He follows me to the cash register while the girls poke at the glass and call out what flavors they want to one another. I force my eyes not to track their fingerprints.
“What’s a grade A jerk like you doing coaching a girls’ soccer team?” I ask him as he pulls out his wallet.
I can’t picture it. This is the boy who wears a permanent smirk and enjoys taunting people, specificallyme. I imagined him kicking puppies or stealing candy from babies in his spare time, not coaching a girls’ soccer team and buying them all ice cream. But here he is, and not a single girl looks like she hates him.
He points to one girl at the end. “My sister, Niyah, loves soccer. This is the first year she’s on the same team as her friends. Her coach was in an accident and had to quit, and their team would’ve been split up between different teams, so I stepped in.”
He’s coaching a soccer team for his sister? Hecaresthat she would’ve been separated from her friends? None of this new information meshes with what I know about the tall guy standing in front of me. Niyah spots us looking at her and smiles shyly, then joins in the discussion with her friends. She’s a cute girl. Her dark hair is braided away from her face with her tight curls left natural in a short bun at the top of her head. She’s taller than most of the other girls, but she’s still super short compared to Jay.
I squint at him. “Whoareyou and what have you done with the jerk I know?”
“You’re so dramatic. I’ll get twenty cones, please.”
I punch in the code and take the bills from his hand while eyeing him suspiciously. Stepping in as coach, buying ice cream for the entire team,andsaying please? Who is this Jay?
“So, are your panties black today?” he asks casually.
There he is.
I scoff, not even offended at this point. “They are.” My yoga pants are black, so obviously my thong is too.
His smile is teasing and secretive. “It’s fun knowing what color your panties are.”
“Too bad you’ll never get to see them,” I say, handing him his change.
“Have your friends paid someone to go on another blind date with you yet?” he asks. He doesn’t say it meanly; instead, he’s entertained. My current situation amuses him. Apparently, everything about me does.
My eyes narrow at him. “Technically, they never paidanyone, since you received nothing for showing up.”
“Except the satisfaction of annoying you,” he replies.
“Yes. Except that.”
He leans against the counter. “Are you going on another date or what?”
“Yes, tomorrow. Why do you care so much?” I ask as I put on a pair of latex gloves.
“I’m curious.” He shrugs. “Plus, your friend made it sound like you werereallydesperate for a boyfriend when she bribed me to take you out.”
I’m going to kill Kalani.
“I’mnotdesperate for a boyfriend,” I explain. “I agreed to be set up because Kalani and Emi think I’m annoying tagging along on their dates and being a fifth wheel.” And to throw Kalani off about my crush on Emmett. “And I’mliving a little.”
He raises an eyebrow. “A fifth wheel?”
“Yeah. Like a third wheel, but there’s another couple. Two couples, then me. It’s basic math.”
“I understand the math—I received the math award two years in a row.” He waves me off, straightening up from the counter. Before the shock can sink in that Jay—Jay!—is so smart he got the highest grade in math two years in a row, he says, “She’s setting you up so you’re not fifth wheeling their dates anymore?”
I don’t understand why I’m telling him any of this. I count out ice-cream cones. “Exactly.”
He ponders this for a second. “And because you’re in love with Kalani’s boyfriend, right?”
“Exa—wait. No.” I was too distracted counting, and we were having such a civil conversation, I forgot who I was talking to for a second. “Again, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Uh-huh. Still denying the obvious, I see.”
Deciding the best tactic is to ignore him, I turn to the excited kids, who are growing impatient while we bicker. “Okay, girls! If you know what you want, line up here.”