Kissing Ted Callahan (and Other Guys)(15)

“Just worrying about our crumbling American society.”

Ashley makes a face. “There’s an America’s Next Top Model marathon on. Can I watch that instead?”

With a heavy sigh I agree, but then I stick around to at least watch the makeovers. Watching beautiful people cry about their hair is way preferable to thinking about Sydney Jacobs any longer.

*

At school the next morning I wait for the crowds to part and for me to be revealed as a Garrick-kissing, Nerds-having, science-learning fool who thinks she’s entitled to the kind of boys celebrities sleep with. But it’s just Monday.

“Hey, Riley,” Ted says as I head from my locker to chemistry. My cartoon heart does a cartwheel.

“Hi.” I try to sound calm.

“Sorry you can’t join Fencing Club.”

“Me too!” I sort of shout.

“Okay,” he says. “See you.”

“Oh, I—I meant to email you back.” I had, but I’d hoped a magical gig would appear immediately. “But thanks for what you said about the band.”

“Well,” he says, with a shrug, “you guys are really good. Hopefully, I can come see you play sometime.”

“I’ll let you know, yeah.” I realize I am FULL-OUT GRINNING at him.

I wait for him to wave and walk off, but he doesn’t. We’re still standing together.

“When did you start playing drums?”

“About three years ago.”

“Cool,” he says, then smiles.

It hits me that even though this is barely a conversation, it’s nice. Ted is not just good hair and impressive extracurriculars. Ted is a guy I can just stand and talk to, and it’s normal. Ted, it’s normal!

“Hey.” Lucy walks up. Maybe if Edendale were a bigger school, I could avoid her a little more. Lucy notices I’m talking to Ted, and kind of steps back so she isn’t being rude. I suddenly want to cry that I can’t give her a secret look to indicate maybe Something Is Happening. I miss Lucy so freaking much.

“See you in world history.” Ted walks off.

Then Lucy gives me a Look! “Are you friends with him?”

“I guess.” I try to affect a casual pose, which is weird when you’re standing in the middle of the hallway because I associate casualness with leaning, and there is no leaning to be had. “Why?”

“He’s cute in a weird way, isn’t he?”

“Yes,” I say very automatically. “I mean, I guess. I mean, what’s weird, really?”

Lucy laughs. “Good point.”

“I, uh, should go.” I walk into the bathroom, but I don’t even have to go. I just wash my hands and walk back out. By then, Lucy’s out of sight.

Garrick’s walking down the hallway, and I give him a wave I decide is appropriate after the messing around as well as the Sydney Jacobs discovery.

He hands me my hoodie. “You left your jacket thing at my house.”

Wait, Garrick doesn’t know the word for hoodie? What kind of genius are you, Garrick?

“Thanks.” I wonder if anyone walking by knows what happened based on this hoodie exchange. I still would have forgotten it there if we hadn’t messed around, wouldn’t I?

No, I totally would not have.

Besides the various weirdnesses of the morning, the day is typical. But after school I have a plan of making a random thing a regular thing.

“Riley!” Reid comes tearing around the corner toward my locker, breathing exactly the way a guy who never runs would with all this tearing around. “Good news!”

“Jane?” I ask.

“We, my friend,” he says with the grace and dignity of an old-fashioned movie star, “are playing the fall formal.”


“YES!” I high-five him, and even think about hugging him, but hugging makes people talk and probably enough people think since Lucy and Nathan were secretly Doing It that Reid and I are, too. “You’re awesome for making this happen.”

Reid grins like he is aware of his own awesomeness. I let it slide.

“I’m gonna go find Luce and Nathan. Come with me.”

“I have to do a thing, a potential Time With the Crush thing,” I say. “So I should go.”

“Good luck with that.” He smirks and hands me the Passenger Manifest.

“Shut up,” I say. “And thanks for the fall formal gig.”

“Hey, it’s for all of us,” he says. “And we did it by having great demos.”

I grin at him and head off down the hallway. I don’t make it all the way to Ted’s locker before he walks up right beside me. It’s a sign! Thanks, universe. Love, Riley.

“Hey, Ted.” I approach carefully, the way you do with bunny rabbits and motion-detector singing-and-dancing Santas. “I was wondering if you needed a ride.”

It’s a bold move.

“Really?” he asks.

“Really,” I say, but I try to make it all easy breezy.

“Okay, if you don’t mind,” he says. “And I have to talk to Ms. Matteson for a couple minutes.”

“No problem, I can meet you by your locker,” I say. “Not that I know where your locker is. I mean, it’s alphabetical, I sort of know. Not by heart, not the number, just, in general, it’s near Mrs. Bullard’s room, I think, right, is it?”