The Crushes

by Pamela Wells

  “So, how long have you been a photographer?” he asked.

  “I just started this year, but I have hundreds of photos already. I haven’t yet mastered the art of distinguishing between good and bad, so I’ve kept them all.” She shrugged. “But I think eventually it’ll be good to have them around. Then I can see how much I’ve learned and changed.”

  Quin nodded. “You’re right, there. We are our own worst critics, but after a few years you’ll look back and see that you’re better than when you started. That should count for something.”

  Sydney took a bite of salad, then a drink from her Coke. “So, do you do photography on the side or—”

  “No.” He smiled. “My sister would love for me to go to medical school, but I’d rather be a starving artist than a starving resident. I’m actually going into my sophomore year at the Brooks Institute in California.”

  Sydney’s mouth dropped open. “Serious?”

  He nodded. “I know, it’s big. Sometimes I think it’s bigger than I can handle.”

  “Yeah, it’s only like the best photography school in the country. And also extremely hard to get into.”

  A blush fanned across his cheeks. “Well…”

  “Are you into any other art, then? Or just photography? Because I know the Brooks Institute offers degrees in graphics and film, too.”

  Quin nodded. “They do, but I haven’t taken much of them. I’m into almost all kinds of visual art, so I wouldn’t close myself off to the idea of something different. I mean, I like all art. Including the less accepted forms.”

  Sydney frowned. “What does that mean?”

  “Let me show you.” He unbuttoned his white Oxford shirt. He had on a plain black T-shirt beneath it.

  Sydney wondered what he was getting at when he pulled the Oxford shirt off and she gasped.

  His arms, from the line of his short sleeve all the way down to his wrists, were covered in black tattoos.

  “Oh my god.”

  Setting the Oxford shirt aside, he said, “I’m not supposed to let my tattoos show here, for obvious reasons.”

  Sydney grabbed his hand and held it up, turning his arm so that she could see every angle of it.

  There was a lotus flower on his forearm and a Buddha above it. There were Latin words and dates, stars and strict linear patterns.

  “I never would have guessed.”

  Well, he did have the long black hair, which was sort of odd coupled with the formal dress he wore to work. Still, Sydney had figured the long hair was something he liked. If he’d never taken his shirt off, she never would have known he was covered in tattoos.

  Now that he was in a black T-shirt, several strands of long black hair hanging along his face, Sydney felt she really saw him, that she was looking across the table at the real Quin, and she respected him even more.

  “How was work tonight?” Drew asked, stooping down to kiss Sydney’s forehead.

  She stilled, wondering if she should tell Drew about Quin. She felt she should be honest with him. If he was hanging out with someone at work, she’d want to know about it because keeping it a secret made it seem that much worse. Even if the situation wasn’t like that. Which it wasn’t.

  Sydney grabbed two spoons out of the dishwasher and handed one to Drew. He slipped it into his bowl of ice cream.

  “It was good.” Sydney and Drew went into the living room to sit. She went into a big explanation about how she met a young mother who seemed to know everything about the hospital and the machines in her daughter’s room and how Sydney was impressed with her. Drew nodded his head at all the right moments, but Sydney could tell he’d started to tune out most of her long-winded explanation.

  She ran through the Crush Code in her head, trying to think of a rule to use for this situation. There was one about listening. Maybe she was talking too much, making the conversation only about her.

  “So how was the movie?”

  Drew shrugged. “It was pretty good, but nothing really that you’d like.”

  See, she thought, Drew is used to you not giving a crap.

  “Tell me about it anyway,” she encouraged.

  He looked at her oddly, then, “Okay. Well, the main plot point of the movie is that it’s set in 2100 A.D., right, and robots have taken over…”

  What followed was a fifteen-minute conversation about the difference between robots and alien movies and how CGI was bringing sci-fi into the next generation of movies. Sydney hadn’t heard Drew so excited in a conversation since…well, since he’d adopted Bear.

  Sydney asked questions when she needed to, nodded her head when she was supposed to. For the most part, she just listened, despite the fact that she wasn’t, like Drew said, interested in anything sci-fi.

