Best Friend's Boyfriend

Chapter 1

            “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.

            “Sophomores,” I explained for both of us, as I pointed Kelli and then myself. “Gonna be juniors soon. You?”

            “Gonna be seniors,” 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. Brooke and Kelli,” he repeated. “Beautiful names for beautiful girls I guess.”

            We both laughed at how cheesy he was. “What about you guys, what are your names?” I asked.

            “Carter,” said the blond boy who originally asked if I went to Arizona State.

            “Graham,” said the muscular one in a tight white tank, khaki shorts and vans.

            “Mattie,” said the tallest one who was about 6’4. Ugh, yum.

            “Duke,” said the curly haired guy who was about 5’7, and inch taller than me, two inches taller than Kelli.

            “Jace,” said the last one with flirty blue eyes and dark brown, almost black hair.

            “Cody, Carter, Graham, Mattie, Duke, Jace,” I repeated. “I’ll try to remember.”

            “You’ll try?” Carter laughed.

            “Maybe if you guys had like, a cute slogan or something it would be easier to remember,” I joked.

            “A cute slogan?” Mattie laughed. “What’s your ‘cute slogan?’”

         “Brooke and Kel, angels from hell,” Kelli and I recited at the same time and laughed.

            “That’s clever,” Duke laughed.

            “Right? No one will ever forget our names,” Kelli laughed. It surprised me that she actually said something. This was new, and I was hoping it would continue.

            “I don’t think we’ll be forgetting your names any time soon,” Cody winked and pulled Kelli a little closer by the hem of her shirt. She giggled nervously and looked at me, but I just gave an encouraging look back, because I knew she could do that all along.

            “So does your group have like, a little dress code or something?” I asked, referring to the similar outfits they all had- tanks and khaki shorts with vans and a skateboard in hand.

            They laughed and Jace said, “Do you and Kel always wear baggy T-shirts, Soffe shorts and flip flops?”

            “When we don’t know we’re going to run into hot guys we do,” I laughed. “Otherwise we would’ve dressed nicer.”

            “Well we’d love to see how beautiful you guys look when you’re actually trying, because you’re stunning just like this,” Cody said, looking straight at Kelli.