Fabio vs. the Friend Zone (The Pen Pal Romance Series)

by Kelsie Stelting

  Gretchen dragged me up by my shoulder. “What did she say?”

  “Nothing.” Pain like I’d never felt before shot through my chest. Because even though I’d been dumb with how I went about it, Grace hadn’t said anything. She’d just run away. Her plane had taken off hours ago, and she hadn’t texted me goodbye, told me it was a misunderstanding. Nothing. My best friend didn’t love me back. And yeah, I’d wanted to get out of the friendzone, but only so I could get into the girlfriend zone. But now, I wasn’t in either.

  Grandma squeezed my shoulder. “Give her some time to process, honey.”

  We did have a month. “Totally unrelated question,” I said. “How long does it take to change your name and create a new identity?”

  Gretchen chuckled. “I know one thing. She’d be crazy not to fall for a guy like you.”

  Yeah, if only girls my age loved me as much as my grandma’s friends.

  Four

  Grace

  Fabio’s confession played over and over in my mind. During the safety presentation on the plane, throughout takeoff, while the flight attendants passed out drinks, and even after the pilot turned off the fasten seatbelt signs.

  I crawled over the lady next to me, and walked back to the bathroom.

  Times like these, I thanked my short stature. Fabio would have had to cram in this thing.

  I braced my hands on the counter and sighed. Why did Fabio have to do this? We were friends—best friends—about to go to college together. As friends. And this was Fabio. The same guy who’d printed off a picture of a chipmunk after I had my wisdom teeth taken out and gone into detail about the similarities between our cheeks. The same guy who dumped ice down the back of my prom dress for a game. The same guy who went to a park with me at two a.m. and eaten ice cream, just so we could say we did.

  How could there be a romantic future for us? He was my best friend, hands down, and I’d never seen him as more. Was there something I was missing?

  Someone knocked on the door.

  “Just a second,” I said.

  I gave myself a final look. I didn’t know what this meant, but I knew I’d have to figure it out soon. Fabio wasn’t just some not-so-secret admirer. We were just friends. And I wanted it to stay that way.

  After washing my hands and splashing a little water on my face, I walked back down the aisle and sat down.

  I had a middle seat, shoulder-to-shoulder with the passengers beside me. And that was saying something, since I was only five-two. I never thought I could be as jealous of someone as I was of the people sitting in first class.

  I shifted in my seat, and something caught my attention out the corner of my eye. That book the woman beside me was reading. On the cover... Fabio.

  It was a sign. It had to be.

  “Excuse me,” I said.

  The woman looked up at me, her green eyes bright. “Yes?”

  Suddenly embarrassed, I said, “I was just wondering about the book you were reading?”

  She closed the book, her thumb holding her spot, and looked at the cover. A Moment in Time. “Have you read it?”

  I shook my head. “No, but I read another one with him on the cover... I can’t remember how it ended, though.”

  Clearly excited to be in the presence of another bare-man-chest-book-cover reader, she shifted in her seat. “Was it Moonlight Sunlight?”

  “I don’t know. I just remember he was best friends with the girl main character.”

  She nodded, encouraging me.

  “Well, he finally told her how he felt about her, and she...ran away.”

  She snorted. “Typical. That happens in every story.”

  Great to know I was unique here. “But I can’t remember what happened after that.”

  She nodded. “Hmm. Was there another guy in the picture?”

  “No other guy. Just him.”

  Her eyes narrowed, and she looked off in the distance, probably going through a mental library of books the size of my house. “Oh!” Her eyes flew open. “I think I know which one you’re talking about. They were in Oregon, right?”

  Or Oklahoma. Sure. I nodded.

  “Right, well, basically, they’d been best friends forever. Since they were young—and the guy had been in love with her for a long time, but he was always too afraid to confess his feelings because he didn’t want to ruin their friendship.”

  This lady was talking like she knew Fabio and me. So I nodded for her to keep going.

  “When he told her, she totally freaked out. Ran away, didn’t even say goodbye or anything. Of course, he was devastated. Had no idea what to do.” She frowned.