  Did that matter, though? She could sacrifice fifteen minutes if it meant making Drew happy.

  SEVENTEEN

  Rule 35: Get to know your crush slowly! (You may discover that you don’t like him!)

  Rule 36: Do not pretend to be a different person when your crush is around!

  “What should I wear?” Kelly said to her closet, wishing she had a personal stylist to tell her the answer.

  She decided to go with a pair of American Eagle khaki Bermuda shorts and a smocked puff-sleeve shirt the color of a banana.

  She sat down on the edge of her bed to slip on her brown flats, when her brother walked by the open door, their little sister, Monica, hurrying behind.

  “Give it back, Todd! Mom!”

  Todd held a pad of paper over his head with one hand and his cell phone at his ear with the other.

  “Mom’s not here,” he said. “She went to get some coffee.”

  Kelly tossed her shoes aside, came up behind her brother, and grabbed Monica’s notebook from him. “Quit being such a jerk.”

  “Thanks,” Monica said when she took her notebook off Kelly’s hands.

  Todd brought his cell up to his mouth. “My sisters are picking on me,” he said. He waited for a response and nodded. Then, “Drew says you two should leave me alone.”

  Kelly rolled her eyes and snatched the cell phone out of Todd’s hands.

  “Hey!”

  “Drew?” Kelly said.

  “Yeah?”

  “Did you really say that?”

  He laughed. “No.”

  “I didn’t think so.” Kelly gave the cell back. “Now go away, Todd, please. I have to get ready.”

  Monica came into Kelly’s room and flopped down on the bed, her long, strawberry blond hair sliding along her bare shoulders. “Where are you going?”

  “Yeah,” Todd said, “where are you going?”

  “None of your business.”

  Kelly sat down next to her little sister and slipped on the pair of brown flats she’d set aside a few minutes ago.

  “I’m going out.”

  Monica raised a brow. “With who?”

  Kelly looked from her sister to her brother, both of whom were staring at her expectantly.

  “With a friend,” Kelly said, checking her reflection in the mirror on the back of her bedroom door.

  She sighed to herself. This was the exact reason she’d thought the Crush Code was a bad idea. Adam and she just weren’t a good fit. He probably needed someone who could climb Mount Everest while reciting the national anthem backward and skydive without blinking once.

  And here she was, little ol’ Kelly Waters, clothing aficionado, animal shelter volunteer, going out with the God of Iron Bodies.

  It was so ridiculous.

  But Adam had asked her out, after all, and she had promised her friends she’d give the Code a try, if only to prove them wrong.

  Like Rule 35 said, Get to know your crush slowly! You may discover that you don’t like him!

  And, Rule 36 was an important one for the night: Do not pretend to be a different person when your crush is around!

  That was exactly what Kelly was going to do. If Adam didn’t like her for who she was, then she didn’t need h
im. She’d learned that from going out with Will.

  So the plan was, hang out with Adam, get to know him, and then move on when Kelly had all the reasons they were wrong for each other lined up in a neat row to present to Alexia.

  Because they were wrong for each other even if Adam had a face that made girls weep. Kelly knew what kind of guy she needed; she needed someone she could get along with. She needed someone like Drew. He was attractive, but not too attractive. Smart, but not arrogant about it. And most importantly? He got Kelly. All her little quirks, her obsession with clothing. He didn’t seem to mind that Kelly was a girly girl.

  Too bad Drew was taken.

  Jordan Valenti met Kelly and Adam at the front entrance to Bershetti’s when they arrived.

  “Hey, Kel!” she said. “A table for two?”

  “Yes, please.”

  Jordan grabbed two menus and led them away from the host’s podium. Kelly walked alongside her while Adam brought up the rear.

  Jordan leaned over to whisper in Kelly’s ear as they wound through the restaurant tables. “That guy you’re with is really hot.”

  Kelly nodded. “He is, isn’t he? His name is Adam.”

