Lessons in Love (Flirt)

by Destiny, A.

  We were on our way to last period. Simone was strolling along at her usual speed, but I kept catching myself wanting to hurry. I’d spent the last two periods counting down the minutes until my study session with Logan. Pathetic, right? Especially since there was no decrease in Ling and Megan’s craziness. If anything, they were getting worse. They’d pretty much monopolized his attention at lunch, leaving the rest of us talking among ourselves.

  It didn’t help that my bus had been even later than usual that morning, barely giving me the chance to say hi to Logan before the bell rang for homeroom. On top of that, Ms. Blumenkranz had jury duty this week, and the sub hadn’t let us talk, or even do anything interesting. We’d spent art period reading about the history of impressionism in some dusty old textbooks she dug out of the back of the closet.

  So basically, I’d only said about two words to Logan since Saturday. It shouldn’t have mattered, but it did.

  “So Ling actually lurked outside his house all day until he got home?” I asked as we turned the corner.

  Simone nodded. “That’s when she found out about his chocolate allergy.”

  “I still feel bad for not telling her about that.” I smiled. “At least a little.”

  Simone shrugged. “You said you tried and she cut you off, right? No surprise there. She never listens when she’s in that kind of mood.”

  She had a point. “So what did she do with the cupcake?”

  “What do you think?” Simone laughed. “It was a chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing—of course she ate it herself!”

  Logan hadn’t arrived yet when we entered study hall. I felt a flutter of anticipation when I finally saw him step through the door.

  “Here comes your boyfriend,” Simone whispered.

  “Shh! Don’t call him that.” I tried not to stare or blush or otherwise make an idiot out of myself as Logan walked toward us, smiling. Smiling at me.

  My heart jumped. Okay, not really—that’s physiologically impossible, of course. What actually happened was a rush of adrenaline, causing acceleration of heart and lung function, along with various other related symptoms. All of it caused by a release of chemicals in the brain.

  Even though I had a pretty good intellectual understanding of my reaction, I was a little startled by it. What was it about Logan that did this to me every time?

  “Hey,” he said, dropping his backpack on the floor and sliding into his seat. “What’s up? I feel like I’ve barely seen you today.”

  “Yeah.” I busied myself with my backpack, not daring to meet his eye. “Ready to hit the books?”

  “Sure.” He bent down to grab his textbook out of his bag, and I caught myself admiring the way his bicep flexed as it moved.

  Yikes. All along, I’d figured this would wear off eventually. But that wasn’t happening. If anything, it was getting worse.

  Logan sat up and opened his book. “Okay, you’ll have to forgive me if I can’t focus on this stuff too well today.”

  “Wh-what?” I tore my gaze away from his arm, feeling more than a little unfocused myself.

  “Today’s the big day, remember?” He grinned at me. “Dad’s taking me to pick up Patch right after school.”

  “Oh! Right.” I smiled back. “That’s cool. You must be excited.”

  “Totally psyched. I made Mom and Dad stop at the mall on our way home yesterday so I could grab some dog food and a crate and a bunch of other stuff at the pet-supply store.”

  “Doggy shopping,” I said. “Fun.”

  “Yeah.” He flashed me a grin, then turned away and flipped open his textbook.

  I stayed quiet, wondering if he’d mention finding Ling waiting for him when he got home. But he was scanning the table of contents.

  “Where’d we leave off?” he asked.

  “Chapter six,” I reminded him. I slid my desk a little closer, trying not to notice how good he smelled as I scanned the textbook. “But first, maybe we should review what we went over on Friday.”

  “Good plan.” He shot me a sidelong look. “I had a pretty exciting weekend—I may have forgotten everything you taught me.”

  The first thing that jumped into my mind was Ling again. Was he talking about finding her waiting for him at his house? Somehow I didn’t think so. Apparently my cardiovascular system didn’t think so either, since my heart was thumping along at double time again.

  “Um, really?” I said.

  “Nah, just kidding.” Logan smiled at me. “You’re a good teacher. I think I remember most of it.”

