Where There's Light | ✔

21. Slippery Slope

The next morning I was distracted and everyone noticed. Mom yelled at me when I almost gave her coffee to Taylor. Bee pinched me every time I zoned out while she told me about the behind the scenes action of a pizza commercial.

I couldn't help it. What happened last night in the photo booth consumed my thoughts completely. I stared at the picture for hours. It was a little blurry, but perfectly captured the shock on both our faces, the camera going off just as he pulled away.

The more I thought about it, the more it worried me. I shouldn't be that infatuated with a guy. Especially not Nolan Chambers. Yet there was an unauthorized gathering of butterflies in my belly whenever I thought of him.

Losing my voice because of last night was a blessing in disguise. It gave me a valid reason not to discuss what happened with Bee. No matter how much she begged for details.

Apparently Nolan and I made it to the Bellcreek Baes Instagram. It was a video of us that I didn't know was being filmed. It captured the moment after Nolan dunked me, when he came over to mock me and I splashed him.

I let the video replay a number of times. Dozens probably. Each time I focused on the way he looked at me. The way we looked at each other. Both wearing wide, toothy grins as we gazed into each other's eyes.

To anyone else it would look like were two love sick teens. The comments on the pictures confirmed that. There were a lot of comments from people saying they just realized how single they were.

I bit the inside if my cheek to keep from smiling it'd only prompt more questions from Bee.

"It looked like you two had a lot fun last night," she said, swiping another coat of plum colored polish on her toes.

We sat on her back porch with a case of nail polishes between us. With our busy schedules last week we hadn't spent much time together. When she invited me over I didn't realize how much I missed talking to her. Or my version of talking for the day—a notebook and pen.

"Maybe a little too much fun." She looked up at me now, giving me a knowing look, a smile creeping across her face.

Picking up the notebook and pen from my lap, I scribbled something down before showing it to her.

"It's the plan?" she read aloud, her brows raised. "J, I've seen you act. You're not that good."

I took to the notebook again, quickly writing out my defense. Her eyes scanned the message before flicking back to me.

"It's me you're talking to," she pointed to herself. "I'm like a hound dog. I can smell a budding romance a mile away. That look said a lot more than 'I'm just having fun.' You like him."

I'd been thinking about that since after Nolan dropped me off at home after the carnival. My growing attraction for him was undeniable, but did I like him or was it just my mind playing tricks? My heart mistaking his heavy sarcasm and blank stares for flirting.

I took a sip of the tea Kevin insisted I drank and began writing my next message. It was a lengthy one as I tried to explain that yes, I thought Nolan was good looking and I didn't mind being around him, but I wasn't thinking about having a boyfriend. Not a real one anyway. That everything we did was about winning prom king and queen. Nothing more.

After she read my words she glanced up at me, her forehead wrinkled with concern. "Sounds like a slippery slope. You really think you can keep from falling for the rest if the school year?"

I nodded confidently. I had to. Not just for the scholarship, but for myself as well. I couldn't hand myself over to just anyone. Especially not someone I knew would be leaving as soon as he got the chance.