First Kiss with the Quarterback (How to Catch a Crush Book 4) Read online

  First Kiss with the Quarterback

  How to Catch a Crush #4

  Maggie Dallen

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  1

  Charlotte

  This was my worst nightmare.

  Sitting in the middle of a crowded living room with everyone staring at me like I was under a spotlight?

  Yup. My worst nightmares had definitely come to life.

  I looked around at this living room full of peers. At least I was surrounded by friends.

  Sort of.

  My gaze flicked over the people who surrounded me at my friend Max’s house. The girls gathered here I considered to be my friends, but their new significant others were basically strangers.

  Strangers I’d been going to school with for years, perhaps, but strangers nonetheless.

  Hazel’s new boyfriend Will flashed me a big grin, which I assumed was supposed to put me at ease.

  It didn’t work.

  If anything, it put me even more on edge. Will Lansing was that class clown kind of guy. He was hot, and apparently really nice, but that didn’t stop this anxious pit inside of me that feared he would make a joke that was either at my expense or that I didn’t get.

  Funny guys scared me.

  Actually, most people scared me.

  Right now, that even included my friends.

  The silence grew deafening. They were all watching me. Waiting. For what? I didn’t know.

  All I knew was that my heart was pounding and it felt like all the blood in my body was rushing to my head. I scratched my right forearm which had grown inexplicably itchy under this agonizing scrutiny.

  It was possible I was breaking out in hives.

  “Would someone please put Charlotte out of her misery and start talking already?” Max said with a huff.

  Leave it to Max to cut right to the heart of the matter. I cringed, not entirely sure her comment had made things better or worse. The editor of our high school newspaper, Max was the epitome of pragmatic and straightforward—two qualities that typically appealed to me. We were similar like that.

  Avery was a different type entirely. Sweet and optimistic, the beautiful blonde lived for romance and true love and all the other fictional, whimsical things. I liked Avery—she was such a sweetheart that it was impossible not to—but we had very little in common.

  She leaned forward now, her big blue eyes wide with excitement. “We’re here to help you make Robert fall in love with you.”

  I recoiled in my seat with a gasp that was admittedly dramatic. But still...

  My stomach felt like it was hanging out on the floor, my guts spilled for everyone to see. Had she really just said that? Had she honestly just said those words out loud for everyone in this room to hear?

  Horror. Horror the likes of which I’d never known swept through me so fast and fierce it left me gaping.

  Avery’s boyfriend Cristian took one look at my expression, winced in sympathy, and then placed a hand on her shoulder and tugged her back so she was resting against him on the couch. “Maybe we should ease up a bit, babe.”

  “Yeah, babe.” Cristian’s brother, Alex, was sitting on the other side of him snickering until Cristian smacked him upside the head.

  “Shut up,” Cristian muttered.

  “What? I can’t help it. You two are so cute,” Alex said. He was clearly still laughing at his brother, but Avery was laughing, too, so I guessed it was all right.

  I would never understand families.

  Or friends.

  I glanced over at Hazel and Will who were whispering to one another on another couch.

  Or couples.

  I would definitely never understand couples.

  To be fair, there were a multitude of things I did understand, many of which the people in this room did not. Like quantum entanglement, for example, or differential equations. But relationships?

  Not so much.

  “We just want to help you, that’s all,” Simone said from her perch next to her super hot, star-pitcher boyfriend.

  I forced a smile in return and was pretty sure it looked more like a grimace judging by her answering wince.

  I’d always liked Simone. She was kind and smart, and kind of a big geek, especially when it came to movies. Like me, she’d also always been a loner. More of an outskirt friend in this otherwise super tight group of gal pals.

  Speaking of... Emma and Lulu were sitting on either side of me and they shifted closer in support, like they could give me confidence by their sheer proximity.

  It was sweet. They were sweet. Like I’d said, I truly liked all of the girls I had lunch with every day in the cafeteria. They were the closest thing I had to a circle of friends. The self-proclaimed Lonely Hearts Club was where I fit in best at school.

  But I still didn’t fit entirely. And the sudden addition of the boys to this little group of ours...

  Well, I’d never felt more like an outsider.

  “Look, Charlotte, I’ll give it to you straight,” Alex said now that he was done mocking his brother. The uber handsome basketball phenom waved a hand toward the group at large. “This is basically an intervention.”

  “An intervention?” I whispered. That horror...? It was now full-on despair. This was worse than my worst nightmare. It was so much worse.

  Max had been walking behind the couch where Alex sat to refill some popcorn and she reached over to smack the back of his head just like his brother Cristian had done minutes earlier. “What is wrong with you?” she hissed. “This isn’t an intervention.”

  Max wasn’t normally prone to violence but she’d always had it out for Alex, probably because her BFF Avery used to have a huge crush on him and he didn’t share the same feelings. It all worked out for the best, obviously, because Avery had found the love of her life in his brother Cristian, but still...

