Page 70 of Heartthrobs Don't Date Wallflowers
“I’ll tell you later,” I said. I let my hands fall backon the grass and stared at the boys, who were still bickering about the best way to light the fire. It seemed like they finally started a flame, but now Luca wanted to add some more bark to it and Hudson was telling him not to.
“Okay, so that’s about half the group chat,” I said. “Who are the rest?”
“I’m Eggo,” Megan said. “It’s an old nickname from when I was a kid.”
“And Sloane,” I said, looking at her, “I’m guessing, you’re I cheer, you cheer? Which leaves Grace.” I racked my brain for what the last name was, and suddenly it all made sense. “Right, the Fangirl.”
Grace smiled widely. “Yep, that’s me.”
I looked over at the kitchen window, where I could still see Nina and Finn laughing about something inside. “Why isn’t Nina in the chat, then? I mean, I know Finn said that he wouldn’t want to subject her to that, but does she actually not want to be in there?”
Megan rolled her eyes and laughed. “We’ve actually added her a couple times. She keeps leaving every time. And Jude says he doesn’t want her there because having his little sister in there would ruin the fun.”
“I told him to get over it,” Sloane said flatly. She turned to glare at Grace beside her, who just smiled brightly back. Sloane’s facade cracked after a second and she smiled too.
“I think Nina just likes being annoying,” Megan said. “It’s funny to her.”
The back door opened, and Finnand Nina came spilling out, laughing about something. She had a blanket wrapped around her and was holding hot chocolate in her hands while Finn smiled at her like she’d hung the moon. I realized now, as I was looking at her again, that I’d actually seen her around the neighborhood before. Specifically, I’d seen her and Finn running in the mornings. I just hadn’t really processed exactly who they were or why he would be with her.
When I really looked at her—really, really looked at her—I could see how she and Luca resembled each other. They didn’t have the same hair, hers was a light strawberry blonde, while his was a dark brown, but some of their other features were the same. Their nose, their eyes, the way they smiled and laughed—it was all just similar. I wasn’t sure if I’d necessarily place that they were siblings in the way that I could with Sloane and Grace, but once I knew, I could see it.
“All right, so the fire started?” Finn asked as they came up. They plopped down on the grass as well.
“All good,” Hudson said. The boys dispersed and came over to sit with each of us. Zach pulled me in close, trying to take the blanket, but I just pulled it closer to myself.
“Blanket hog,” he said.
“Hey,” I replied, “you pegged me as that from the moment you met me. You don’t get to complain about it now.”
He held his hands up in surrender, letting me tug the blanket tighter on my shoulders. “Hey, anything not to end up back on your hit list. Oh speaking ofwhich…” He pulled out his phone and wrapped his arms around me so I could see the screen while he typed. “I think it’s about time we changed your name in the group chat, don’t you?”
“Not princess,” I said warningly. “Only you get to call me that.”
I could feel his smile against the side of my face. “Fine.”
I watched as he opened the group chat and clicked on my contact. He deleted my name and hesitated only for a second before he replaced it.
Bee
“Bee?” I asked.
“Like that day I met you in the office,” he said. “you said your name was Bee.”
“I did not SAY it was Bee!”
“Then you need to learn to enunciate better.”
“No, your hearing must just be damaged from playing in the band.”
“Whatever you say.”
I smiled and snuggled further into Zach, who wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head. From this angle, I could perfectly see my balcony outside my room, the yellow light from my room spilling onto it. I’d forgotten to turn it off earlier—like I’d thought I would be back there again, like I was every Friday night. My heart ached at the sight of the empty balcony, as I imagined myself back up there—alone, watching, waiting for the day I’d get to be down here instead.
I let my eyes fall away fromthe balcony and looked around at everyone around me. Finn and Nina. Luca and Sloane. Neil and Grace. Hudson and Megan. Zach.
All of them and me.
Never in a million years would I have expected to end up here. And now, I never wanted to leave.
