Page 55 of Heartthrobs Don't Date Wallflowers
“Anyway, they had the tickets as one of the prizes. I mean, I almost didn’t enter because it’s T5, and you know how everyone at school is obsessed with them. I figured, what’s the point? But my friend dragged me to it, and I guess it was fate because…” She reached into her pocket and pulled out two crisp, shiny concert tickets. “Guess who won?”
She held them up like she was holding the keys to the universe, her grin stretching so wide I thought her face might split in half.
“And it’s tomorrow!” She waved the tickets in my face like they were fanning some kind of magical, life-changing air. “I already cleared it with Mom in the car. We’re going.”
I took one of the tickets from her hand, staring down at it. The date, the venue, the words “Take Five – LIVE” printed in big, bold letters. This was real. I was going to see him tomorrow, whether I liked it or not.
“Wow,” I managed, my voice a little weaker than I intended. “That’s… really cool.”
“Oh my God, Ivy, you’re going to freak!” Poppy said, clearly not noticing that anything was wrong. I couldn’t blame her. Excitement like this clouded everything. And it was for the best anyway, because I wasn’t sure exactly how to explain I was in the middle of a love triangle that might have all been one guy. “Hudson’s voice? Ugh. He’s, like, my new favorite human being. And Zach? Don’t even get me started.”
She sighed dramatically, while I had to resist the urge to cringe at the mention of his name. How wasthis happening? I felt like I was going to faint. Or throw up on Poppy’s shoes. Maybe both. Just in case, I turned away from her and leaned my head down into my hands.
“You’re excited, right?” Poppy asked. Her fingers brushed my back. “I mean, I know you’re not super into them, but it’s going to be fun. I promise. You might even leave with a crush on Hudson like me.”
“Sure,” I said, hoping my voice didn’t betray me. “I can’t wait.”
Poppy seemed satisfied with that, nodding to herself and hopping off the couch. “Okay, I’ve got to unpack. But seriously, Ivy, get ready for tomorrow. We’re going to lose our voices screaming, I swear.”
She skipped toward the stairs, leaving me alone in the living room with the ticket still in my hand. How was I supposed to act tomorrow? Would Zach see me in the crowd? Should I tell him I was going? Would he care?
And more importantly, why did it even matter to me?
I wasn’t planning on seeing Zach again before the concert, but it seemed likehewas planning on seeingme, because when I walked into my room in the early afternoon the next day, he was sitting at his window. The second my light turned on, his head shot up. I didn’t even have time to sit down before he held up hisfirst sign.
Fancy seeing you here
It took me a second to find my notebook under the pile of discarded homework, my laptop bag, and a paper plate that had been sitting there since who knew when. I cringed as I watched everything fly off my desk. He couldn’t see the actual desk through the window, but I could only imagine what it must’ve looked like from his view. Just a random assortment of things flying past the glass that probably made me come off like a total slob. My fingers finally snagged on my notebook and in my attempt at not looking at his face, I completely missed my pen holder and knocked it over, making pens fly through the air and across my floor. I cursed under my breath. That would be pain to clean up—and I would definitely be doing it later, because I didn’t need to supply Zach with even more embarrassing memories of me, like crawling around picking up pens.
I hastily wrote out a message in big bold letters.
Fate’s pushing us together
We hadn’t spoken at all since he drove me to school yesterday morning and I was pretty sure we both knew why. Unless, he really had just called me Princess for no reason and was now confused why I was avoiding him because he wasn’t Not Zesty. That was always a possibility.
I held up a second sign:
What’s up?
While I waited for him to write out his response, I glanced around my room. It never really occurred to me that he could see in here, the same way I could see into his. The room wasn’t really decorated yet, but there was a poster for Minute to Midnight, another popular boyband, which Zach probably thought was a dig at him. It was actually because someone gifted it to me right before I moved and was the easiest thing to unpack. I guess I should have been grateful it was a Take Five poster instead.
When I turned to the window again, Zach was holding up a sign. It was a little lopsided but readable.
Concert tonight
Well, I guess that made the decision for me. I wondered about telling him but since he brought it up, I saw no reason not to mention it.
I know! I’m gonna be there
He looked genuinely surprised. He turned the page of his notebook—I was realizing this was probably the most wasteful way for us to talk—and scribbled quickly.
No way
I didn’t want him to think I wasonly coming because he’d been so nice to me the last couple of days, so I quickly added:
My sister won tickets
I watched him as he wrote his response, my eyes trailing the way his hair fell forward when he ducked his head and he bit his lip in concentration like he was trying to make his writing beautiful. And just for a moment, butterflies fluttered in my stomach and I thought, I really hope it’s you I’ve been texting.
