Page 13 of Grumpy Darling

“Come on, Paige. You can’t be surprised the fish are all hiding under rocks when you’re sitting on the bank next to a giant grizzly bear.”

I blinked at him as I tried to figure out what on earth he was talking about. He was really taking this fishing analogy too far. “Like, metaphorically? Is my personality the bear, or—”

“Grayson! Grayson’s the bear!” he shouted. “He scowls at any guy who comes within a ten-foot radius of you.”

My heart stopped. “What?”

“Your best friend is terrifying. The other day there was lettuce instead of beef in his sandwich, and the look on his face when he went to complain sent the lunch lady running home in tears. Why else would any guy avoid a girl like you?”

“You know how Grayson gets about his food...” I murmured.

Parker looked at me like I was missing the point.

Surely he was exaggerating. I tried to recall Grayson scowling at any guys on my behalf. It was a little hard to remember any specific incident though. Grayson spent most of his life with a scowl on his face. But I still refused to believe Parker. Grayson only wanted the best for me. I was sure if there had been any guy-scaring, it was just another example of how easily people misunderstood Gray.

“I don’t know, Parker. It sounds a little silly. He would never do something like that on purpose.”

“I didn’t say he does it on purpose. Trust me, he doesn’t have to.”

I opened and closed my mouth several times as I tried to figure out how to keep arguing with him. But I didn’t know what else to say. Could Parker be right? Was the reason I’d never been kissed simply the fact I hung out with our school’s scariest bear?

I tried to think of all the times my natural boy repellent had reared its ugly head. There was Jon Spencer in freshman year, who stood me up without warning on what would have been my first date. Last year, when I was playing spin the bottle, Justin Chen refused to kiss me when it landed on him. Just this summer at a party, I’d been dancing with Drew Moskowitz, and I could have sworn he wanted to kiss me, but he suddenly claimed it was past his curfew and he had to get home. It was only 7 p.m.! It was no wonder I’d given up on having my first kiss after all that trauma.

“I’m back,” Amy called from the front of the house. “I hope you’re all hungry. I’m making pad thai.”

Grayson entered the room as she spoke, carrying some of his mom’s shopping bags. He shuddered at her words. “That sounds ambitious. Does Mom even know what pad thai is?”

“Guess we’re about to find out.” Parker grimaced.

I laughed quietly at the two of them, though I was still distracted by my conversation with Parker. Was Grayson really the reason I’d never kissed anyone? Why no boys ever asked me out? Why they literally ran in the opposite direction when I dared to get close? I’d always assumed there was something wrong with me. But was my biggest problem my choice of best friend?

Parker leaned in close, lowering his voice as he handed my precious pink bucket list back to me. “Just think about what I said.” He gave me an encouraging smile before he left the room, a trail of unanswered questions and uncertainty behind him.

“What was that about?” Grayson asked as I stared after his younger brother.

I quickly tucked my list back into my diary before Grayson could spot it. It was bad enough Parker had seen its contents. “He was just helping with my algebra homework.”

“Really? Parker? Algebra?”

“Yeah, he can be useful sometimes, you know.”

Grayson snorted in disbelief. “And was this one of those times?”

“I’m not sure yet.” He’d certainly left me with a lot to consider. I’d all but written off having my first kiss before the year was through. But Parker made it sound possible. Maybe even easy. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so quick to give up on it. Perhaps I just needed to try a little harder. And, if Parker was right, that started by having a difficult conversation with my best friend.

Chapter 4

Grayson

Dinner that night was a disaster. My mom’s pad thai turned out so spicy it was inedible. As I watched Paige and Reed’s girlfriend, Violet, nervously shuffle their food around their plates, I couldn’t help but feel bad they had been subjected to it too. I knew they were trying to be polite but, like the rest of us, they’d stopped eating after the first mouthful. My dad tried his best to insist the meal was fine, but he only made it three bites before his eyes started watering so badly he had to excuse himself from the table. The moment he reached the kitchen, I heard him gulping and gurgling water straight from the sink.

“I think you broke Dad.” Cammie smirked in Mom’s direction.

“Don’t be silly. Your father’s fine.” She flinched though as Dad started spluttering and making a loud hacking noise. He sounded like Stanley, choking on a furball.

“He doesn’t sound fine . . .” Reed said.

“I think he just coughed up a lung,” Cammie added.

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