  “Oh. Um, good.”

  He glanced at the textbook, then back at me again, his expression suddenly turning more serious. “I really appreciate this, you know. Not just anybody would give up all their study halls for something like this.”

  “It’s okay, I don’t mind.” I smiled tentatively. “I’m a science geek, remember? This is actually fun for me.”

  He grinned, looking relieved. “Cool. Still—thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.” I smiled back. If nothing else, we were kind of starting to feel like friends. Real friends. Maybe I should be grateful for that; maybe it was enough.

  “Okay, so let’s start our review . . . ,” I began. Logan scooted his desk even closer to mine, and I tried not to notice how close his arm was to brushing against mine. That adrenaline was kicking in again, making me feel short of breath.

  I was an evidence-based kind of girl, and the evidence seemed to be mounting, all of it pointing to one theory. That maybe being friends wasn’t enough.

  Chapter Seventeen

  When the bell rang to end bio class on Thursday, Mr. Ba asked Logan to stay after class.

  “Just for a moment,” the teacher assured Logan. “I want to go over the homework you turned in yesterday.”

  “Okay, sure.” Logan sounded nervous. He turned around and shot me a questioning look.

  “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’re fine,” I said as I gathered my books. “You’re making tons of progress in our study sessions. Mr. Ba probably just wants to check in and make sure you’re understanding everything.”

  “You think so?” He still seemed nervous, but he gave me a small smile. “Thanks. I’ll see you at lunch in a few.”

  “Okay.”

  I went over and waited for Simone, Megan, and Taylor by the door. Logan walked up to the teacher’s desk. He still looked anxious, but I wasn’t worried. We really had accomplished a lot on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. I might be clueless when it came to figuring out boys, but I knew I gave good bio tutoring.

  When they reached me, Simone and the others were complaining about the homework Mr. Ba had just assigned. Simone stopped when she noticed me watching Logan.

  “What’s going on?” she asked.

  “Nothing.” I definitely didn’t want to get into it in front of Megan. “Let’s go, I’m starved.”

  Fortunately, she seemed to understand. She nodded, giving me a look that said, We’ll discuss later.

  Megan headed straight to our table while Simone, Taylor, and I went through the lunch line. When we emerged with our trays, I could see from halfway across the cafeteria that Matt and Darius weren’t sitting with us today. Too bad. Just having a guy or two around tended to tamp down Ling and Megan’s antics. At least a little.

  “So I can’t believe how sweet and shy Logan is,” Ling was telling Zoe when we got close enough to hear. “When I asked to borrow a pen in English, he totally blushed when our hands touched.”

  Zoe sort of grunted, not looking up from her salad. Beside me, Simone let out a soft snort.

  “Yeah, right,” Megan said. “He’s probably just embarrassed by how you’re always pawing at him.”

  “Pot, meet kettle,” Simone whispered, making Taylor cover her mouth to keep from laughing.

  Ling heard them and looked up. “Oh, hi,” she said, peering over our shoulders. “Where’s Logan? Didn’t he walk with you guys?”

  “Had to stay behind and talk to the teacher.”
Simone dropped her bag lunch on the table. “Who knows, he might have to miss the entire lunch period.”

  “What?” Megan and Ling squawked in unison.

  Taylor looked amused. “Relax, she’s just messing with you. He’ll probably be here soon.”

  “Whatever.” Megan turned to Ling. “Anyway, like I was saying, you really need to back off. Everyone in school is talking about how desperate you look throwing yourself at Logan.”

  “Me back off?” Ling said. “How about you back off? Like this morning, when he so obviously wanted to talk to me about this weird dream I had, except you kept butting in.”

  “Get real.” Megan’s eyes rolled so dramatically I was afraid they’d get lost somewhere up in her skull. “Nobody wants to talk to you about your stupid dreams. He was totally making eye contact with me the whole time.”

  Ling just snorted. “Please.”

  Suddenly Zoe slammed her soda down so hard it made everyone else’s lunches jump. “You know what? This is getting really old.”

