My Totally Off-Limits Best Friend: A YA Sweet Romance (Sweet Mountain High, Year 2: A Sweet YA Romance Series)

by M. L. Collins

  But on the other, something had broken between us all last night. It was surreal that one moment—one single, simple act—could change everything. And I honestly didn’t know if I was sad about how it had affected the band, or sad about how far apart Spencer and I felt.

  “I’m really sorry, Tessa. Can we have a truce?”

  The truth was, no matter how mad I was, I didn’t know how to live without Spencer in my life. Maybe I’d have to figure it out. Soon. But not yet.

  “Yeah. Truce.”

  16

  Spencer

  After the much-needed but very tentative truce with Tessa, I took the time to text Cody, Rhys, and Mikey to apologize again. I was pissed at myself that it took breaking their trust for me to “get it.” Sure, I knew they were the most important people in my life—Tessa, Cody, Rhys, Mikey and my family—but I’d taken them for granted a little. Guess that’s what good friends let you do.

  Once I’d taken care of the important stuff, then I went to find Ashley. She stood by the stone bench, looking a bit impatient waiting for me, but hey, I finally had my priorities right.

  We’d flirted a little back and forth over texts last night, so I knew she liked me, and I’d definitely shown interest in her.

  “Morning, Ashley,” I said, giving her a nod. “Are you ready for the pep rally this afternoon?”

  “You bet. I got my pompoms out of the dry cleaner and everything.” Ashley smiled up at me with her long curls of sun-streaked brown hair and flashing eyes.

  I smiled back because it felt like the start of another great day. Lexie had helped get Tessa and me talking again. My friends had all forgiven me. And here was Ashley and I getting our flirt on, which meant my plan was on-track. Yep, I had a good feeling about—

  “Yeah, we’re all ready for the pep rally,” Trey said, rising from the bench to stand next to Ashley. “Too bad you lacrosse boys aren’t invited.”

  Too bad I hadn’t seen Trey sitting there. He buzzed into the conversation about as welcome as a horsefly at the lake. The sneer on his face told me Brian’s warning about him was dead on.

  “I’m sorry. Trip, is it?” Okay. Maybe I shouldn’t have antagonized him, but if I had to deal with him being a jerk, was it unreasonable to have a little fun with it? My answer was no.

  “Trey,” he said, shooting me a knife-sharp glare.

  Back at you, buddy.

  “Actually, the whole school is invited to the pep rally,” I said. “The lacrosse team will be there. Thanks for caring, though.”

  “Are your other special friends going to be there?” His mouth slid into a smarmy crocodile smile.

  “I’ve got a lot of friends, and I’m sure some of them will be at the pep rally.” I turned my attention back to Ashley, wishing I could swat Trey away like the annoying insect he was. “Are the cheerleaders doing something special?”

  “We are. We’ve been practicing it all month. Make sure you get a front-row seat,” Ashley said. “What friends were you asking Spencer about, Trey? Anyone I know?”

  Trey was attempting to hand me what he thought was a ticking time bomb and hope it blew up in my face. If I had to guess, he was talking about the—

  “Didn’t he tell you? Spencer’s a member of the uber-nerd club Mr. Nelson sponsors. That bunch of weird gamers who talk in made-up languages and think there are aliens among us.”

  Right. The nerds. Trey needed to watch more movies. In the movies, nerds were the cool kids who solved the mysteries and got the girl.

  “Oh. I didn’t know you were in the gaming club.” Did Ashley’s voice have an OMG-you-haven’t-showered-in-a-month tone to it?

  And what was that look on her face? Horror? No. Not horror. More like, surprise. She probably didn’t have any nerdy, uncool friends. Because mostly nerdy, uncool kids joined the gaming club. Kids like me. Like Tessa.

  Correction. Like I’d been last year. This year I was new-and-improved Spencer. What had Tessa called me? Spencer 2.0. I grinned at the name. And then I noticed I was the only one smiling.

  Ashley’s lips had gone from a surprised O to a pretty pout. You, Spencer Hale, are better than a shallow Neanderthal. So use your evolved brain and fix this.

