“And I plan to learn it all,” he promised.
I entirely lacked the focus and confidence, really, to say anything cute or flirty back, so I did what I could manage. I smiled, no teeth, so as not to seem too eager, but big enough to show just how happy that comment had made me.
Trey smiled back as his hands finally left my sweater, allowing me to robotically walk out the kitchen. I stepped out the front door, toddled down the road to the neighborhood park.
That’s where I sat my butt in the grass with a giddy grin plastered on my face and squealed like the smitten fool I was.
6 Trey Turner
Trey
I tiptoed through the Mason home, toward the bear-like snores echoing from my best friend’s room. Peering past the door, I confirmed that Liam really was sleeping, despite his racket.
I didn’t understand how the girls in this house got any rest with that kind of noise reverberating through the halls, but I was thankful for it at the moment. The noise was a signal that gave me the confidence to sneak down the hall toward the bedroom I’d only caught glimpses of through a slightly ajar door.
Natural light and a balmy breeze seeped in through her open window. I checked down the hall one more time before I pushed the door open and went inside.
Grinning, I stepped over a few pieces of clothing strewn across the floor. I padded up to her bed, the one I’d briefly seen her doing homework in or reading her books. Atop her nightstand was a picture frame. The picture was of Maybelle and her mom, embracing on the beach.
Maybelle Mason.
Her room wasn’t what I pictured. I thought for sure the quiet girl would be tidier. More nit-picky. Instead, herbed was disheveled, and there were clothes littering the floor. Makeup cluttered a white-painted vanity on the far wall, but there was one area of her room that was pristine.
In the corner was a bookshelf. One layered in novels of every length, color, texture and width. Lowering to peer at the squat shelving, I confirmed my assumptions. The books were stacked in alphabetical order. I smirked, dragging my fingers along the spines of a few.
I liked knowing this about her. I liked knowing she was a little messy, except with her precious books. I liked knowing anything I could about her.
I was confident, borderline cocky. I could speak to any girl and not get flustered. But MaybellefreakingMason was a whole other story. She terrified me. From the moment I first laid eyes on her, I’d been speechless.
The first time I saw Maybelle, she was picking Liam up from football camp and I all about drooled over my new best friend’s twin sister.
My sixteen-year-old heart wanted nothing more than to hold her hand, kiss her, and take her to the movies. Now, my bit older heart wanted to do a few more mature things—but you get the picture.
I tried to talk to her when we first met, but she avoided me like the plague. I didn’t take it too personally, though, because I soon realized that Maybelle thoroughly avoidedeveryone.
I thought she wasn’t interested and couldn’t care less that I existed. Probably wanting nothing to do with her twin brother’s annoying best friend. I tried to move on with life. I focused on football and indulged in the occasional flings with other girls—mostly as a distraction from what I couldn’t have. Unfortunately, no one sent my pulse rocketing or my stomach spinning the way my best friend’s sister did.
As rejected as I felt by Maybelle racing away or shutting down when I was near, I had to consider it a blessing.
From day one of meeting Liam, he and I easily clicked. Before Liam, I didn’t have friends.
I mostly kept to myself before the Masons had moved in. I focused solely on sports, my grades, and my mom. Those three things were enough to take over every spare moment I had, which left little room for friends and free time. When Liam came crashing through my life, I felt for the first time in a long time that I could just breathe. Like I wasn’t so alone.
Maybelle, not liking me back, removed a potentially catastrophic hurtle from mine and Liam’s friendship. Or, well, so I had thought… All that changed when she fell from my Jeep into my long-awaiting arms.
I got this kick of courage to try one more time to at least be a friend to her. Maybe get her to notice me as more than her brother’s best friend before high school was done, and we all went our separate ways. I leapt from the vehicle to open her door like a gentleman because girls like that stuff.
Except, I didn’t think to warn her. So, when the door swung open and she toppled out of the lifted vehicle, I panicked. I thought she’d be annoyed, making my efforts worthless. But fortunately for me, Maybelle wasn’t annoyed—she was nervous.
I felt her tense in my arms. Her breathing quickened, and her heart rate rampaged. At that moment, I realized Maybelle Mason liked me because I made her every bit as flustered as she made me. This alone filled me with all the confidence to try harder for the girl I spent so long liking from afar.
Except, after the rally, when she ran back to the car and ignored me, I got stuck in my head again.
Did I read too much into her reaction? Maybe it was solely embarrassment and not nerves. Then I contemplated all the complications.
If it didn’t go well with her, would it hurt my friendship with Liam? Would Liam even approve?
I stressed myself back into silence until this incredible morning. I was sound asleep on the Mason’s couch, when I woke to Maybelle bouncing and singing through the kitchen. As I sat in awe, watching the quiet girl dance and squawk, all I could think was what a wonderful life it would be to wake up every morning to this version of Maybelle.