  Everyone turned to stare at her, including me. Zoe was super competitive on the athletic field, but the rest of the time she was just about the most laid-back person I knew. If Ling and Megan were getting on her nerves, it had to be bad.

  “What’s with you, Zoe?” Ling asked.

  “I’ll tell you what.” Zoe glared at Megan and Ling in turn. “You two seriously need to settle this Logan thing. Like, soon. Before you drive all of us crazy.”

  “She has a point, you guys,” Taylor added tentatively. “You have been a little, like, intense lately.”

  Megan flipped her hair back. “It’s not my fault she’s trying to horn in on my guy.”

  “He’s not your guy,” Ling retorted. “If you weren’t so delusional, you’d be able to tell he’s into me.”

  “Enough!” Zoe cried so loudly that she drew curious glances from nearby tables. “Don’t you even care that you’re acting like total jerks to each other? You’re supposed to be friends!”

  Megan frowned for a second, then looked slightly chastised. “Okay, I guess I see your point.” She glanced at Ling. “Maybe it’s time to deal with this.”

  “Maybe.” Ling shrugged. “Logan does need to make up his mind already.”

  “We should tell him that,” Megan said. “I don’t want to do it at school, though.”

  “Agreed.” Ling wrinkled her nose as she looked around the cafeteria. “It’ll have to be this weekend.”

  “How about talking to him at the kickball game?” Taylor suggested. “You’ll all be there anyway.”

  “Good idea,” Ling said, and Megan nodded.

  “But don’t do it right before the game, okay?” Zoe put in hastily, already sounding more like her usual self again. “Logan’s one of our best players, and we can’t afford to have you guys freak him out and make him choke.”

  “Fine, after the game.” Ling already sounded bored of the whole topic. “Megan and I will pull him aside and confront him, make him decide which of us he wants to be with.”

  “What if he doesn’t want either of you?” Simone said, a mischievous gleam in her eye.

  I kicked her under the table. This situation was messed up enough without her dragging me into it. Which I could tell she was about to do.

  Luckily, the others seemed to take the comment as a joke. “Very funny,” Ling said, while Megan stuck out her tongue at Simone.

  “Shh!” Taylor nodded toward the door. “Here he comes.”

  We all turned to watch Logan hurry toward us. He looked pretty happy, so I guessed the meeting with Mr. Ba had gone well.

  “Hi, Logan!” Megan sang out, at the same time Ling said, “Come sit by me, Logan!”

  “Hey, guys,” Logan greeted the table at large. Ignoring Ling’s command, he slid into the empty seat beside mine. “So guess what?” he told me. “Mr. Ba says I’m making tons of progress already—more than he expected.”

  “Really? That’s amazing!” For a moment I actually forgot about the others. I was really happy for Logan. He’d been so worried that he couldn’t handle the course, but I’d known all along that he could.

  “I couldn’t do it without you.” He sounded so happy he was almost breathless. I wondered if he’d run the whole way from the science wing. “Mr. Ba pretty much came out and said I’m lucky to have someone like you who’s willing to tutor me.”

  “Yeah, Bailey’s a genius when it comes to sciencey stuff,” Simone put in. “We’d all probably be flunking out of that class without her.”

  Logan flashed her a quick smile, then turned his attention back to me. “So anyway, I wanted to figure out a way to thank you.” He glanced down and started unwrapping his sandwich. “I was thinking the least I could do is maybe buy you a slice of pizza or something. What do you say? Are you free after school?”

  Simone let out a tiny gasp. Everyone else went silent for a moment. The entire cafeteria seemed to be holding its breath. Or maybe that was just me. I was stunned, but not in a bad way. This time there was no mistaking it. He’d just asked me out—right?

  I knew what I had to do. I knew what I wanted to do. Feeling suddenly bold, I opened my mouth to accept his invitation.

  Before I could get the words out, Ling jumped in. “Oh, Bailey can’t do anything after school,” she said, leaning across the table. “She has to work at the restaurant. Every day.”

  That wasn’t true, and everyone at the table knew it. Everyone except Logan, that is. His face fell.

