She shrugs and unloads the books on the counter. "What can I say? I"ve had major insomnia all week. I read a lot."
Ashlyn is a major romance junkie. It"s kind of endearing and a little weird. She loves romance of all kinds; the epic, the bodice-ripping Victorian, even Viking romances or ones with shape shifting werewolves.
Besides men who turn into animals, my aunt shares her same love of romance novels, so for the past few years she lets Ashlyn use the bookstore as her personal library. Every week Ashlyn takes a few books home with her to read and then she returns them, usually on Thursdays.
Aunt Shawna ducks under the counter and retrieves three paperback books. "I picked these out for you, dear. I adored them, so I think you"ll like them too."
"Sweet!" Ashlyn says, scooping up the books and looking at the covers.
I wipe my hands off on my jeans and join them at the counter. It"s pretty slow right now and the only customer is a regular named Mark who hangs out in the historical thriller section for hours at a time.
Aunt Shawna leans in, her eyes flickering conspiratorially. "So, Ashlyn..." she begins, and my heart seizes up. I immediately know what she"s doing and there"s not enough time to stop it. "What"s got Lana in such a great mood?"
"We are so not talking about this!" I say, eyes wide.
Ashlyn laughs. "Oh, it"s a boy."
"I knew it!" Aunt Shawna claps her hands together once. "Is he cute?"
"Very cute," Ashlyn says. I punch her in the arm.
"I don"t want to talk about this!" I say.
"Why not, Lana?" Aunt Shawna asks. "Are you still deciding if you like him or not?"
I shake my head. "No, I do like him. I just don"t want to jinx anything."
Ashlyn tosses her hair with her hand even though it"s not quite long enough to put behind her shoulders. "Bennet and I were talking about him a little while ago. He seems to think we should cancel our prom plans since you"ll be going with Toby."
"Toby?" Aunt Shawna says with a nod. "That"s a good name. Cute."
I ignore her. "What? I"m not going to prom with Toby."
Ashlyn tilts her head like I"m stupid. "You probably will, Lana babe. I mean, he likes you and he drove you home and all. He"ll probably ask you."
"No, he won"t. Tell Bennet he"s stupid and that we"re still going to the prom as friends."
"But what if he asks you?" she says, and I realize she"s being totally serious, not joking with me at all.
"He won"t."
Mark approaches with a few books in his hands. Saved by the book guy, I think as we step out of the way so Aunt Shawna can ring him up. Mark doesn"t like trading books because he prefers to have a big collection at home, so he always buys them.
When he leaves, I try to change the subject by mentioning the lemon cookies and how delicious they are, but Aunt Shawna and Ashlyn aren"t having it.
"Why don"t you think he"ll ask you to prom?" my aunt says. The wrinkles around her mouth deepen as she studies me like she"s trying to figure out what"s wrong with me.
I shrug. "We went on one date and that"s it."
"He"s been texting you like crazy," Ashlyn adds.
I glare at her. "He won"t ask me. He"s too popular. I"m going with you and Bennet, just like we planned."
Ashlyn and my aunt exchange a look. "If you say so," Ashlyn says. "But if he asks you, you should totally say yes. You can meet me and Bennet there."
I"m not really in the mood to argue about how a guy like Toby is so not going to ask me to prom, so I just nod and drop the subject.
But as hours go by, I realize I can drop the subject vocally but not internally. Now it"s all I"m thinking about. Prom was supposed to be a fun outing with my two best friends, but what if Toby does ask me?
No, he won"t.
He totally won"t. I nod to myself as I reorganize the teen books by genre. It"s not like we"re boyfriend and girlfriend or anything. We went on one stupid date. I"ll go to the prom with my friends and maybe I"ll see him there. Maybe I won"t. Who cares.
Chapter 8.
My life is so surreal and weird now. Toby actually texts me a few times, always random and friendly. Like Monday night when I was getting ready for bed, he texted me: omg my brother just made a joke while I was brushing my teeth and I choked on the toothpaste and swallowed most of it and it was so gross.
I wrote back that I was also brushing my teeth, and we laughed about that. Then he didn"t say anything else until the next morning.
Want a ride to school?
I wrote back: No, but thanks. I"m already headed to school with my neighbor Bennet.
Cool beans, he replied.
And then nothing.
Until lunch time.
I set my tray down next to Ashlyn and fumble with my backpack, trying to set it on the floor between our feet. "Oh sweet, you got fries," Ashlyn says, stabbing her salad fork into one of my fries and then popping it in her mouth.
She eats salads most of the time, claiming cafeteria food is gross, but then she always eats half of my food, so it"s whatever. Bennet lifts an eyebrow. He"s eating pizza and sitting across from us at our usual table.
"All you got was fries?"
"And cheese sauce," I say, pointing to the cup of nacho cheese I got from the nacho dispenser.
"That"s not nutrition," Bennet says, frowning. "You should get a vegetable or something to go with that."
"Says the guy eating pizza?" I say with a snort.
"Hey, there"s bread, tomatoes, cheese, and meat. It"s a balanced meal," he shoots back.
"Um, Lana?" Ashlyn says.
I follow her gaze to where Toby Fitzgerald is walking toward us from across the cafeteria. He"s far enough away to be walking anywhere, but his eyes are staring straight at me. He"s wearing black jeans and a maroon V-neck shirt that looks so soft I want to press my face against it.
Bennet turns around to see what the fuss is about, and then he quickly turns back to his food.
