𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚐𝚘 𝚐𝚒𝚛𝚕 // 𝚓𝚘𝚎𝚢 𝚖𝚌𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚢𝚛𝚎

vii. treat you right?

“I thought you said you'd come and help me?” I asked Evan, who had been staring at the ceiling for about an hour now since we returned home to do our usual exam preparations and finish our other activities.

But he clearly wasn't listening to me ever since we parted ways with Jessica on the way home to meet her boyfriend. What I'd been thinking for days was now making sense.

“Is there anything I should know about you… and Jessica?”

That prompted him to sit up straight on the floor and lean against the side of my bed, his arms crossed. “Is there anything I should know about you and Joe, Kay?”

Wow, he always has to make it about me and McIntyre! When Evan discovers about the keychain, he can't stop teasing me. I, too, was surprised when McIntyre handed it to me and said he remembered me. It was thoughtful of him to remember something about me, even though we had only spent time together when we're with our friends. I think McIntyre and I will be good friends if he wasn't too famous right now, especially when puberty hits him hard. I should have been thinking about my date with Jesse and Jesse alone, but my mind kept bringing up the youngest NKOTB member and how he was acting up at the arcade the night before.

“There's nothing going on between me and McIntyre, Evan! Don't change the subject again!” I warned, pushing him away from the way he's leaning on the side of my bed.

He turned to face me, a pout on his face. “I'm just curious; it's not every day that I see my ship sailing behind my back, and you asked me about Jessica first, so… Why would you ask me then? Did she say anything about me?”

“No?” I said, shrugging. “I've been wondering what would make you pay attention to what I've been saying for the past few minutes, and her name was the only way, I now know.”

“Don't go there again, Kay!”

“I know… I'm sorry, I won't do it again, but please accompany me to the bookstore, Evan.”

He sighed deeply and lowered his head dramatically onto the mattress. “I'd like to sleep; can we go later?”

“Can't. I have to make a reviewer as well, so if we go to the bookstore early, we can also go home early,” I reasoned, pleadingly smiling.

He sighed. “All right, let's—”

“I'm back, girls!” Jessica announced, entering my bedroom while holding a bouquet of flowers. “What did I miss?”

Evan closed his mouth and turned to face me, but before I could respond, two figures taller than Jessica appeared behind her. Aaron and McIntyre. What are they doing here? What is he doing here?

After I beat McIntyre at the bowl last night, we never spoke again because we were all focused on the game. Oh! By the way, their team lost. I'm not sure if they just let us win or if we're a better bowling team than them, but they lost and their punishment was to do everything the winning team wanted them to do. And now that I've remembered the deal, I believe Evan has as well, judging by the way his eyes widened when he turned to me again and nodded to himself. When is he going to stop shipping me and McIntyre? When Jesse and I made it official, that is. Do I even want to make this thing official? I'm still hesitant about dating Jesse, but I think it's worth a shot because he's a nice guy… right?

“That's a lovely bouquet, Jess,” I complimented, changing the subject rather than stating that I'm asking Evan to go to the bookstore because I know he'll offer a suggestion that would result in me slapping him with a pillow if he says it out loud.

“Oh, it wasn't for me, it was for you,” she explained as she walked over to where I was sitting on my bed and handed me the bouquet. “Jesse wants to give them to you personally, but their coach needs them for training until later; but, don't worry, he'll see you tomorrow on your date. He likes you, Kay.”