  They both shot a glance over their shoulder at him. Whereas the other night he’d been in his usual workout clothing—Adidas pants, Under Armour shirt—tonight he was in a pair of faded blue jeans and a blue pinstriped button-up shirt, the top three buttons of which were undone to reveal a white T-shirt.

  Jordan sat Kelly and Adam in a booth in the back of the restaurant. They ordered waters and pasta dishes; Adam ordered the spaghetti, Kelly ordered the Italian chicken and couscous.

  Surprisingly the conversation came easily and soon their meals arrived. The conversation continued over eating and somehow got onto the topic of Adam’s love of poetry and his hobby of writing it himself.

  “You have to give me a line or two of something you wrote,” Kelly said.

  Adam blushed and hung his head. “I told you I was a closet poet and for good reason. I’m not very adept.”

  “Fine,” Kelly teased. “But maybe someday?”

  “Sure.”

  They finished their meal and Kelly excused herself to use the restroom. Finding it empty, she stole a minute to check her cell for any new messages or texts. She’d shut the ringer off since a chirping cell phone over dinner was always rude.

  She flipped the phone open and was greeted with an alert that said: 5 New Text Messages.

  “Five?” she said to herself. She’d only had the phone quiet for an hour!

  The first one was from Raven: Ur with the hottie!!

  Jordan must have texted Raven as soon as she had the chance.

  There was a message from Alexia that said: Remember the Code.

  And one from Sydney: Drew told me u were on a date. good luck.

  Todd: Dont tell boytoy u eat crayons. he migt think ur weerd.

  Kelly rolled her eyes. Her brother was such an idiot sometimes.

  And the last one was from Drew. It said, with perfect punctuation and word usage: Be yourself and Adam will fall for you. He won’t be able to help himself. And if he doesn’t see how great you are, Todd and I can beat him up. Just say the word. Later.

  Kelly smiled as she read the message again. Drew had to be the best guy friend ever.

  For some stupid reason, tears stung her eyes. She sniffed and laughed at herself. Drew was so good to her, so good that it almost hurt. Why couldn’t she be on this date with him instead of Adam?

  That wasn’t fair to Adam, but it was true.

  A few tears escaped from the corner of her eye. She wiped them from her chin.

  Get it together, she thought. Drew isn’t yours and never will be.

  EIGHTEEN

  Alexia hated working the closing shift at Cherry Creek, but at least it was a Tuesday night, which meant it was practically a ghost town.

  “Is it always like this?” Alexia asked Jonah as they cleaned up the kitchen.

  “Usually. Mondays and Tuesdays are the worst.” He shook his head, pushing aside the dirty-blond hair that had fallen in his line of sight.

  Alexia quirked a brow. “The worst?”

  “I like staying busy. I’d rather be running around with the chaos than sitting with the silence.”

  “My boyfriend is like that. He likes to stay busy. That’s the only way he’s like his twin brother. Everything else they’re completely separate on.”

  “How long have you and your boyfriend been together?”

  “About four months.”

  “You guys get along good, then?”

  Alexia nodded as she stacked the clean dishes in the strainer. Jonah threw more dirty dishes in the soapy water and then looked over at Alexia as he scrubbed a deli dish.

  “You’re nodding your head, but your expression isn’t exactly happy-in-love.”

  Was she that obvious?

  She shrugged and took the deli dish from him to rinse it. “We’re good, really.”

  Except for the whole sex thing, of course.

  “Alexia?”

  “Huh?”

  “You sure you’re all right?” He nodded at her hand. She clutched the deli dish, her knuckles having gone white.

  “Oh.” Embarrassment touched her cheeks. She tossed the dish in the hot, clean water. “I’m just…well”—she turned to him, leaning against the sink counter—“remember that conversation we had? About your being old-fashioned?” He nodded. “Well, I wish Ben was more old-fashioned, too.”

  The heat in her cheeks grew. Why was she even talking about this? And to a stranger no less. January of this year, if you’d asked her what she wanted more than anything, it would have been a boyfriend—to actually have a sex life—but now that she had it, she wasn’t so sure she wanted it.