  Don’t try telling Max that. She was bound and determined to despise Alex because... Well, I wasn’t sure why, exactly. Probably because he was hot and popular, and he knew it.

  Simone’s boyfriend Andrew, the most laid-back guy on earth, spoke up in that sexy drawl of his. “It sure looks like an intervention.”

  Simone frowned over at him. “It’s not an intervention.”

  I looked from Simone to a still-smiling Andrew, to a laughing Will, and back over to a remarkably sympathetic looking Alex.

  “If this isn’t an intervention, then what is it?” I asked.

  My girl friends gaped at me. They all wore matching looks of speechlessness. This was fine by me since I’d been feeling that same way for the last hour or so.

  This whole evening started with me talking to Avery about the upcoming science competition at St. Archer’s University. That was a nearby college where Cristian attended as a sophomore and I’d thought perhaps she might have some insights into the campus and nearby restaurants. I’d also mentioned that I was going there with my lab partner Robert whom I’d had feelings for for quite a while now, and then...

  Next thing I knew, she’d summoned Simone and Cristian and I was being dragged to the diner to get the others and now...

  Now we were here.

  At my intervention.

  I shifted uncomfortabl
y under their stares. “What exactly are you guys intervening about?” I asked, honestly perplexed.

  I knew I had a reputation for being an outsider and an odd duck—those were the nice ways I’d heard it phrased. I was naturally shy and I didn’t have much in common with my fellow students at Lakeview High, but it wasn’t as though I had a substance abuse issue or a gambling problem. My biggest vice was watching too many documentaries.

  “We think it’s time you make a move on Robert,” Avery said.

  My cheeks burst into flames and my mouth flapped like a fish. Horror wasn’t cutting it. This sick sensation in my gut was something so much worse.

  Humiliation. Dread. Terror. It was all of those rolled up into one churning ball of acid in the pit of my belly.

  Lulu, our resident redheaded artist, was watching me with concern. “Guys, I think maybe we’ve overdone it.”

  Emma glanced around the room. “Maybe we didn’t need to call in all the reinforcements.”

  Max sighed. “I told you guys she’d freak.”

  I blinked hard. Freak. That word cut through my terror. “I’m not freaking out.”

  I was totally freaking out. But I was also thoroughly annoyed with myself for freaking out.

  Most girls I knew didn’t have an inner meltdown at the mention of their crush. It was just that they’d mentioned him, it was that they’d mentioned him and now everyone was staring at me.

  Also, now everyone knew about my pathetic crush.

  It wasn’t like I’d kept it a secret from my friends. Every girl here was well aware that I’d been crushing on my lab partner for the past two years, ever since we were paired up together in Mr. Etherman’s AP Chemistry class last year.

  My frantic glance moved from boy to boy in this room as I reassured myself that no one here was friends with Robert.

  Robert didn’t really have friends.

  He had a group of guys he sat with at lunch, but he was just as much a loner and outcast as I was. Which was one of many reasons I assumed we would make a great couple. Also, he was smart. Nearly as smart as I was. And we shared several similar interests, including but not limited to documentaries.

  Andrew leaned back in his seat like he was getting comfortable, tugging Simone back with him so they were cuddled up on the couch together the way Hazel and Will were as well as Avery and Cristian. “Y’all, I know you mean well, but it doesn’t look like she actually wants our help.”

  I developed a newfound affection for Andrew in that moment.

  “She doesn’t know that she needs our help,” Avery said.

  I scowled at Avery. Like I’d said before, it was nearly impossible not to like a girl who was basically Lakeview High’s version of Cinderella. But right now she was testing the limits with those big blue eyes of hers.

  “I think I’d know if I needed help,” I said shortly.

  It was probably the meanest I’d ever been around these girls and they all stared at me in shock.

  I glared right back. Just because I was shy didn’t mean that I was a pushover, and that was one distinction I felt quite passionate about. My family was forever confusing the two and I wasn’t about to let my friends make the same mistake.

  “I didn’t ask for anyone’s help, and I do not require assistance.” Even to my own ears, I sounded too sharp, too cold.

  This had always been my problem with human interactions.

  I wasn’t good at them. It was that simple.

  When I was irritated and tried to talk, I couldn’t hide it. When I was happy, same deal, but that rarely caused issues. Basically, as my dad once put it, my emotions were always right there on the surface. But at some point in my adolescent development I’d realized that was not okay. I was ridiculed or got into fights and it became easier to hide...everything. This jibed well with the fact that I was inherently shy.

  Like, cripplingly, painfully, excruciatingly shy.

  I hated attention, and displays of emotions? They caused attention.

  Like right now, for example. All eyes were still on me, but now they were filled with even more interest as they eyed me the way I studied bacteria under the microscope in the lab.

  I retreated—emotionally, at least. Physically, I stayed put on this couch, but I took a deep breath and did what I always did with unwanted or overwhelming emotions. I tucked them away, neatly out of sight, until my exterior was calm and placid, if a little flushed.

