Page 41 of Okay, Cupid

“Mhmmm,” Neve hums, and I look to Alice, but she doesn’t say a word. Not even some biting remark under her breath like I’m used to. She looks back at Huy, but his attention is focused elsewhere, on a conversation he’s having with one of his boys. But then, a moment later, our eyes meet again.

Just for a moment.

• • •

Huy’s waiting for me as PE wraps up.

I dared to take a shower today despite how open and weird it felt because I figured I wouldn’t be going home first thing.

“You ready?” he asks, throwing his backpack over his shoulder.

“As I’ll ever be.” My still-damp hair covers my forehead.

“You wound me.” Huy puts his hand over his heart. “You’re not excited to spend your afternoon with me?”

I look up at him. “That all depends on where you’re taking me.”

“I think that you’ll like it.” Huy points to his temple. “I’ve got a seventh sense for these kinds of things.”

“Seventh? What’s your sixth sense?”

“The sense to have great calves.” As if to prove his point, Huy lunges forward, still in his gym shorts, so they ride up his thighs as he squats down.

“Ew, don’t do that.”

“Come on, Jude.” He wraps his arm around my shoulder, pulling me in close. “We’re going to miss the bus.”

“I thought you drove.”

“My truck is … currently indisposed.”

“I was starting to wonder why you were on time the last few days.”

“Oh!” Huy cries out. “Okay, okay!”

I can’t help myself from laughing along with him. We walk out the front steps of the school, joining some of our classmates on the 38R and riding until the herd is thinned out quite a bit. Finally, we’re the last two left in the back half of the bus.

“Here.” Huy offers me an earbud, and I take it, the sound of a soft ballad playing through while we ride the next few stops to our destination. Huy gets us off in a familiar spot, and as we walk a block back toward where we just came from, I realize where he’s taking me.

“NaYa?” I stand there in front of the café. “This is the surprise?”

“I’ve got a craving for egg custard,” he says, holding the door open for me.

And you know what? Who am I to complain?

Thankfully, the café isn’t too busy.

“You want to go ahead and get a soda, Jude?” Sammi, our waitress, asks me. I’m not sure what it says about me that I come here so frequently with Cal and Leah that I’m on a first-name basis with most of the employees.

“Yes, please.”

“You want a bingsu this time too? Or are we trying something different?”

We hand the menus back without actually looking at them. “Actually, I think we want the salted egg custard, toasted, please.”

“Come here often?” Huy asks once she’s gone.

“Kind of.” I rub my hands on my knees. “Cal and I love this place.”