THE GUYS' girl

Chapter 5

Song Vibes: Sixteen Candles by The Crests (or the Jackson 5 version)

Kickin it old school with this one... it might be a bit of stretch to call them a boy band 😂

"Wait, so there are four hot, older guys in your life, two of which are flirting with you, and you didn't think to call me before now to tell me this?" My best friend Meg shrieked into the phone, causing me to pull the phone away from my ear.

She'd called to wish me a 'happy birthday', but I was now getting an earful for not keeping her apprised to my new life in Florida.

"Meg, I never said they were flirting with me!" I hissed back.

"No, you said they were winking, touching your arm, whispering in your ear, giving you long, blue-eyed stares, and smirking at you with their "kiss me" lips... sure doesn't sound like flirting to me, what was I thinking?" Meg gave her signature snort on the other end of the line, making me miss my best friend more than ever.

"I highly doubt I said 'kiss me' lips," I replied, unable to stifle my giggle.

"I may have taken liberties with that one," she laughed. "But still, Avery, I can't believe you've been keeping all of this from me. So, I'm intrigued... which one do you like best: Cam or Hunter?"

I rolled my eyes even though she couldn't see me. "It's not like it matters. I have zero chance with either of them!"

"That's not what I asked. I asked who you liked best? If this was some random boy band that we saw on tv, I'd be asking you which one you thought was the cutest, so this is hardly a weird question."

"OK, if you're forcing me," I conceded. "As I mentioned before, they are both way too good-looking to ever be interested in someone like me. I mean, Cam is like model hot. His face is just...perfection. And his smile..." I sighed just thinking about it.

"Are you drooling over there?" Meg teased.

"Shut up Meg. But the best thing about Cam is how nice he is to everyone. I haven't heard him say one negative thing, and he makes me feel like I belong."

"Booorrr-iiiinnngg." Meg pretended to yawn. "Perfection and nice are boring."

I remembered then that her celebrity crush was the quirky Netflix actor Noah Centineo. While I found him cute, she and I were destined to disagree on guys.

"He is NOT boring. But he is too old for me. Or I'm too young for him. Either way, it's never going to happen."

"Didn't you say he just graduated? How is that too old for you? People do two or three year age gaps all the time."

Meg had a point. Several of Aiden's friends had dated younger girls at our high school. Why did I feel like Cam was on a whole different level than me?

When I didn't answer, she prompted me again. "So it's Cam then?"

I bit my lip. "Not exactly. I mean, don't get me wrong. If Cam ever looked at me in that way I would be head over heels in ten seconds flat. But that's never going to happen. And, I'm not sure why, but there's something about Hunter that just feels... possible. Almost like, maybe we could be real with each other."

"Go on," she prompted.

"Well, when you see his face you're going to say that I'm crazy because he's just so beautiful. He has these ice blue eyes and he hardly ever smiles normally - it's like a perpetual smirk. It's stupid sexy! And honestly, most of our interactions up until now have been a disaster. He likes to rile me up with his flirting and I melt into a puddle in his presence. I'm a total dork. But..." I paused.