More Than Friends (Friends, #2)(10)

Great. A group project. I hate them, mostly because I always end up doing all the work. I can be a bit of a perfectionist and a control freak, which means I’m super annoying to everyone I end up working with.

“Now, I normally would pair you up myself, but considering you’re seniors and should be able to figure who you like to work with on your own, I’m going to suggest you choose your partners. Don’t leave anyone out! And don’t fight over each other,” Mrs. Meyer calls over the commotion that starts at her announcement. I turn and watch everyone scramble around in frantic search of a partner when I meet Blake’s gaze.

“You want to be my partner?” he asks, pointing a thumb at his chest.

I part my lips, ready to say yes, when I hear someone speak from behind me.

“She’s with me.”

Slowly I turn to find Tuttle standing there, looking intimidating as crap with his arms crossed in front of his broad chest and a glower on his face that could slay a thousand dragons.

I try not to let him affect me, but I swear I feel my toes tremble in my shoes. “How exactly am I with you?”

His gaze lingers on mine, and damn it, I can’t look away. “You’re my partner.”

“But you never asked me,” I point out.

He looks ready to roll his eyes. Or walk away. He does neither. “Would you like to be my partner, Mandy?”

I hate it when anyone calls me Mandy…with the exception of him. He somehow gets away with it. “I don’t think so.”

Now he does roll his eyes. The desk beside me is empty and he drops his perfect body into the seat, tipping the desk onto its two front legs so he can lean as close as possible in my direction. “You’re being ridiculous.”

“No, you’re being ridiculous, assuming I want to be your partner for this project.” I hesitate, quickly looking away like a coward. “I don’t,” I say to the wall.

He’s quiet for a moment, and amidst the growing noise and chaos of the room, his silence is completely unnerving.

“I mean it.” I look his way when he still hasn’t said anything. “I don’t want to be your partner.”

“Even after everything we’ve done together?” he asks, his voice deadly soft.

Of course, his question reminds me of all the things we’ve done together. And they are a lot. Mostly having to do with touching. And kissing. The boy can kiss like no other. He has this way of making me forget everything the moment his lips touch mine…

“Especially after everything we’ve done together,” I say firmly. “This isn’t going to work.”

“Oh, this is fabulous. You two are going to be great partners together!” Mrs. Meyers exclaims when she stops in front of the both of us. She clasps her hands together, a giant smile on her face. “I love it!”

“He’s not my partner,” I start, but Tuttle sends me a look that renders me silent. My protest doesn’t matter anyway because Mrs. Meyer is already gone, moving on to talk to someone else.

“Looks like you’re stuck with me.”

The smug smile stretching Jordan Tuttle’s perfect lips makes me want to slug him.





I show up at Yo Town promptly at four. Sonja is there to greet me and leads me into the tiny office in the back of the building, where she has me fill out a bunch of paperwork, hands over my official Yo Town T-shirt, telling me she has to go, but that she’s leaving me in good hands. Then she sends me back out into the shop so I can be trained.

By Blake.

“This job is pretty easy,” he tells me as he has me run through a few practice transactions on the register. I pick it up pretty fast, which fills me with relief. The scariest thing to me was the cash register, but it’s fairly simple.

“Then why do you hate it so much?” My Yo Town T-shirt is pale pink and Blake’s is black. I notice those are the theme colors of the store. There’s pink and black everywhere, including the cups people use to get their frozen yogurt.

And see, that’s the easy part of this job. I don’t have to dispense the yogurt. Or put on the toppings. The customers do it themselves and bring their yogurt to us, where we weigh it and collect the money. Easy peasy.

How hard can this job be?

“Because my parents make me work here.” He smiles faintly, though he’s not looking at me. “When you’re forced to do something, you always end up hating it, you know?”

Right. For example, how I’m forced to be Tuttle’s partner in English. I hate it.

Well, I’m supposed to hate it.

“You ended up finding a partner for the project in English, right?” I ask him.

“Oh yeah.” He nods. “Celeste Marshall. I’ve worked with her before. She’s really smart. Not that you’re not smart, but Tuttle snagged you up first, so…”

His voice drifts and I slam the register’s cash door shut, startling him. I hate that he brought Tuttle up, yet I also feel responsible for it. I’m the one who opened my big mouth.

“I’m sorry about that. I really wanted to be your partner,” I reassure him gently.

Blake shrugs, his cheeks coloring. “It’s no big deal. Next time, right?”

I hope there’s a next time. I feel like I need to make it up to him.