  “Let me guess,” Jonah said, “you guys are talking about the next step?”

  Alexia should have known he’d guess the situation. She hadn’t exactly been discreet. Anyone could deduce what she was referring to.

  “Yes,” she said, “and the situation is stressing me out.”

  Jonah rinsed a dish and set it on the strainer. Alexia grabbed a towel to dry.

  “My girlfriend and I had this conversation, too, so I know what you’re going through.”

  Alexia perked up. “Really?”

  Jonah nodded. “We decided to wait for sex until marriage.”

  This Alexia hadn’t expected. She widened her eyes. “And you’re okay with that?”

  “Sure I am. I love my girlfriend. I can wait. And like I told you before, I like to think there is only one great love of your life. If Nina is mine, then it’ll all be worth it in the end.”

  If Jonah and his girlfriend could wait, why couldn’t Ben and Alexia? Sex complicated things. Waiting might be better all around.

  Ben fingered Alexia’s hair as they watched a TV show in the den. Alexia’s parents were down the hall in their office, planning a new seminar they had coming up in the fall. With her parents home, Alexia steered clear of being alone upstairs with Ben. It wasn’t a rule yet, but she did have to keep her bedroom door open. The reason behind that rule made Alexia squeamish. Her parents were worried about her sex life. Ugh. Like she wanted her parents even thinking about her that way.

  She’d just as soon stay in the den, which worked in Alexia’s favor anyway. If her parents were home, then Alexia didn’t have to worry about sexual tension.

  “So I’ve been thinking,” Ben said, lowering his voice, “that if you did decide to…you know…and you wanted it to be special, I could get us a hotel room or plan something else special…

  He continued playing with her hair, his fingers brushing against her neck every few seconds, causing her to tremble. She wanted to close her eyes and feel his fingers elsewhere, but no, they couldn’t. Not with her parents down the hall and her hormones going wonky.

  “Actually,” she began, “I was wondering, what would you say if I decided to stay a virgin?”

 
; Ben clutched his heart. He grunted and groaned. “Oh god, I think I feel my heart breaking!”

  “Ha. Ha. Ha.” She poked him in the ribs.

  “I swear, Alexia, I’ll die if I don’t share myself with your heavenly body.” He smiled, letting her know he was kidding. But was he?

  Nothing made perfect sense anymore. It was nice to know Ben wanted her that bad. It almost turned her on, but fear of making the decision burrowed deep into her chest.

  Ben shifted so he could look her straight in the face. “If you want to wait, then I’ll support you, but I am not going to like it.”

  “Well, it’s not going to be particularly easy for me either. And besides, I’m not saying that’s my final decision, it’s just a thought.”

  He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “It’s kind of cute, you know that? You waiting until marriage.”

  “Thanks, I guess?”

  “It’s a compliment. I swear it.” He shifted, kissing her this time on the lips. “I have to go.”

  Alexia groaned, glancing at the clock on the cable box. It was just after two in the afternoon and Ben was supposed to meet his brother and father at the golf course at two thirty.

  “I don’t want you to go,” she said.

  “Oh, I don’t want to go. Trust me.” He stood from the couch, his khaki shorts slouching on his hips. He stretched, his T-shirt inching up, exposing a triangle of stomach and hair running below his boxers.

  Something fluttered in Alexia’s stomach. She quickly moved her eyes back up to his face. “I could kidnap you,” she said, standing next to him.

  “Yes, please do that. And promise me you’ll do naughty things to my body while you hold me hostage.”

  Alexia snorted, and they both laughed.

  “How did I ever get lucky enough to have you?”

  She cast her gaze aside, grinning like crazy. Ben could still manage to make her feel like the world’s coolest girl.

  “Well, I wouldn’t say lucky exactly…you know…since we haven’t…you know…”

  “Hey.” He put a finger beneath her chin and pulled up so she had to look at him. “Stop thinking about it for now, okay? Just take a week and don’t think about it once. We can talk about it later. Okay?”