  “How did it end?”

  Her eyes caught mine. “She wrote him letters until she knew how she felt.”

  Was that the solution? I knew I wouldn’t change my mind, but maybe writing Fabio would help him understand that I still cared for him?

  “Thanks,” I said, still thinking. “I’ll let you get back to reading.”

  When her eyes were safely stuck on the pages in front of her and the guy beside me was snoring away, I got out my tablet. We had in-flight Wi-Fi. I could message Fabio now on What’sApp. Or email him. We’d prepped for both.

  I had to have typed out a million messages, but I deleted just as many. Talking with Fabio used to come as easily as breathing, but this was something new.

  Finally, I settled on a message and pressed send.

  Grace: Heyyy.

  Fabio hated it when people said hey with all the extra letters.

  He sent me an emoji sticking its tongue out.

  Grace: lol how are you?

  Fabio sent a picture of a Vietnamese woman moisturizing his feet.

  Fabio: Living the life.

  Grace: She wouldn’t let you go to bingo?

  Fabio: That’s a negative, ghost rider.

  Fabio: How’s your flight?

  Grace: You’re on it.

  Fabio: ???

  Grace: This lady next to me is reading a FB.

  (Our code for Fabio book.)

  Fabio: What’s the title?

  Grace: A Moment in Time.

  Fabio: Ah, Grandma’s reading Wolf’s Embrace.

  Grace: Sounds dangerous. And hot.

  Fabio: LOL stop. That’s my grandma.

  Grace: Foxy Grandma.

  Fabio: You’re weird.

  Grace: That’s why you love me.

  Crap! Too soon. Way too soon. I typed out another message.

  Grace: What color are you painting your toes?

  Fabio didn’t text me back for a while. Long enough for me to successfully convince myself that he hated my guts and would never talk to me again. But then his message came across the screen. A picture of his toenails with smiley faces painted on his big toes.

  Fabio: Gretchen’s treat.

  Grace: She’s a peach.

  Really, Gretchen was so fun. More fun than me sometimes.

  Fabio: That’s one word for her.

  Grace: Plans for the rest of the day?

  Fabio: Gotta take these toes out on the town.

  Grace: Sooo, video games?

  Fabio: You guessed it.

  Grace: How’s training coming?

  Fabio: It’s good, but Connor’s saying I need to spend more time watching gameplay on YouTube.

  Grace: That’s crazy. You spend so much time on that already.

  Fabio: I know, but he said it’s what I need to do to win at FallCon.

  Grace: You’ve put in enough hours. You’re bound to win.

  Fabio: I hope so.

  Grace: You will. I don’t know anyone who wants it more than you.

  Fabio: How many people do you know?

  Grace: Five.

  Grace: Six, counting you.

  Fabio: That’s what I thought. Lol

  Fabio: Getting excited for China?

  Grace: Yeah, but I’m kind of nervous too.

  Fabio: Yeah?

  Grace: It’s my first time being away from home, and
I’m doing it in another country. It feels crazy.

  Fabio: You’ve been to China before, though.

  Grace: With my parents and Cookie. They know Chinese way better than I do.

  Fabio: I bet you’ll pick it up really quick.

  Grace: I hope so.

  Fabio: I know so.

  Grace: What if the kids don’t like me?

  Fabio sent me a facepalm emoji.

  Fabio: Since when has a kid not liked you?

  Grace: Remember your cousin at Christmas? I’m still having nightmares.

  Fabio: Trevor is not a kid. He’s a little demon in a child suit.

  Grace: LOL but really. How did he even get that blowtorch?

  Fabio: Satan. He got it from Satan.

  Grace: LOL @ Your grandma spraying him with the hose.

  I sent a line of laughing cat emojis. That moment was seared into my mind forever.

  Fabio: I wish we’d taken pictures.

  Grace: lol same

  Fabio: But really, you’re going to do great. You’re so good with kids, and people like you when they meet you. You’re great at first impressions.

  Grace: aw shucks

  Fabio: Seriously. No need to be worried.

  I wished I could be as confident in myself as he was.

