I tensed. William looked up, and I looked toward where his gaze was directed at a big window. I wasn’t surprised; Amelia, Poppy, and Ari were spying.
“Yes,” I accepted.
I heard a chorus of cheers.
His gray eyes turned to me, and I felt my knees tremble.
“Tomorrow night. Party at my house. Wanna come?”
Of course. You’ll tell my mom, right?
“Um, Will . . .”
Was I being stupid? Probably. I didn’t even have the courage to look him in the eyes.
William stared at my lips, and I wanted to pass out. The lipstick was really gutsy. Why didn’t I wipe it off? What if they were trying to make an idiot of me? The thought was absurd, but it was hard to push it away.
“June, I also came to tell you something else.”
I looked at his perfectly styled hair and then at his delicate face.
“I’m not used to going out with girls.”
That was absurd. William was so beautiful that I inevitably asked myself what was wrong with the other girls in school since they only had eyes for that . . .
I looked over William’s shoulders at James. He kept his head down, but I felt the tension as soon as he lifted his blue eyes to stare at me. I felt a chill immediately. I didn’t want to feel that sensation, but it crawled across my skin and made me forget about the lipstick, William, and the girls’ giggling. There was something irresistible about his gaze. It was like balancing on a tightrope with my eyes closed. “June, I wanna keep seeing you. I know I have questionable friends, but they’ve been part of my life forever. James is like a brother to me. I can’t turn my back on him.”
“Did he say that?”
“Yeah, obviously in his own way.”
“I can imagine.”
“You can’t turn your back on me to get laid.” William did an impression of James stretching out his shoulders and puffing out his chest, making me laugh.
“Obviously, I don’t think of you like that,” he added quickly.
“Don’t worry. I don’t think you think . . . well, you know what I mean,” I stuttered, before getting permanently tongue-tied.
We stood there, alternating between grinning at each other and looking down at the ground. William bit his lip like he was holding back a sigh of relief.
“You have no idea how hard it was to get him to bring me here.”
“I bet he had quite a tantrum.” I heard James clear his throat a bit.
“Damn it, can you guys talk about anything besides me?” he asked. I didn’t worry about it.
“What d’you think of fate, Will?” I asked quietly, hoping nobody else would hear me.
“That’s a tough question. Um.” William massaged the nape of his neck nervously. He was already embarrassed. That question seemed to throw him off even more, but I was pleasantly surprised by his answer.
“Something like, ‘Oh, my locker and June’s are close. Thanks, fate’?”
I held back a chuckle.
“So you’re really coming?” he prodded, as my cheeks burned. “Admit it, my impersonation skills won you over.” William pushed a lock of my hair behind my ear. I felt his fingers softly caress my cheek.
And we heard honking.
