Free Second to No One by Natalie Palmer Page A

pre-anorexic blonde, and Jess was with the prettier girl with big, bright eyes. “It’s not like anything can happen tonight,” Drew said to Lauren with a demanding voice. “Just forget about him.”
    Kit and Trace, who had been lost in the conversation up until now, peered over their shoulders at the group in discussion. Kit turned to Lauren with an obvious look of disappointment. “What? Do you have a thing for Cole Bradley?”
    Lauren finally found the ability to focused on Kit’s face. “No, it’s nothing like that. I just…” She searched for a way to retract her previous outburst. “I just get nervous around popular people.”
    It sounded idiotic to me, but Kit bought it. “Them?” He nodded toward Jess’s group. “They’re not all that popular. Cole is a bench warmer of the worst degree, and those cheerleaders would do better in the glee club.” He laughed at his own joke and took a sip from his drink. “The only one that has any clout at all is Jess Tyler, and you have nothing to be nervous about. He’s a cool guy.”
    I’m pretty sure I could see Lauren’s heart beating through her sweater. It was obvious that Kit’s high appraisal of Jess only made her crush on him that much worse, and it didn’t help my feelings much either. How had I ever thought, for even a minute, that Jess could possibly be into a girl like me? I obviously wasn’t anywhere near good enough for him. To think that I actually thought he and I were going to end up together overwhelmed me with a feeling of embarrassment and inadequacy.
    Eventually Drew’s new boyfriend, Bryce, came through the diner door and squeezed in next to Drew. I had never met him before, but the way Drew described him, I had pictured him to be a lot taller, more athletic, and at least slightly charismatic. Bryce was none of those things. He wasn’t much taller than Drew, and there’s no way he weighed more than a hundred pounds. He wore thick-rimmed glasses (that looked more like an accessory than a necessity) and tight skinny jeans that you’d expect to see on one of the Jonas brothers. He was quiet and seemingly shy. But there was something that was intense about him, and it was obvious that despite their short time of knowing each other, he was very intense about Drew.
    I was so busy analyzing Bryce that I didn’t notice Jess get up from his table and approach ours. “Hey, you guys,” he said as he filled up his drink in the fountain drink dispenser just behind our table. I was at the end of the booth and propped perfectly underneath his arm where I had a front row seat of the smell of his familiar men’s deodorant. “How are the waffles?”
    I thought Lauren’s lips would crack the way her mouth was spread unnaturally across her face. She watched him with those flirtatious eyes of hers, and I knew that she hoped he had stopped by specifically to say hi to her. I couldn’t blame her for hoping however. She was the only one at the table with a waffle, and that perturbed me to no end.
    “So what’s the deal man?” Kit asked curiously before anyone had a chance to answer. “Are you on a date with Trista?” Out of all of us, Kit was the closest to being “in” with the junior crowd, so it was only natural that he would know the names of the JV cheerleaders.
    Jess cocked his head toward Trista, who I assumed was the pretty one, then looked back at Kit hesitantly. “Something like that.” He then looked right at Lauren. “It looks like you went for the blueberry waffle. Good choice.” I don’t know what annoyed me more, the fact that Jess was purposely singling Lauren out or the fact that he was obviously flustered because he couldn’t think of anything better to talk about than her stupid blueberry waffle.
    Lauren smiled with wide flattered eyes. “It’s really good.” Right, Lau ren. Don’t mention t he fact that the wai tress practically ha d to hold you at gun point to get you to order it.
    “What about you, guys?” Jess