Kissing Ted Callahan (and Other Guys)(4)

Reid’s clearly trying to act as if he isn’t wounded from my powerful knee kick. “I’m just saying.”

“I’m just saying,” I say in my mocking-Reid voice. It sounds like a cartoon chipmunk, so I don’t know why it’s my go-to for making fun of him. Reid has never sounded like a cartoon chipmunk. “So you’re saying Ted is not out of my league?”

“I’ll be diplomatic,” he says, “and leave it at that. Yes.”

“You’re serious?”

“Riley, you’re in a band,” he says. “You are a Rock Star. I don’t even know if Ted listens to music.”

“No, I’m sure Ted listens to music.” But the authority I would have made that pronouncement with earlier is gone. “So he isn’t cool?”

Reid shakes his head. “He is definitely not cool.”

My worldview has shifted. Is it possible I might totally and completely be capable of Getting Ted Callahan?





CHAPTER FIVE



Ways to Get Someone’s Attention, by Reid and Riley


Say something funny--everyone likes to laugh, except jerks!

Appear to be really smart about something, but be careful. Some topics (like knowing everything about Doctor Who) will make you seem like a geek, not a genius.

Let the person know you guys have something in common, like you both love Ted Leo and the Pharmacists or Daniel Clowes or Grilled Cheese Night at the Oaks.

Have a little mystery--for example, say something intriguing and then make an exit before someone can ask a follow-up question.

Look really hot, obviously.





CHAPTER SIX


Looking back, I shouldn’t have been so shocked at Nathan and Lucy falling for each other. Together they made sense, sure. That much was easy. But this was my very best friend in the whole wide world.

This was Lucy.

Things were happening with a boy. With Nathan. And my very best friend in the whole wide world hadn’t told me anything.

And if Reid and I hadn’t walked in on them… maybe she never would have.

I hadn’t even known I should have been on the lookout for this stuff. Lucy and I talked lots about the kinds of girls who always had boyfriends. We weren’t like them, distracted by kissing and jealousy and birth-control options. That stuff could all wait until college or a national tour—whichever came first—when our band was established and we were Serious Musicians Without Curfews.

Reid clearly felt the same way. He couldn’t even talk to girls in class without sweating, after all. And grown-ups always acted like peaking in college was way better than peaking in high school, so we had all the time in the world to worry about it. Sure, there were some rumors about Nathan and assorted girls at assorted parties, but he never brought them up, and I dismissed rumors as rumors.

It wasn’t as if I didn’t get it. Lucy is the kind of girl who could be a Career Princess at Disneyland if she weren’t planning on being a rock-star-slash-sociologist. She has almost black hair and delicate, fair skin. She wears dresses with color-coordinated flats just because, and she’s tiny in the way people think is cute and not shrimpy. While I’m of perfectly average height and size, next to Lucy I’m this lumbering giant. And even when I’m determined to get up early and put effort into how I look, I basically stick to a uniform of a T-shirt, jeans—on crazy days a jean skirt—and a pair of Vans or Chucks. And I’m great with this! I am who I am, and whatever other lame identity slogans, but sometimes I see pictures of Lucy and me and wonder what guy in his right mind would pick anyone but the princess.

And I can’t lie. Before catching him mid-grope with Lucy, I’d wondered what it would be like to kiss Nathan. (It seems from Lucy’s frequent glazy expression and regular application of lip gloss, that the answer is good.) Nathan is one of those guys who hits all the marks, if charting guys were like bird watching or stamp collecting. He’s tall, and he probably works out, and he gets good grades but doesn’t seem to take that too seriously.

Still, this wasn’t supposed to be the track Lucy and I were on, and so it wasn’t just that she didn’t tell me, and it wasn’t just that it was Nathan. It was that my friend was going against so many things we’d talked about, like our two AM conversations suddenly didn’t matter at all.

After the Incident, I considered hooking up with Reid to make things even, but I’m not into Reid, not like that. Reid is cute, but I mean that: cute. He’s shorter than me, but I’m not short, so maybe that’s not a big deal. His hair is better than it used to be, but it’s boring brown and fluffy like a baby chick’s, and that’s not the kind of hair I go for in a guy. Not that that’s a deal breaker, but also Reid gets really emotional and worked up over the tiniest incidents—like the time Lucy suggested he buy one big bottle of orange juice instead of two small bottles and he thought we all considered him financially irresponsible.

Plus, from his total disinterest that time my white shirt accidentally got soaked—and everyone could see my bra—I know that Reid doesn’t want to hook up with me, either. And while I don’t have any sentimental attachment to my virginity, I don’t want it taken by an act of retaliation against Lucy and Nathan. I’m not holding out for love, but I should probably aim for higher than spite.