Page 25 of Okay, Cupid

“Yeah, totally …”

We sit there in an awkward silence, the sound of the Thai pop music playing through the speakers.

Cal clears his throat.

“Oh, uh, Huy! This is Cal.”

“Nice to meet you, Cal.” Huy holds out his hand, and Cal’s all too happy to take it.

“Jude was just telling me about their first day at Hearst,” Cal says, and I’m relieved when he leaves it at that.

“Recounting the saga of the forgotten gym clothes?” Huy asks with a raised eyebrow.

“I didn’t mean to forget them,” I promise him.

“The gym clothes I can forgive.” He smiles. “It’s the not bringing a pen to your first day that left me scratching my head. You really should be more prepared, Jude.”

“I’ll try harder in the future to make you proud.” I try not to roll my eyes, but, you know, in an endearing way. “What were you up to?”

“Oh, just the soccer crew. It’s off season, so we play in Golden Gate Park most nights.”

“Sounds like fun!”

He shrugs. “Sometimes.”

More awkward silence as he looks at me and only me. Then he lets out this laugh, our staring contest finally breaking.

I won.

Huy says, “I, uh … I guess I’ll let you two get back to your thing.”

“Oh, okay.”

“It was nice to meet you,” Cal says.

“You too. See you later, Jude.”

I watch him as he makes his way to the table where his friends are waiting for him. I can’t help but notice how nice his butt looks in his shorts.

“So that’s the boy?” Cal asks, his voice quieter once again.

“Yeah.”

“He seems friendly. And very cute.”

“I think he is.” I pause. “Friendly, that is.”

Cal just looks at me, and doesn’t say a word.

The next morning, I make sure I have my gym clothes packed. And I go lighter on the makeup, especially if all my hard work is only going to last a few hours before sweat ruins it.

The moment I walk into English, Huy is at his desk. I guess he was spared the car troubles this morning.

“Here you go.” I zip open my backpack, grabbing the shirt from the top of my stuff. “Sorry again.”

“It’s okay.”

“I made sure to wash it so it wouldn’t be all sweaty.” I had zero idea I could get that gross from simply doing jumping jacks and running laps around the gym floor.