"He"s coming over here!" Ashlyn whisper-yells at me.
"I see that," I say back, my knees suddenly weak.
"Hey," Toby says, giving me that crooked grin of perfection as he approaches. He holds up a bag from the nearby McDonald"s. "Mind if I sit with you?"
I love how he says it, all confidently and self-a.s.sured. He just asks it, like he didn"t spend an hour obsessing over it beforehand like I would have done.
"Of course," Ashlyn says, sliding over on the bench seat. "There"s plenty of room."
But Toby is looking at me, not her. I nod dumbly and kick my backpack out of the way. "Have a seat."
"Cool." He sets his bag on the table next to me and then looks at my friends. "I"m Toby," he says, sounding totally fine with being around strangers. I would personally be freaking out to sit with his friends, but I guess that"s why he"s the popular one and I"m the loser.
"Bennet," Bennet mutters at an almost unrecognizable level while he shoves a bite of pizza in his mouth.
"Ashlyn." She reaches across me to shake Toby"s hand. "We kind of know each other," she adds.
Toby nods. "Yeah, we"ve had a few cla.s.ses over the years together."
We settle into a comfortable conversation while we eat. Ashlyn really helps a lot because she keeps the topics flowing, filling in when I can"t think of anything to say. Bennet doesn"t really say much but I get the feeling he doesn"t like Toby, probably because he"s from a rich family and we"re not.
Still, I guess Toby and I are friends now, so Bennet will have to come around eventually. It"s not very often that the three of us add a new member to the group, but when we do, they never stick around for long. We all end up accepting whatever new friend joins us because we know it won"t last long.
When the bell rings, we gather our trash to throw away. Ashlyn stands up first. "Hey Bennet, I have to show you something in my locker," she says in the kind of voice that only we would know is a lie. I look over, confused, but then she winks at me and pulls Bennet away, leaving me and Toby alone.
Ah-ha. That was her plan all along. She probably thinks she"s the best wing woman ever right about now. Little does she know, I"m totally nervous and might throw up now that I"m alone with him.
"So, do you have any plans after school?" Toby asks while we head out of the cafeteria.
"Not really," I say with a shrug. "I might go help out my aunt at work, but I"m not scheduled to be there today."
His lips quirk up in the corners. "I have enough chemistry homework to make me want to cry myself to sleep tonight, but I was thinking maybe we could get coffee and ice cream after school?"
"Coffee and ice cream?" I say. "Don"t you mean or?"
He grins, shaking his head. "Nah, I mean and. That cafe on Hildebrandt Street serves homemade ice cream and they have awesome coffee. I like them both at the same time. So, are you in?"
"Um, I guess," I say, as I mentally count how much cash I have on me right now. Although Toby might offer to pay for all I know. "When should I meet you there?"
"I could drive us after school?" he says, shoving his hands his pockets while we doge other students in the hallway.
My heart does this little flutter thing. "Sure," I say. Ashlyn is going to lose her mind when I tell her I won"t be riding home with her after school. She might even be more excited than I am.
"Cool." Toby flashes me that smile of his and then ducks into his cla.s.sroom, leaving me weak-kneed and blushing in the middle of the science hallway.
Chapter 9.
20 days until prom Toby eats lunch again with us on Wednesday, and even though I"ve only known him a short while, this is the most nervous he"s ever been. He seems fidgety, almost like he"s hoping he won"t get in trouble.
Ashlyn keeps the conversation up enough that we don"t fall into awkward silences, but things are weird and I don"t think I"m the only one who notices it.
Toby has McDonald"s again for lunch, and he"s barely eating any of it after five minutes of stilted lunch table conversation.
"If you don"t want that, I"ll eat it," I say jokingly. Today I got the cafeteria pizza and they only had sausage left and I hate sausage. After picking all the pieces off (which Bennet promptly ate) the cheese part of the pizza still tasted like sausage so it wasn"t very good.
Toby slides his carton of fries my way. "It"s all yours."
"You okay?" Ashlyn asks, looking past me at Toby. "You look sick."
"I might be," he says, breaking into a crooked smile. "I don"t feel all that great."
Bennet sits straighter on the other side of the table. "Don"t hurl on me, dude."
Toby chuckles. "I don"t think I"m feeling that bad, but if I puke I"ll aim it at Lana instead."
Bennet flicks his eyes toward the ceiling in what looks like a boyish version of rolling his eyes. Toby doesn"t see to see it as he picks at his chicken nuggets.
"How do you get McDonald"s?" I ask, reaching for a fry and trying not to think about how cool it is to be sharing food with him. The only other people I"ve shared food with are my two best friends, so this is new territory for me. It feels like such a girlfriend/boyfriend thing to do, even though we aren"t there yet. "We"re not allowed to leave for lunch."
"My older brother drops it off," he says. "He works at the auto body shop down the street."
"Someone"s spoiled," Bennet says.
Toby nods. "I earned it though. He lost a bet last summer and the loser had to bring the other one lunch every day for a year."
"Nice," I say. "What kind of bet was it?"
Toby peers at me for a second and then shakes his head. "No way. It"s too embarra.s.sing to talk about. All you guys need to know is that I won and I get free food all year."
Bennet meets my gaze for a second, and I"m pretty sure I know what he"s thinking. That it must be nice to be so well off financially that you can buy six bucks worth of food every day. We certainly don"t have that luxury.
"So what"s up with your Instagram, dude?" Ashlyn says. "You"ve got a million followers."