Buzzed Hearts

34: open options

IT'S ANDREW WEST, she finds, when Camila turns around in the hallway. It's between her second and third period as she hears her name called out.

    Andrew West is familiar, in the way that friends by a social group is. He's on the soccer team as well and they've done favors for each other over the years, being both friends with Jeremy. It never crossed her mind how cute he was, though, but it does now, as he approaches her.

    Much like Jeremy and Laurent—and almost every boy that does sports—he's wearing a workout hoodie and joggers. And it looks like he has been working out, his hair smelling like green apple shampoo and the clean scent of deodorant.

    Andrew stands taller than Laurent and his grin goes easy on her eyes.

    "Hey, Andrew!"

    He falls in step next to her and bends down a bit, bumping her shoulder. "How's school been going?"

    "Not good." She sighs.

    "That bad?"

    "Why do you ask?"

    "You're like the most positive girl I know. It must be super hard right now," he says.

    "I'll get over it. How about you?"

    "I'd be great if you went to prom with me."

    Oh. Camila almost stops in her tracks and dimly, from the back of her wits, she can hear Drew—how he likes to be called—laughing at her reaction.

    "It's okay if you don't have an answer yet. See you around," he smiles broadly and steps into his next class.

    The first thought that crosses her mind is to tell Jeremy right away but it's the second thought that takes her off her feet. And it's: what if I say yes?

    There are many reasons to say yes.

    1. Drew is cute.

    2. Drew is nice.

    3. Laurent might say no.

    4. It's senior prom.

    5. Drew is cute.

    Would she go to prom with Andrew? Yes. Would she date him? Yes. Is there someone she'd rather take his place? Yes. It doesn't trouble her as much as it should but she doesn't concentrate all throughout third period. Someone like Andrew probably has lots of choices so it wouldn't matter if she rejects him. But is she his second or third choice? Is there why there wasn't a big proposal?

    She brings it up during lunch. Roma's off at a game and Laurent probably ditched school.

    "Take it. Take his hand," Elle says without hesitation.

    "Shut up, Elle. You obviously don't care who she goes with because you have your date already," Jeremy says. "Go with him. He's a standup guy. Also heard he's good in the sack."

    "You shut up. Camila's never cared for the sex."

    "Actually..." Camila chimes in.

    "Shut up," they both say, though, immediately apologetic afterwards.

    "I don't know, do you want to, though? I know how much you want to go with Laurent but I'm doubtful he'll even want to go. He doesn't even go to winter formal," Jeremy says.

    "I'll go if Laurent says no. But I don't want to string Andrew along."

    "That did come out of no where, didn't it?" Elle asks, eyes narrowing.

    "Not really. They've hung out a few times and they text." Jeremy leans back into his chair, smug that he knows something Elle doesn't.

    "I never thought of him that way. I always thought he had a girlfriend or something."

    "Whatever," Jeremy says and goes back to his lunch.

    Elle glares at him and she squeezes Camila's hand, though she can tell Elle thinks she's thinking too much about this. So, Camila eventually puts it in one of the many uncategorized shelves of her brain and goes about her day.