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 him. 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.