“Because you know I’m right. And you hate it when I’m right,” he said as he started walking again.
He had ideas about what exactly? Me having a crush on him? What I was going to do about said crush? Perhaps the wedding linen? It was going to be easier to deal with it now and hope he got bored of it.
I sighed and hurried to catch up to him. “For argument’s sake, give me your ideas.”
“Okay. Operation Date Brock is–”
“Not a thing that’s going to happen,” I told him.
“What? Why? You’re crushing on the guy. Don’t you want to date him?”
Well, no. But I couldn’t exactly tell him that. “Can’t I just worship him from afar?”
“No. We need to get you some action.”
“I don’t need any action. I’m quite happy with my current level of…inaction?” That didn’t sound right.
“Regardless, I have a plan.”
“A plan?”
He nodded. “Yes. I’m going to befriend him and discover all his secrets.”
“So, you can date him?”
“So, you can date him.”
“What do you care?”
“I care because I’m just that nice a guy, Char. I befriend Brock, tell you his secrets and, voila, you are perfect girlfriend material.”
“I don’t want to be perfect girlfriend material. If I was going to date…anyone, I’d quite like to just be me.”
“How’s that getting laid thing going for you?”
“I could ask you the same thing, Mr Bigshot.”
“The point is, I’m not completely celibate.”
“I’m not celibate!”
“By choice.”
“Why are you so into me hooking up with someone?”
“I… What?” he scoffed. “I’m not. I mean, I’m just a concerned friend.”
I nodded. “No, yeah. Sure. My sex life is none of your business.”
“I never said it was!” he said quickly.
“Then stop trying to hook me up with people.”
“I’m just trying to help.”
“I don’t need you to…run interference or whatever.”
“At least let me try and work out what he likes. Then you’ll know if you stand a chance.”
If I didn’t give him this, he was certainly not going to get bored and move on with both our lives.
I sighed. “Fine. Fine! Get to know him, then.”
Zane pumped his fist. “Yes. You will not regret this!”
He went jogging off before I could say anything. Which was probably not a terrible idea in hindsight. Who knew what I’d have come out with had he stayed? I knew I was going to regret it, though. That was already painfully obvious.
Chapter 6: Zane
Charley had a crush.
Cool. Cool.
Good.
No. Good.
Brock.
I didn’t know him that well, but he seemed a decent dude. He was on the Footy Firsts team, not overly intense, good enough at schoolwork to keep his place on the team, and always gave me a smile in the corridor. All in all, he had the makings of a top bloke.
Out of all the guys Charley could be crushing on, he was one of the better options.
And it was good that she had a crush.
It was.
It meant she was off the market – she was interested in someone else and therefore unavailable to whatever ridiculous notions had decided to skim through my head lately. Helping her with said crush had the benefit of keeping me busy. No time to wonder about Charley if I was helping her get another guy. So, it was win-win. No more weird moments and no time to wonder about them.
I was feeling pretty good about this.
All I had to do was get to know Brock better. So, how do you go about befriending your best friend’s crush? Well, it’s pretty easy when you’re me. I go up to a person and say hi. Then, after usually a few awkward starts, they say hi back and conversation ensues. I did it all the time. Except something was holding me back from a thing I was well-practised in.
When Brock walked into the Common Room that Recess, I looked over at Charley. She looked up like she knew I was looking. Her eyes darted to Brock, then back to me, and I just knew she could read my mind. I grinned and she shook her head.
Do it and I’ll kill you, I knew she was thinking.
What if he’s the answer to soothing those homicidal tendencies of yours? my eyes replied.
Don’t be ridiculous, hers said.
Big strong man like him. Obligatory eyebrow waggle. Go talk to him.
I’m fine, thanks.
You sure you’re not just chicken shit?
I’m braver than you, little man.
Then go and talk to him.
How about you go and die. Please and thank you.
I snorted a laugh.
“You okay, mate?” Bleeker asked.
I pressed my lips together for a moment and pulled my eyes off Charley. “Me? Yep. All good.”
“What are you making moony eyes at Baines for?”
I lay my hand over my mouth and huffed a breath. “I wasn’t doing anything,” I said, totally believably.
“You guys were having, like, some sort of silent conversation.”
I shook my head. “No, we weren’t.”
Bleeker nodded with a smirk. “You totally were. You sure you’re not… What’s it called?”
“Telepathic,” Harvey answered.
“You sure you two aren’t like…secretly going at it?” Jory asked, ignoring Harvey.
I coughed. “What? No! We’ve just known each other forever.”
“Or you just want to bone each other.”
I huffed a laugh. Only it wasn’t very believable. Which was weird. “Charley? No.”
The whole Brock thing was on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t bring myself to tell them that she had a crush on another guy anyway. I did the next best thing. After all, befriending Brock was the whole point of my new quest.
“What do you guys know about Brock?” I asked.
Bleeker looked up at him across the Common Room. “Not much. Seems all right.”
“He’s a Power fan,” Harvey said.
“Ooo…” we all chorused, looking at Brock again.
Port Power were rarely the popular South Aussie footy team in our circles. Unfortunate, but Charley didn’t much care for football anyway.
“Can’t hold that against a bloke.”
“Can,” Bleeker said.
“Don’t have to,” I amended.
Bleeker nodded to me. “Maybe not.”
“We could forgive him that,” Jory said slowly.
“Why do we need to forgive him anything?” Bleeker asked.
I shrugged, aiming for nonchalant. “I dunno. It’s our last year. Might be nice to leave this place with a few more mates?”