  “Yep. It’s true. I’m in the club. But the guys in the club are pretty cool, actually.” I ignored Trey’s laugh and kept going. “And I didn’t exactly join it voluntarily. There was this thing I did . . . and my mom got involved.”

  “Oooh. Like a punishment?” Ashley asked. “She should have just taken away your credit cards. That’s what my mother does to me.”

  Credit cards?

  “Unless you were a bad boy, Spencer.” Ashley stepped close, walking her fingers up my chest along the row of buttons on my shirt while she peeked at me from under her long eyelashes. “Is that what it was? Were you a naughty boy?”

  “There are a lot of people who think I made some bad choices.” Not a lie. I could hear Trey grinding his teeth as Ashley gazed up at me with her beautiful brown eyes. Score one point for me. I may not have started the animosity between Trey and me but given an opportunity to outsmart the jerk? Just show me the line to stand in.

  “Spencer, would you like to do something after the football game tonight?”

  “I have to work.” I shrugged and then turned to Trey. “The tables won’t bus themselves, right, Tracey?”

  “Trey. My name is Trey,” he said, his voice pitching higher at the end like he was losing it. “Are you really that dumb you can’t get my name right?”

  “Whoa, dude. Cut back on the roids.” I shot him a worried look. “I hear they can cause mood swings.”

  “How about Saturday night? A bunch of us are going to the corn maze on the other side of town.” Ashley smiled at me. “We’re having a pair’s competition to see who can make it through fastest.”

  “The old Peter’s Pumpkin Patch? I heard they added over fifteen acres to their corn maze.” I cracked a smile. “My dad said people call 911 from there at least once a week, lost inside the maze.”

  “You should come. Invite your friends.” She stepped closer and took my hand. “I’m counting on you being my partner.”

  “Okay. Sounds fun. I’ve got to get to class. I’ll call you tomorrow, Ashley.”

  “You’d better,” she flirt-pouted.

  “Later, Trent.” I winked at him. I couldn’t help it.

  “Trey! It’s Trey, dang it.”

  I headed to English class with a grin on my face, and I sent out a quick text to the group before I forgot.

  Me: Corn maze Sat. night? Trying to get a big group to go.

  Cody: Dude, I can’t. I’ll be at my dad’s this weekend.

  Mikey: Can’t. Melody wants to “talk” Sat. night. Not sure what that’s about. Shrug emoji

  Tessa didn’t text during school. Later, after school, she responded.

  Tessa: I’ll go if I can get a date.

  Me: Want me to ask Brian?

  Tessa: Won’t Ashley be mad if you go with Brian?

  Me: Haha, funny. Ask Brian for *YOU*.

  Tessa: No. I’ll get my own date, ty.

  Me: Who?

  Tessa: Some hitchhiker I picked up.

  Me: You’re hilarious.

  Tessa: (Me being Han Solo) I know.

  Me: Ha! Good one. Okay, don’t tell me.

  Tessa:

  Me: I was kidding. Seriously, who?

  Tessa: You’ll find out Sat.

  17

  Spencer

  Apparently, Farmer Peters had upped his corn maze game this year. The Peters’ Family Pumpkin Patch now offered two different corn mazes to choose from. I stood next to Ashley and her group of friends while we voted on which maze to do, the Haunted Corn Maze or the Zombie Attack Experience.

  “Which one do you want, Spencer?” Ashley asked.

  “Uh . . .” Was there really a choice here? No. “Zombie Attack gets my vote.”

  “That’s a paintball maze.” She blinked at me.

  “Exactly,�
�� I said. To be clear, I was not the only guy in the group voting for the Zombie Attack.

  “But the Haunted Maze has ghosts and goblins.” Ashley took my hand, leading me toward the ticket booth. “That sounds like good scary fun.”

  “I’m not getting paint on my brand-new skinny jeans,” Ashley’s friend Karen decreed. “Sorry, not sorry.”

  “I, for one, think our girls are too pretty to shoot with paintballs, right guys?” Trey said. Maybe he was trying to be polite and considerate, but it sounded a lot like sucking up to Ashley.

  “Ha!” Tabby laughed. “Trey’s vote means the Haunted Maze wins.”

