💋 THE LIST 💋
- Yorkie?
As soon as group discussion time starts in my first-period English class, I place my notebook gingerly in the center of our table. Jess, Harvey, and Nicole all lean in to read my lists.
"Elevator? That's a good one," Jess murmurs, twirling her hair around her index finger. "This seems like a pretty achievable list! I'm proud of you," she remarks with a grin. I roll my eyes at her and try to gauge Harvey's opinion from his focused gaze. I follow his eye line and realize he's looking at my second list.
"Wait, did you write down... actual names of people?" He raises an eyebrow at me. Jess leans in as well and giggles. I can feel the blood rushing to my cheeks... was that not what we said we would do?
I stammer, and Harvey puts his notebook on the desk. I don't even glance at his location list, my eyes beeline to the "People" category at the bottom of the page. To my horror, he's only written down vague attributes.
- A dancer
- A MILF
- An artist
- A redhead
- A brunette
The list goes on for a few more lines, but I swallow hard as I look down at my own, which so far only says Yorkie, with a question mark. I'm mortified. Nicole shakes her head at Harvey and puts her hand delicately on my arm.
"I wrote down names too," she says with a laugh, "Jess said it could be as vague or as detailed as wanted! I actually did both." She smirks as she brings her finger down to Harvey's list, pointing at the "MILF" entry. "Mine says DILF, but only because I don't have a specific father in mind."
I feel like a load of tension has been lifted from my body, and I give her a warm smile. I decide to change the subject altogether, pointing at another entry on Harvey's list.
"You don't like blondes?" I tease.
"Consider that one already checked off," he replies coolly, leaning back in his chair. "Besides," he adds with a wink, "I prefer brunettes." I smile, but my eyes suddenly widen. Is Harvey... flirting with me? I bite my lower lip and lean back in my own chair, not breaking eye contact.
Mr. Peaks calls for the class's attention, breaking our gaze. When I glance at Nicole, she's looking at me with her eyebrows raised. She tilts her head ever so slightly in Harvey's direction and wiggles her eyebrows at me. I bite back a smile and focus on my classwork.
When the bell rings, Harvey leans in, close enough that I can smell his cologne. "See you tomorrow." He smirks as he stands up, holding his books in one hand.
"Bye," I murmur. Nicole grabs my arm excitedly.
"I'd better see Harvey on your list ASAP," she whispers a little too loud.
"Shut up!" I seethe, but I'm smiling as I playfully nudge her with my elbow.
She laughs. "Anything steamy happen with Yorkie last night?"
I shake my head and frown. "Nothing like that, but he did ask to hang out again tomorrow. Just us two, I guess."
"Mhm..." Nicole murmurs thoughtfully as we walk over to our lockers. "You should borrow my lip gloss," she muses.
Maia is already waiting by our lockers. She's wearing a floral midi skirt and a white baby tee that's cropped enough to show off her midriff without obviously breaking the dress code. Her hair is softly curled, and she's twisting a lock of it around her finger as she flirts with a tall, blonde guy. Their conversation seems to wrap up as Nicole and I approach, and Maia grins at the boy with a sing-songy "byeee" as he walks away.
"Who was that?" Nicole asks, her eyes following the tall blonde down the hall.
"His name is Austin," Maia giggles, "he's on the soccer team... and on my list."
"About that..." I wince as I replay the embarrassment of this morning, "apparently, we were supposed to write down vague attributes instead of actual names." I rest my head against my locker with a frown.
"Oh." Maia returns my frown for a moment, but then shrugs and smiles. "I like our way better! Like, I wasn't planning on adding a soccer player to my list, but I am planning on adding Austin to it." She thinks for a moment, pushing up her lower lip with her knuckle. "Why don't we just do both? Like, soccer player, sure, but now that I have a name to the idea, it feels like more of a challenge." There's a mischievous glint in her eye as she finishes her thought.
"I think that's a great idea," Nicole says, linking her arms with mine and Maia's as we make our way to second period.
--
"Anyway, you can't just have one entry on your list, Rach," Nicole tosses a grape at me over the lunch table. I catch it and lean back in my seat, nodding thoughtfully. I drag my eyes over the cafeteria, trying to see if anyone catches my eye. There's a group of boys in the far corner of the room. They're too far for me to get a good look at, but they seem to be having fun, laughing and chatting loudly.
Maia follows my eye line. "Ooh, an older guy?" she winks. I scrunch my nose and swat at her playfully.
"Come to the bathroom with me?" I ask, already gathering my things.
"Only if we can pass that table..." Nicole smirks, looking over her shoulder at the group of boys.
The three of us make our way to the exit, passing the table of boys even though it's in the opposite direction of the girl's bathroom. Maia flashes a grin at the group as we walk by, and a few of them smile back. I can't help but look at the group as well, and for a second, I make eye contact with a shy-looking boy with glasses hanging from the collar of his yellow t-shirt. We both look away immediately.
Maia is already giggling when we exit the cafeteria, no doubt telling us which one she thought was the cutest. I can barely hear her, though, because my attention is completely captured.
A tall, dark-haired boy passes with a small group of friends. My eyes are immediately drawn to the tattoos on his forearms and drag up over his Black Flag t-shirt to his face. My breath catches when I see a lip ring in the corner of his mouth. I don't even realize I'm staring until Nicole nudges me with her elbow. I blink and look away just as his eyes brush over my friends and me.
"I guess the vague description might work for you now," Nicole teases.
"What do you mean?" I say, already feeling myself blush.
"Well, you're definitely going to add 'guy with lip ring' to your list now." She laughs as we walk into the bathroom.
YOU ARE READING
The Kiss List
Romance"Let's make a list of places we want to hook up in and people we want to hook up with," Jessica says with a playful glint in her eye. - Making a hook-up list was not the way Rachel imagined 10th grade would begin, nor did she think it would take ove...