  There. I was back in control. I stared back at my friends evenly from the safe confines of my compartmentalized little boxes of emotions.

  Basically, I was a turtle.

  I understood turtles. In fact, I had a pet turtle named George and he was my best friend.

  Was that sad?

  Maybe.

  But George and I understood one another. We knew that sometimes the easiest way to move forward was to retreat.

  I ducked my head to avoid their stares. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I assure you, I do not need assistance.”

  I was talking like a robot. Too stilted. Too awkward.

  I didn’t particularly care.

  I got up to leave but Emma was suddenly on top of me, her arms wrapping around me in a hug.

  I just barely held back a sigh.

  I didn’t like being touched. Especially not when I was angry.

  “Charlotte, don’t be mad,” Emma said as she squeezed me tight. I gave her an awkward pat in return. “We just want to see you happy.”

  I frowned at that. “And you think Robert will make me happy?”

  It was an honest question, not a snarky one.

  Emma tilted her head to the side, oddly serious considering she typically was laughing. All the time. I’d never known anyone who laughed as much as Emma.

  I liked it.

  I liked her, which was why I waited for her response.

  “If you’re asking if I think you need a guy to be happy, then no.” She grinned and the Emma I knew was back in full force. “I’m perfectly happy without a male on my arm, thank you very much.”

  I returned her smile because it was impossible not to. She had a gift, this one. She not only found the humor in life—she helped to spread it.

  Lulu was at my other side, wrapping another arm around me so I was squished between them. “You definitely don’t need a guy, Charlotte.”

  I nodded. I knew that, I just wanted to be sure they understood that. It would have made me sad to think that any of my friends truly believed they needed a guy to be happy.

  “But you like Robert,” Lulu said gently. Her eyes were so soft and kind, and the last of my irritation didn’t stand a chance.

  If Emma excelled at spreading laughter and joy, then Lulu’s power was in sharing her optimistic view of the world. She was an artist and everything about her was dreamy—like while the rest of us were viewing the real world, she had some special access to a whole other plane of existence. One that was way more pleasant than this one.

  “Don’t you want to get to know him better?” Lulu continued. “Let him get to know you?”

  I sighed because they all knew the answer—well, the members of the Lonely Hearts Club did, at least.

  “Yes.” Yes, of course I did. I might have talked like a robot sometimes, but I was a normal girl.

  Well, I was a girl. Maybe not ‘normal’ but I was human.

  I craved connection and friendship and, yes, romantic love. But I wasn’t a romantic. And I definitely wasn’t an optimist.

  “He doesn’t see me like that,” I said.

  “How do you know?” Avery asked. “Maybe he just needs to open his eyes.”

  I stared at her for a moment as my brain raced through ways I could reply to that. All I could come up with were questions. Had his eyes been closed up until now? Was he blind in some way I wasn’t aware of? If he ‘opened his eyes’ would I suddenly become beautiful and intriguing and sexy? I thought not. I was fairly certain the issue was not in Robert’s eyes but in my appeal...or lack there
of.

  Max spoke up before I could figure out what I was supposed to say to that. “How did that work out for you, Avery?” Her voice was filled with sarcasm but sweet, kind Avery just rolled her eyes.

  We all knew the story about how she’d set out to get Alex’s attention a few weeks ago. After crushing on the basketball star for years, she’d finally taken measures to spend one-on-one time with him.

  In the end, she’d realized that he wasn’t the guy she wanted after all. The guy she wanted was the one who saw her all along—Alex’s brother.

  Cristian stroked her back now as she leaned forward to argue her point. “That was different.”

  I arched my brows in response. Was it different? Undoubtedly. Avery and I could not be more different, and the similarities between my super serious, excessively nerdy crush and Alex—a basketball star with more swagger than he could handle—it wasn’t even fair to compare.

  Yet, I understood her point.

  “I didn’t even know Alex,” she continued. Alex was nodding as if this wasn’t a super awkward thing to share in a large group.

  I supposed for outgoing people like Avery and Alex...maybe it wasn’t.

  Meanwhile, I was cringing on both of their behalf.

  “I thought I knew him, but I only saw what I wanted to see. It was me being optimistic and romantic and...” She sighed as she glanced around at the others. “I think we can all agree that Charlotte is not some daydreaming romantic.”

  I shrugged, uncertain of how I was supposed to respond. I was not a romantic. Nor an optimist. Sometimes I wished I could be—life looked a lot more fun for people who saw the glass half full. But I was a realist.

  “I say she makes him jealous,” Will chimed in.

  Why did he chime in? No idea. No one asked him for his opinion.

  “No one asked you,” Hazel muttered, but she was grinning as she jabbed him in the gut with her elbow, making him flinch.

  Meanwhile I stewed over Will’s suggestion. Make Robert jealous?