  “Really?” he said.

  “Yeah,” Megan jumped in. “Plus Bailey hates pizza.”

  Also not true. Which Megan knew.

  “But I love pizza,” Megan went on. “There’s this awesome place over on Jackson Street—I could show you this afternoon if you want.”

  “No way,” Ling put in quickly. “Everyone knows the pizza at Romano’s is way better.” She turned to Logan. “What do you think? Want to check it out after school?”

  “Um . . .” Logan didn’t seem to know what to say.

  I didn’t know what to say either. Were my so-called friends really doing this? Shoving me aside, not even noticing that I might like this guy too? Or maybe just not caring?

  “Bails?” Simone whispered, leaning closer with concern in her eyes. “You okay? Want me to say something?”

  “No!” I whispered. I stood up, raising my voice so the rest of the table could hear. Not that any of them were listening. “I’m going to grab more napkins.”

  Not bothering to wait for a response, I hurried away.

  I was still in a funk on Friday afternoon. Even learning that neither Megan nor Ling had succeeded in wrangling Logan into taking them out for pizza the day before hadn’t cheered me up much.

  After thinking about it all day, I thought I knew why. If the feelings between me and Logan were as real as I’d been starting to think—as real as Simone kept insisting they were—shouldn’t this be easy? Or at least not quite so awkward and complicated?

  For once, I was almost dreading study hall. When Simone and I walked in, Logan was already in his seat.

  “Smile,” Simone hissed in my ear as we headed toward him. “He asked you out once, remember? Possibly twice. And it’s almost the weekend now. Maybe he’ll try again.”

  “Shh!” The girl was nothing if not persistent. She’d been giving me pep talks for the past twenty-four hours straight.

  Logan glanced up from his bio book when he heard us coming. “Hey!” he said, breaking into a big smile. “How was English? Did you do all right on your quiz?”

  For a second I was confused. How did he know I’d had a quiz in English today? Then I remembered talking to Simone and Zoe about it at lunch that day. I’d thought Logan was distracted by Megan and Ling yammering at him from both sides, but maybe he’d heard me after all.

  “Oh,” I said. “I think I did okay. Thanks.”

  Simone was still standing in the aisle. She cleared her throat. “So listen, Bailey,” she said loudly. “I can
’t hang out with you after school today after all. I just remembered I have a dentist appointment.”

  “What?” I had no idea what she was talking about. For one thing, we hadn’t discussed hanging out after school. For another, she’d just been to the dentist like two weeks earlier.

  “Sorry to bag out on you.” Simone shrugged. “I guess you’ll have to find something else to do, since you don’t have to work today.” She glanced toward the classroom door. “Oh, look, there’s Taylor. I’ll leave you guys to your studying.” With a quick wave, she rushed off.

  Now I got it. At least she hadn’t poked Logan in the shoulder and said, “Hint, hint!” at the end. I supposed I should be grateful for small favors.

  “So you’re off work today, huh?” Logan said as I sank into my seat. “I thought Ling said you had to work every day after school.”

  “Not every day.” I unzipped my bag. “It just seems like every day sometimes. That’s probably what she meant.” Okay, or maybe not. What Logan didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

  “Cool. In that case, I have an idea.”

  “Um, what?” I couldn’t believe it. Was he actually taking Simone’s bait?

  He grinned. “Patch is cool, but he’s pretty hyper. I was thinking of taking him over to campus for a good run this afternoon. Want to come?”

  I hesitated. Was this a pity date? Or was he still feeling indebted to me because of the tutoring thing? Or what?

  But suddenly it didn’t matter. I was a scientist—I liked to know things. And right then what I needed to know was what the deal was with my feelings for Logan. This was my chance to gather a little more evidence one way or the other.

  So what if it wasn’t easy? Since when did that scare me off? Everything in biology was complicated—I lived for complication! As for Megan and Ling? Yeah, they were definitely two big complications. But I’d just have to deal with any fallout from that direction later.

  “Sure,” I told Logan before I could change my mind. “Sounds fun—I’m in.”