A Girl I'd Kinda Be Into

Chapter Four

(y/n)'s POV

"Now, you're all dismissed, I'll get the cast list out on Monday. Have a good weekend," Mr. Reyes said while chewing a Hot Pocket. It was pretty gross, but at least we were free for the weekend.

"We nailed it!" Christine giggled. I smiled at her.

"Yeah, the way you sang Alyssa Greene for your audition was amazing. Seriously, I can picture you in the costume already!" I responded, and her huge smile grew, and her cheeks flushed a bit.

"Aw, thanks! Your Lifeboat was so emotional, I think you're definitely getting Emma," Christine gushed. I felt my face heat up at the praise and just nodded.

"Dang, I sure hope so dude," I took her hand and started leaving, grabbing my Legally Blonde backpack with my other hand. She trailed behind, having grabbed her leopard print bag too.

I heard snickering behind us, but Jere and Mikey wouldn't verbally bring it up, I knew they'd just question me later.

Brooke was the only one who knew I liked Chrissy, and that would stay the same forever. No matter how much those two bugged me for answers.

"Your face is all pink, you okay?" I heard from behind me. I looked back, realized I was blushing, snapped my head forward, and nodded profusely. I blushed while thinking  of Christine, didn't I? Wow, good job, (y/n). You're so obvious, I swear.

"Okay, but if you're sick I can take care of you, I don't have anything else to do," she offered.

"That's very sweet, Chris, but I'm not sick," I assured her.

"So you were blushing? Who were you thinking about?" I picked up the tiniest sense of hurt in her voice, but she covered it up well with her usual sunniness.

"Nobody important, hun," I told her. I mean, she was important, but was Christine gonna find out I was blushing about her? No, I'd never hear the end of it from Michael and Jeremy.

"Well this person has to be important if you're blushing," she said quietly. I nodded.

"Well yeah, she is, but I'm not really into her. My brain's just annoying and goes off in tangents about random people." I assured her. She parked up a little bit, giving a huge smile.

"Your brain's silly, huh? Like, just pick someone already!" She giggled, an undertone if awkward discomfort rising a bit in her words.

"And who would you prefer my brain to settle on?" I asked hesitantly. I didn't know what I was doing. Was this flirting? Was I flirting with a cute girl that was now really fucking flustered?

"I dunno, why would I pick who you like? I'm just your theatre buddy," she punched my arm. Why were we so uncomfortable? Normally we could talk so easily about anything or nothing at all. We could ramble about everything from dinosaurs, to our future plans, to the meaning of life. I kinda-really hated this awkwardness and wanted to be done and leave.

"Hey, I was thinking we could hang at Pinkberry after auditions today? To rewind and get the last of our liquid dairy before rehearsals start?" Shit.

"Yeah, totally! Sounds like fun!" My voice said, but I didn't volunteer to say that. Why did I have to be a super nice person? That didn't make for a particularly fun time right now. You felt that? Chills.

"Alright, I can drive you there, I brought my car." She offered excitedly. I nodded, relaxing a bit. Her being weird was putting me on edge, but now she was more natural now. Tension flowed from my shoulders in waves and now I looked forward to Pinkberry. She was adorable when she wasn't being defensive and weird.

"Rad, dude. What flavor are you getting?" I asked as we neared the car. She looked lost in thought for a second before she snapped back to reality.

"Coffee, maybe? I'm tired and need some of that sweet, sweet energyyyyyyyyy! You?" She answered, giggling at herself.

"Probably black cherry," I shrugged. We climbed into her car, which was pretty cute. It was a lilac purple, which was weird because it was the only pale purple car I'd ever seen. It was pretty clean inside, since she cleaned it all the time. After all, she was a designated driver for our friend group outing. There were only a couple chip bags scattered around, no doubt from the gang's last outing.

She also had a flowery air freshener and those big fluffy dice hanging on the rear view mirror. Overall, a pretty aesthetic car.

"Ya know, we should hang out this weekend and practice duets. We're probably getting the roles, so might as well right?" It was pretty easy to assume we'd get the roles, being upperclassmen (juniors) and pretty experienced in theatre. There, somehow, was only one senior and she wanted to be on crew this year, so the stars were aligned to give us the roles.

"Yeah, I really wanna work on the harmony for Dance With You, so we can meet up tomorrow, maybe?" She answered and I smiled.

"Yeah, it's kinda strange, I think we should work on it. Also, memorization. That's gonna be a hell of a struggle," I groaned.

"Language!" She scolded.

"Fine, mom." I tried to sound cross with her, but burst out laughing. She resisted against the urge to follow, being the one behind the wheel, but gave in, just making sure to not crash the car. Which is ideal, since I'd rather not die until AFTER the show. I have priorities, dude.

(933 words)