  I hung back a little, waiting to hear from Tessa. She should have been here already. She hadn’t responded to my last text.

  “Come on, Spencer. We can’t let everyone get a head start.”

  “Tessa and her date should be here any minute.” My phone dinged, and I checked the text message. “Good. They’re here. She said we should go ahead, and they’ll catch up. Let me just text her which maze—”

  “I’ll text it to her while you go buy our tickets.” Ashley held her hand out for my phone. “I really want to win.”

  “Ha! And I thought I was competitive. Okay.” I handed her my phone and went to purchase our tickets as the pairs in our group entered the maze at a run, each trying to win.

  After getting my phone back from Ashley, I slid it into my back pocket. As we entered the maze, I made sure to hack my watch.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Timing us. It’s supposed to take forty-five minutes to navigate. Anything beyond that means we’re lost.”

  “I won’t mind getting lost with you.” Ashley wrapped her hand around my biceps, hugging up to me. “Lead the way.”

  Glow sticks in hand, we made our way into the seven-foot-tall corn maze. The nearly full moon helped light the way, yet somehow, we still found more than a few dead ends. The cool October night temperature helped sound carry so that throughout the maze, you could hear our group calling out to each other and laughing.

  “I think we’re going to win,” I said, turning another corner and passing the next checkpoint successfully. “Did I mention I’m an Eagle Scout? I aced my orienteering badge.”

  “You might be a little too good.”

  “Too good?” I lifted my glow stick to see her face better. “I thought you wanted to win.”

  “Not so much,” Ashley said, veering us off the path and into a dead end. She backed up to the wall of corn stocks and pulled me up against her. “This is an awfully romantic setting for our first kiss.”

  “Our first kiss?” Another thing I hadn’t thought through when I’d come up with my brilliant plan: kissing Ashley. “R-romantic? I bet I could come up with something a lot more romantic. The beach at sunset or maybe a candlelit dinner at Charter, or—oh, I know! Under the flying pigs at hole seventeen at Randall’s Mini Golf.”

  “Spencer?” She latched onto my sweatshirt with her fists and pulled me even closer.

  “Yes?”

  “Shut up and kiss me.” She closed her eyes and tilted her face up to mine.

  I sucked in a breath and squared my shoulders. “Ashley, I—”

  Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” blasted from my butt, and Ashley’s eyelids flew open.

  “Um, what the heck is that?”

  “Sorry. It’s Tessa’s emergency S.O.S.”

  “But—”

  I pulled out my phone to check. This wouldn’t be the first time Tessa was lost somewhere. Her sense of direction was horrible. No matter which direction she stood in, she swore California was always on her left. If she were a bird, she’d never make the annual migration.

  Tessa: Totally lost. For over thirty minutes. Date left me. Help, please?

  “Man, I’m sorry, Ashley, but Tessa’s lost in the maze. We need to go find her.”

  I took Ashley’s hand and led us toward the exit. Yes, I knew where it was. Eagle Scout.

  “Can’t her date help her?” Ashley’s tone let me know she was very much not okay with this situation.

  “Apparently, they got split up in the maze.” I thought it would be better for Tessa not to share that her date had left her. I would definitely find out the details about that once I’d rescued her.

  We exited to find we were the last in the group to exit the maze. Everyone waited for us next to the fire pit.

  “Here they finally are! Guess you two had more fun than the rest of us,” Karen snickered.

  “We’re going to Pizza Place to warm up and grab a slice,” Trey said, frowning at me.

  “Spencer?” Ashley tilted her face up to mine with a tempting smile.

  “You go on. I’ll text you after I find Tessa and her date.” I could tell by the way her smile flattened out that she wasn’t happy, but I wasn’t going to leave my best friend lost in the maze for anyone.

  Karen grabbed Ashley by the arm and pulled her toward the parking lot with the group.

  “Don’t take too long.” Ashley walked backward next to Karen, pouting prettily at me.

  I pulled up the Find my Friend app on my phone. The app we’d agreed was only for emergencies, exactly like this one.

  Standing with the Haunted Maze to my left and the Zombie Attack to my right—clearly, Tessa had entered the wrong maze.

