The Stand-In Boyfriend (Grove Valley High #1)
Emma Doherty
“STOP DROOLING.”
My head jerks in the direction of the voice and I see Sophie Steele, my best friend since forever, smirking at me. I roll my eyes like her comment doesn’t bother me, but the heat in my cheeks gives away my embarrassment. “Shut up.”
She grins. “Your boy’s looking hot. Has he been hitting the gym?” I turn to my locker and start rummaging through it, picking out the books I need for homework and transferring the ones I don’t need from my bag to my locker. She leans against the locker next to mine, her eyes still focused down the hallway. “Someone really needs to tell him to stop wearing yellow though. That’s really not his color.”
I hold back a laugh. She’s right—it’s not his color. I look back at him and see he’s heading our way. I ignore the butterflies in my stomach—which seem to be getting stronger every day—and instead focus on his face, which is covered in a huge smile as he stops near us. My heart actually pounds in my chest. This is what he does to me—Jessie Stephenson, my other best friend and the guy I’ve been in love with for years.
“I thought today would never end,” he tells me in greeting.
“Right?” I agree, turning away from Sophie and giving him my full attention.
“Stephenson, you really need to stop wearing yellow. It doesn’t work.”
“Bite me, Sophie.”
I bite down on my lip to stop myself from laughing out loud. These two are always like this. The three of us have been inseparable since we met Jessie in middle school and let him join our little gang, but sometimes Jessie and Sophie are just one step away from ripping each other’s hair out. I’ve had to play peacemaker on more than one occasion.
“I’m serious—you look like you got dressed in the dark.”
Again I have to bite back the grin that wants to break out over my face. Yellow really doesn’t go with his auburn hair.
He turns to me, eyebrows raised, and I feel a pang of pride that he’s not just taking her word for it and wants my confirmation. “There are other colors that look better on you,” I confirm.
He flips us both a finger but laughs good-naturedly and turns around as we all file down the hallway and out the main entrance of Grove Valley High School, heading toward our cars.
Jessie turns to me. “You don’t have practice?”
I shake my head. “No, Coach canceled it because there was a history trip and a bunch of people aren’t back from it yet.”
He nods and leads us over to some picnic benches by the parking lot, throwing his bag down on top of it before sitting down. I raise an eyebrow in surprise, expecting him to want to head straight home as usual, but instead he positions himself so he can see the school entrance, and Sophie collapses into the seat next to him. I shrug and take a seat across from them, stretching out my neck as I do.
“You guys got any food?” Sophie asks.
Jessie shakes his head, barely shifting his eyes from the doors as I reach into my bag and dig around for one of the granola bars I always keep on me before pulling one out and tossing it to her. I turn my attention back to Jessie, but he’s focused on something behind me. I turn to see what he’s looking at, but there’s nothing unusual happening, just kids streaming out of school and heading home for the weekend.
“Everything all right?” I ask.
He turns to me. “Yeah, just glad this week is done.” He grins wide and my stomach actually flips. I don’t dare look at Sophie because I know for a fact she’ll be smirking at me. I can’t help it; I actually love him.
I’ve always liked Jessie—always, ever since we met him when we first got to middle school—but it’s past that now. It’s to the point where I’m constantly looking out for him, thinking about what he’s doing, and hoping he’ll notice me as more than just his best friend. That’s what he sees me as: his best friend, Livy, the girl who can kick a soccer ball better than he can, the girl who ends up doing his homework for him (no matter how many times I tell him I won’t), and the girl he has no clue has been in love with him ever since Sophie pushed him over because he cut in front of her in the lunch line and I helped him stand up. I still remember that day, still remember seeing his dark brown eyes and freckles for the first time and feeling like his laugh was the best thing I’d ever heard.
He started hanging out with us immediately, not caring that his best friends were me, a total tomboy, and Soph, the girliest drama queen you could ever meet. I thought he was the greatest thing ever. It took me a year or two to realize I had a crush on him, but I think Sophie spotted it from day one. After a couple of years, I finally admitted to myself that I didn’t just want to be his friend, and now I swear my crush is bigger than the entire country. Honestly, even I think it’s ridiculous how gigantic it’s gotten. Even though we hang out every day and I know I’m his closest friend, he still doesn’t recognize that I’m a girl, and no matter how many times Sophie tells me to do it, I just can’t make the first move and tell him how I feel.
“You’re coming over tonight, right?” Sophie asks, looking at me.
I nod my head. She doesn’t need to ask. I’ve been turning up at her house for Friday night meatballs for as long as I can remember; it’s tradition. Sometimes Jessie joins us, sometimes he doesn’t.