The One That I Want(11)
Author: Jennifer Echols

Uh-oh. “What?”

“Max asked me out! He works as a soccer referee on Saturdays and Sundays, and their school starts back Monday like ours, but he wants to go out with me next Friday night!”

“That’s great!” I forced out as my heart sank into my gut. Oh no. I had liked Max so much—way more than any boy I’d ever known for only an hour—and though Addison had been flirting hard with him, I’d begun to hope he would see that I was the girl for him. He was fascinating and quirky. He belonged with the quirky sidekick friend, not the popular princess friend. What was he thinking? How could he?

But as I stared at Addison in shock, I took in her asymmetrical shirt and crazy, colorful, dangling earrings, which I’d convinced her to buy on clearance so she’d have something in her closet besides preppie pastels. Max didn’t know this.

Maybe he’d mistaken Addison for the quirky sidekick friend. That was the only explanation. And my purple hair and bracelet collection really had passed for fashion. I had sat there paralyzed and mostly speechless while Addison had flirted with Max and told him how rich my dad was. He had thought I was snobby, not socially awkward. I had changed the way my body looked, but I couldn’t change the way I acted. In a battle with Addison over a boy, Addison would always win. I had never intended this or imagined it would happen in my lifetime, but I had been mistaken for the popular friend, and the boy I’d been looking for thought I was not his type.

Damn it!

Addison grinned her toothy majorette grin at me. “And you’re going out with Carter!”

4

“I’m going out with Carter? The quarter back?” I acted confused, but really I was fishing for information. I hoped she’d gotten the two boys mixed up. Addison had a date with Carter, and I had a date with Max. This scenario was unlikely but not beyond the realm of possibility. After all, she had flirted with Carter, too. She had rubbed Carter’s arm and told him he was not a fart. Maybe he’d gotten the message and asked to go out with her.

Wrong. “Yes, you’re going out with Carter the quarterback!” she said. “You two are so cute together.”

I found this highly doubtful. To figure out what had actually happened, I played along. “And I can tell you really like Max.”

“He is so hot,” she confirmed.

No argument there. But he was more than just hot to me. He was hot and hilarious, the perfect guy. Carter was not. Luckily, I didn’t have to worry about that. “See, here’s the thing, Addison,” I said slowly enough for her to understand. “Carter didn’t ask me out.” In fact, if I never saw or heard from Carter again, I wouldn’t have been surprised. She could go out with Max once, and I would try to forget the whole funny conversation with him had ever happened.

“Yes, Carter did ask you out.” Addison nodded, as if that would be enough to convince me.

“He did? Where was I when this happened, and what did I say?”

She rolled her eyes. “I mean, we’re all four going out together.”

I ran my hand back through my hair. Or tried, but my fingers got caught in the back-combing I’d used to make my ponytails look more rock-and-roll. I put my hand down with a frustrated sigh. “Who says we’re all four going out together?”

“I say. My mother would never let me go out with a boy without having you there. Especially when she didn’t grow up with his parents.”

Addison was, in general, full of shit. But she was not making this up. Bad things had happened in her family. Her mom had divorced her dad, with good reason, and now her mom kept a tight rein on the four kids. I would have guessed that’s what had pushed Addison into becoming the biggest flirt in school, except she had been like that already.

The one way Addison could go anywhere she wanted was if she took me along. It was a running joke between us. She would ask her mom if she could go to a concert. Her mom would say no before the words got out of Addison’s mouth. Then Addison would add that I was going. Addison’s mom would tell her to have a good time and ask her if she needed any money. We had plans to test how far we could push this by having Addison tell her mom we were going to visit her boyfriend in prison, but we hadn’t gotten around to it yet.

The thing was, Addison’s mom wanted Addison to hang out with me because I was rich, and my mom was in charge of the elite circles of Atlanta society that Addison’s mom wanted so badly to join. My mom didn’t mind me hanging out with Addison because her mom was always willing to invite me over, which got me out of my mom’s way. Addison and I had become best friends in fifth grade without any say in the matter at all.

“Addison,” I said, “Max wants to go out with you, but Carter doesn’t want to go out with me. I’m not dating Carter just because you say so.”

“Max says so too. He says the Dolly Paranoids are playing in a concert hall at Little Five Points, and he can drive us all down there.”

“What! You’re kidding!”

She raised her eyebrows at me. “You’ve heard of the Dolly Paranoids?”

“Yes, they’re awesome!” Now I was excited about this date—even if it was with Carter. “Album 88 plays them a lot.” Addison was so square, she probably hadn’t heard of the indie rock radio station at Georgia State, either. “The Dolly Paranoids are sort of a country speed-metal band.”

“Max thinks they’re awesome too,” she said doubtfully. “Carter didn’t seem too thrilled.”

I couldn’t picture Carter being thrilled about anything.

“We’ve already decided Carter will pick me up because he lives closer to me,” she said, “and Max will pick you up because he lives closer to you. We’ll meet in the middle and drive down together. It’s a done deal.”

Wait a minute—Max was picking me up instead of Carter? I’d have to make small talk with the guy who’d chosen Addison over me? I was not excited about the date anymore. “It can’t be a done deal when you didn’t even tell me about it!”

“I’m telling you now.” She paused. “You don’t like Carter?”

“Sure, I like him fine,” I lied.

“Then why won’t you go out with us?” she whined. “Are you afraid you’ll say something dumb in front of Max again?”

I felt my cheeks turn hot, which made me angry at myself. Now Addison would think she’d guessed right, when she hadn’t. I was reluctant to go, but not because I would embarrass myself. I wasn’t even feeling very jealous. I’d liked Max a lot, but the fact that he’d asked Addison out lowered my opinion of him. Which didn’t say a whole lot for my friendship with Addison, but there it was.