  Me: I see you. On my way.

  Tessa: Hurry! OMG! Zombies attacking! Ow! I—

  18

  Tessa

  Thirty minutes before my S.O.S. to Spencer:

  “You two do not want to do this,” I warned the two figures creeping up on me. “Jimmy and Timmy Baker, if you do this, you won’t see your ninth birthday. Sorry, Mr. and Mrs. B., but there’s only one way to survive a zombie apocalypse. We can’t make exceptions for eight-year-olds, no matter how cute they are.”

  “You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do, Tessa,” Mrs. B. said, tossing me her paint gun. “Take them out.”

  “Mom!” they cried, but then the dirty rotten kids shot me, and the chase was on.

  It only took me a few minutes to put the zombies in their place before I handed Mrs. B. back her paint gun and refocused on finding my way out. Thirty minutes later, when I was even more lost than I’d started, I finally admitted I needed help. Too embarrassed to call 911, I sent my cry for help to Spencer instead.

  After I texted and dealt with the zombies once again (Mr. B. reminded me to double-tap this last time), I sat down in the middle of the maze and waited for Spencer to find me. Like he always did, he came through for me.

  “What the heck happened to you?” Spencer’s gaze ran over me. “I feel certain we did not have the same corn maze experience.”

  “Remember the Baker twins, the ones I used to babysit? Yeah, they killed me. Little brats. They laughed like hyenas until their mom tossed me her gun, and I turned into a zombie and ran after them. Those boys can run fast.” I grinned. “But not fast enough.”

  Spencer laughed and shook his head and led us out of the maze.

  “Anyway, that’s why I’m covered in paint. It would’ve been super fun if it had been the correct maze and I had found you guys. Not getting lost might’ve made it more fun, too.”

  “Sorry about that. Ashley texted to tell you which maze while I bought the tickets.”

  “Oh. Sure. I must’ve missed the text.” I hadn’t missed the text. Based on the catty looks she’d been shooting me at school lately, it was an easy guess Ashley didn’t like me around Spencer. She probably paid the Baker twins to take me out.

  “I’m a little jealous since the Zombie Attack maze sounds like a lot more fun than the haunted corn maze. All we had were Farmer Peters and his wife making ghost noises behind the corn stalks.”

  “Don’t be jealous. My date bailed on me.”

  “What do you mean, bailed? Who did you come with?”

  “I’d rather not say, since I don’t want you and Cody to track him down and intimidate him with your protective jock routine.” I thought Dirk w
as just a cute gamer dude when I asked him to come to the corn maze. Not so much. The guy didn’t play the game because he was bored in class. It turned out the guy played because he was addicted. He got upset when he lost internet connection in the middle of the maze and left me there.

  “We don’t do that. Not even close.” They totally did.

  “Uh-huh. Remember when you two had that ‘talk’ with Jack Smith?”

  “He kept pulling your hair on the bus.”

  “It was his way of flirting.” I snickered when Spencer rolled his eyes. “There was also the cute lifeguard two summers ago and the lacrosse player from your rec. league.”

  “Both players and not good enough for you.” Spencer shrugged, his token sign that he knew I was right.

  “Well, hey, you should go join up with Ashley. I’m just going to sit by the fire to let the paint finish drying before I get in my car.” I sat in one of the Adirondack chairs circling the fire pit.

  “You drove?” Spencer asked. “Not your mystery date?”

  “We met here. It was easier and looking pretty genius considering.” I was beginning to think the universe was trying to tell me something. Something subtle like, Don’t date.

  Spencer dragged another chair right up next to mine until the arms were touching and settled into it.

  “What are you doing? Seriously, I’m good. Go find your girl.”

  “I’m not leaving you here alone. What’s a few more minutes?” He stretched his booted feet out toward the fire and leaned back, looking up at the star-studded sky. “This is kind of nice. There’s less light-pollution out here. It reminds me of the times our parents let the three of us spend the night in the back yard to watch meteor showers.”

  “Fun times.” I sighed, looking up at the stars. “Anyway, I’m sorry I messed up your date.”

  “It’s fine. Actually, you sort of saved my bacon.”