And that is how he found himself in the public library before school, coffee in one hand and 'Catcher in the Rye' in the other. It wasn't a ploy to meet Willa or anything. Like, seriously. It wasn't.
He half expected Isaac to be there and imagined the conversation they'd have (Isaac would be puppy-excited to know if he'd read the book; Jared would feign indifference and act cool, then he'd drop something into the conversation to show he actually had been reading it and Isaac would probably beam like he'd just won the lottery) but he wasn't. Jared tried to squash the tiny speck of disappointment he felt. Why the fuck would you want fucking Pixie-Boy here Jared? Like, what the fuck. Pull yourself together.
Willa entered the library about ten minutes after Jared, curling herself up in a blue-cushioned chair at the end of one of the aisles. Jared felt his heart speed up. Oh, fuck. He really did have a crush on this girl then. Just because she'd rejected him? Really, dude, you're so clichéd sometimes it hurts.
His focus on the words wavered and he kept looking up to see if she'd noticed him. She hadn't. Jared felt like he was in Year 8 again, working up the courage to ask out his first girlfriend. This was fucking ridiculous. He was Jared Spencer, for God's sake! Only Ari was more successful with girls than he was, and this girl wasn't exactly the hottest most popular chick- not compared to some of the girls he'd got with. And yet here he was, practically staking out a library just to impress her.
Some excruciating minutes later, she got up and headed to a shelf behind him, starting when she recognised his face. An incredulous smile took shape on her lips.
"Jared, right?" she said. Raising an eyebrow, he put the book down with a great show of reluctance and crinkled his forehead like he didn't recognise her. Yes, Jared, he congratulated himself, there's the in-control, calm-cool-collected guy we know.
"Didn't have you pegged as a reader," she told him with a grin, and God she had the most enigmatic smile. Was she mocking him? Did she see through his little façade?
He shrugged.
"Guess you shouldn't judge people on appearance then." Oh fuck no that sounded bitter oh shit shit shit fuck now she'll think you're desperate. She only laughed, leaning over his shoulder to see the book cover. Her hair smelled like strawberries.
"Hey I like your taste in books Jared Spencer," she said, and pulled out the chair beside him. His heart sped up even more because fuck she was going to want to talk about the book now and he was not made for chatting about literature and Isaac would know what to say to sound clever but Isaac wasn't here and oh shit he was screwed.
But when she started to talk- when she drew her thoughts in the air with her hands, and asked him questions, and waited patiently for his answers with her dark blue eyes open and interested - he found that actually he could talk about the Catcher in the Rye. He could talk about it pretty damn well.
(Well, he was Jared fucking Spencer after all).
YOU ARE READING
Invincible
Teen Fiction"I didn't know you had friends like Isaac," Willa said in greeting. "I don't," muttered Jared. Isaac rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you don't. You have //one// friend like Isaac." His voice turned into this stupid mock whisper and he leaned towards Jared c...
