him. “So, it looks like I’ll be hanging with you guys Saturday night, if that’s okay.”

Rachel let out a shrieking sound. “Yes, that’s totally okay! You’re coming for pictures, then, right? You have to.”

“There’s a car coming behind us,” Reed said suddenly, and he let his foot off the brake. “Roll your window up.”

“Wait, I—we’re talking later, Ava!” Rachel stuck her head out of the window to call the last bit, because Reed was already pulling away from the stop sign, not giving us time for a proper farewell. Never looking at me once.

Josh patted my upper arm before taking a step toward his route home. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then? I’ll be looking for my feature on Babble tonight.”

“Don’t let the popularity go to your head,” I called after him, and despite feeling conflicted about Reed, I found myself smiling. Josh may not be the one living rent-free in my head, but hewasa good guy. A great friend, and I was happy to have met him. Kissable or not.

* * *

“Country vs City Day was an absolute hit! We had a few ties, but it looks like the amount of Country submissions totally blew City submissions out of the water. Guess we’re all a little wild at heart.

Check out these awesome ‘fits, though. Never thought I was a spurs gal, but wow! Julia Rodrigo totally killed it with that farmer glam, and did you see Joshua Geller’s plaid? Perfection!

Comment below—who wore YOUR favorite fit for Country vs City?”

I smirked a little at my computer screen as I attached Josh’s photo onto the post, and then went ahead to link the other most popular photos. Someone even wore chaps—those had to be a Timeless Treasures find. Some people, like me, had only gone as far to get a cowboy hat and boots, but I linked a few that looked pretty.

Instead of closing out Babble, I typed up a draft of tomorrow’s post for Mathletes vs Athletes. Afterward, I scrolled down to yesterday’s homecoming proposal post and scrolled through the comments, grazing through.

HighJumper77: anyone else living for landon and lacey??? They r soooo cute together!!

OraanjeJooce: lol Cameron G has a typo in his poster

LegendaryLila: @OraanjeJooce it’s supposed to be spelled like that—it’s a pun

Hunt4Bulldogs: anyone else want to place bets on how long Reed and Cindy will last? $5 it’s only a week after homecoming.

I let out a little breath before setting my laptop to the side, dropping it into my bedsheets. My parted curtains let in a bit of the moonlight and the lamplight glow below. It was only a little after ten, and despite it being after my grandma bedtime, it felt good to have everything in order on Babble.

I threw an arm over my eyes, covering my frown.

A littledinghad me turning toward my laptop, spotting the new email icon flashing in the top corner. I reached over and tapped on the cursor, heart jumping in my chest as it loaded.

Hello Ava,

I hope things have been well since we last spoke. I’m excited to see the final product of the website on Friday. Perhaps we can meet up in person to go through it together, and while we’re there, we can discuss some other things. Let’s say Expresso’s Café in Jefferson around 5?

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