  Grace: It’s already weird without you.

  Admittedly, it would have been weird with him after that bomb he dropped.

  Fabio: I know. Who am I supposed to watch the new Marvel movie with?

  Grace: Right? Who am I supposed to eat French fries with?

  Fabio: Do they even have French fries in China?

  Grace: You see my problem.

  Fabio: Billion-dollar business idea. Introduce French fries to the Chinese market. If every person there buys a dollar worth of fries, you’ll have like a billion bucks.

  Grace: Brilliant.

  Fabio: I know, I know. *bows*

  Grace: *throws roses on stage*

  Fabio: So, how’s airline food really?

  Grace: Actually, not as bad as everyone makes it out to be.

  Fabio: Yeah? What did you have?

  Grace: Are you hungry?

  Fabio: Kind of. Grandma’s trying a Pinterest recipe. I have pizza delivery on speed dial.

  Grace: Smart. What’s she trying to cook?

  Fabio: Chicken cordon bleu. But she didn’t have any ham for the insides, so she’s using summer sausage.

  Grace: You’re kidding.

  Fabio: I wish.

  Grace: May the force be with you.

  Fabio: Trust me. It isn’t.

  Fabio: I would totally go over to the dark side for a stuffed crust pizza.

  Grace: NOOOOOOOO

  Fabio: Don’t even try and fight it. Whoever tries to keep me from food is getting their arms wacked off.

  Grace: I bet that was the deleted scene. OBI WAN, GIVE ME THAT PIZZA

  Fabio: *gasp* you didn’t watch the deleted scenes?

  Grace: .....

  Grace: ...........

  Grace: .............

  Fabio: ?

  Grace: ...

  Fabio: I expected so much more from you.

  Grace: *hangs head* I’ll make it up to you.

  Fabio: You better. With interest.

  Grace: Two pizzas?

  Fabio: ...

  Grace: With breadsticks?

  Fabio: ...

  Grace: Cheesy bread sticks?

  Fabio: Add some ranch, and you’ve got yourself a deal.

  Grace: Of course. I’m not a monster.

  Fabio: Good.

  Fabio: Oh god. Grandma just set off the fire alarm. I told her to stop reading while she cooked.

  Fabio: Message me when you land?

  Grace: Will do.

  Grace: Stay safe. I’ll talk to you later.

  Fabio: Grace?

  Grace: Yeah?

  Fabio: Miss you already.

  I hit the lock button on my tablet and held it to my chest. The truth was I missed him too. I missed him so much it hurt. And I was terrified, still. Not about going to China, but about losing him. Because we’d have to talk about what he said eventually.

  Five

  Fabio

  The entire complex was out in the courtyard, which was saying something since about half the people living there were in wheelchairs. A firefighter talked to Grandma about the dangers of cooking while reading. I could have told her that. Actually, I had.

  I sent off the order for pizza through my app. At least something good would come of this.

  I scrolled through my list of What’sApp messages. Grace had talked to me, but she hadn’t once mentioned my confession. Was it possible she hadn’t heard me? Then again, she had changed the subject right after using the L-word.

  I’d expected a long conversation, maybe even some confusion, but none of my notecards prepped me for Grace pretending it never happened.

  What a mess. I ran my hand through my hair. Part of me wished I could go back to that moment and tackle myself. And, yeah, it might be a little weird having future me tackling past me, but I’d take it. If my foot had gone any further into my mouth, I’d need surgical intervention.

  My stomach hurt.

  Not from the foot-in-mouth thing.

  From the rejection thing.

  Yeah, that sucked.

  Grandpa gripped my shoulder and whispered, “You ordered pizza, right?”

  I nodded.

  He made the sign of the cross and kissed his hand. “Thank God.”

  He wasn’t even Catholic, but Grandpa understood the important things in life. Like stuffed crust. That called for a little praise.

  Grace didn’t text me again until the next morning, and even though I’d been up most of the night gaming, I stayed up to text her.

  Grace: Made it! Got into my room and everything.

  Fabio: Good! How is it?

