Page 4 of Blocked Score

“Sorry,” he says, curling his arm to rub the back of his neck in a way that makes his bicep pop even through the heavy fabric of his sleeve. “Like I said, this isn’t my strong suit. Let’s circle back to what you just said about women falling to my feet. Was that some kind of offer?” His eyebrows wiggle playfully.

I blow a raspberry through my lips. “You wish. You’re not my type, pretty boy.”

Surprise splashes onto his angular face. “Really?” he asks, taken aback.

I hold back a grin. It’s true that he’s not my type, but he’s fun to talk to, and I expect thatyou’re not my typeisn’t something he hears from women often. Or ever.

“What, so hard to believe? Thinkyou’re every woman’s type?”

“Is that what my eyes said this time?” he asks.

The airplane speakers chime, and the voice of the pilot informs us that we’re about to make our descent into Chicago. Even with the turbulence nightmare, time has totally flown by ever since my AirPods died.

“See?” Lane says. “We made it safe and sound.”

A skeptical grunt pulls from my throat. “Don’t jinx it. We still have the landing to get through.”

“You know, statistically the landing is the safest part of any flight.”

“Really?”

“No. Actually, statistically it’s the most dangerous part.”

I huff a heavy breath and slam my elbow into the side of his arm, to which he responds with a roguish laugh.

We’re both going to be spending the summer in the same city. There’s definitely a chemistry here, even if he’s not my normal type.

Of course, I know nothing about him. For all I know, he’s got a girlfriend. Granted, given the way I’ve seen his gaze tick down to my body and flash with appreciation from time to time during this conversation, he’s not a very good boyfriend if he does.

There are plenty of not-good boyfriends out there, though. I’m the last person who needs to be told that.

Still, I definitely get a single vibe from him. The possibility of exchanging numbers and meeting up in the city sometime after we get settled flickers in my mind.

I’m staying with a friend of mine from high school who’s going to college in Chicago and offered me an empty room for the summer in the house that she and some friends of hers rent. After just breaking up with my boyfriend of almost two years, I leaped at the opportunity to put some much-needed distance between me and Caleb, and to take a much-needed break from my normal life.

Is jumping right back into a summer fling with another guy so soon really the right move?

Or isnot my typeexactly what I need right now?

2

LANE

Ialways thought I knew what love at first sight would feel like.

I don’t know if I ever really believed in it. But I always thought that if it did exist, I’d know it for sure if it happened to me. I imagined it must be like seeing someone who immediately checks every single box you’ve ever wanted in a partner.

Someone who’s the embodiment of everything you find attractive, alluring, desirable. Someone who’s like the perfect combination of all the other people you’ve ever been with or been drawn to in your life, with their best traits amplified and their worst traits smoothed over.

Someone who, when you see them, you’re immediately hit with the realization that this person is exactly what you’ve been looking for all along.

Now I’m starting to think that isn’t how it would feel at all.

Look, I’m not saying I’m inlovewith the girl sitting next to me on this plane, who I only started talking to because her dirty audiobook accidentally played through her phone. That would be ridiculous—no matter how fun she is to talk to, or how fucking good she looks.

All I’m saying is, she’s not thekindof girl I’ve ever been into. I’ve always been drawn to preppy types. Cheerleaders or sorority girls with type A personalities.

But Scarlett doesn’t give off those vibes at all. She’s got an edgy, sort of alternative look to her, with dark hair, a stud in her nose, and pale skin that’s dotted with tattoo designs.

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