“Brooke, those guys are totally staring at
you,” my best friend Kelli Carson said to me as I paid at the
ice cream stand in the park.
“They’re staring at both of us,” I lied.
“Yo, Arizona
State!” they called.
“They’re staring at you,” she said,
referring to the free T-shirt I was wearing that I got at a tour at
the college I’d visited two weeks ago. “They’re
always staring at you.”
I looked over my shoulder and smiled at them, never passing down an
opportunity for attention from guys, especially attractive ones.
“This is perfect,” I said. “Let’s go talk
to them!”
I lead the way over to the guys before Kelli had the chance to
object. I knew exactly what she’d say: “they only want
to get to know you, not me. They’ll ignore me.” But
that wasn’t true. Maybe I’d captured their attention,
but now she had a chance to do it too and show them why they
should take an interest in her.
“Hey,” I sat down on the ground in front of the bench
and curb the six guys were sitting on, Kelli following.
“Hey,” one of them said first, obviously surprised that
we actually came over.
“One of you called us, I believe,” I laughed and ran my
fingers through my long brown curly hair, licking the melted
vanilla ice cream dripping down the cone.
“You go to Arizona State?” the cute blond boy with tan
skin and light freckles asked. “What are you doing in North
Carolina?”
“I live here, just toured there. I’m trying to go to
college far from home,” I said.
“Senior?” he asked.
“Sophomore,” I explained for both of us, as I pointed
Kelli and then myself. “Gonna be juniors. You?”
“Gonna be seniors next year,” he said.
“I think we actually go to school together,” I said.
“I feel like I’ve seen you guys before.”
“Maybe. But why are you trying to go so far away?” the
guy with tufts of light brown hair sticking out of his
snapback and mossy green eyes asked. He was definitely the
cutest.
“It’s different,” I said. “I like
adventures.”
“Maybe you’d like to come explore with us then,”
he half smiled.
“We’d love to,” I grabbed Kelli’s hand and
stood up.
“What are your names?” he asked, leading the way from
the park to the beach, his five other friends and us creating a
large group.
“Brooke Cooper,” I said. And when Kelli didn’t
answer, I said, “That’s Kelli Carson.”
“Cody Hayes,” he said.
"You don't know 'bout me, but
I'll bet you want to," -22, Taylor Swift
Note: if you're wondering what the characters look like, I made
a private tumblr with pictures of all of them. It's
dontgetyourhopesup-stories.tumblr.com and the password is witty.
Tell me what you think :)