  Grace: It’s so different. They put me in an apartment, but I already toured the orphanage, and I love it. The kids are so precious. I don’t have a roommate, but another girl volunteering lives next door, so I won’t be totally alone.

  Fabio: It sounds perfect.

  Grace: I mean, it’s not. But it’s pretty close.

  Could it not be perfect because she wasn’t near me? She’d only been gone a day, and I already missed her like Anakin Skywalker missed his arms. Who would I hang out with on the weekends? Who’d cruise the mall with me and try on weird clothes just for fun? Who’d share French fries with me?

  Fabio: Find the McDonald’s yet?

  Grace: ...

  Fabio: Grace...

  Grace: Don’t tell Cookie.

  Fabio: Your secret’s safe with me.

  Grace: Thank you.

  Fabio: So tell me everything. What’s it like there?

  Grace: Hmmm

  Grace: Well, the lady who runs the orphanage picked me up from the airport, and she speaks really good English, but other than the volunteer next door, most people don’t speak very good English. I need to brush up on my Mandarin.

  Grace: But anyway, after she picked me up, we drove to like the middle of the city. There are SO many people here. Like a crazy amount of people. And she showed me my apartment. It’s on the fifth floor of this building and I have a pretty cool view of the street below. But then we walked about a mile to the orphanage, and she showed me the kids who live there. Most of them are older, like kindergarten age to second grade or so.

  Grace: They’re talking about creating a school specifically for them that will start in August, so that’s cool. My first day is tomorrow, and I’ll basically just take care of them, play games, and things like that, but they want me speaking only English so the kids will get used to hearing it.

  Fabio: Do they speak English yet?

  Grace: Nope.

  She sent the wide-eyed emoji.

  Grace: Pray for me.

  Fabio: Dear Yogg-Saron—please help Grace in her altruistic plans for world domination.

  Grac
e: The actual God.

  Fabio: Oh, that one. *looks up* Sorry, big guy.

  Grace: lol you’re weird.

  Fabio: And?

  Grace: How’s training?

  Fabio: I’ve watched enough gameplay to last me a lifetime.

  Grace: Nice. Did the apartment burn down?

  Fabio: No, but a firefighter gave Grandma a stern talking to.

  Grace: So has she started reading a firefighter romance yet?

  Fabio: Yup.

  Grace: Called it.

  Fabio: Anyone could have called it. I’m pretty sure the librarian here takes orders just from Grandma.

  Grace: She probably reads enough for everyone else there.

  Fabio: She reads enough for OKC, Warr Acres, and Moore combined.

  Grace: Not everyone hates reading as much as you do.

  Fabio: Not everyone’s as smart as I am.

  Grace: Surrrre. We’ll go with that.

  Fabio: Of course.

  Grace: What’s new in the hood?

  Fabio: John got a new power scooter.

  Grace: PLEASE tell me he let you ride it.

  Fabio: Of course he did.

  Fabio: But then I ran over his dog’s tail.

  Grace: omg is he okay?

  Fabio: I guess John’s doing well.

  Grace: The dog, Fabio. -.-

  Fabio: Ohhhhh

  Fabio: :P

  Fabio: That dog is going to live forever. He’s fine.

  Fabio: But John said he was going to sue me for everything I’m worth.

  Grace: Jokes on him.

  Fabio: Right???

  Grace: I think you’ll be fine.

  Fabio: Lol he can’t even remember to put on his pants every day. I’m pretty sure I’m good.

  Grace: Thanks for that mental image.

  Fabio: What else am I here for?

  Grace: Good point.

  Fabio: So, how’s the food? Eaten any octopus yet?

  Grace: I’m not sure whether that’s racist or not?

  Fabio: Really? My grandpa pulled the whole communist card and that’s what you call out?

  Grace: ...

  Fabio: Right. Sorry.

  Fabio: But I am kinda curious...

  Fabio: Would it suction to your throat and kill you in the afterlife?

  Grace: You play too many video games.

  Fabio: ?

  Grace: I’ll try some and report back.

  Fabio: May the odds be eva in your fava.