“Clarity, this is Vincent’s friend, Maurice. Maurice, this is my best friend, Clarity.”
Maurice tips down and holds out a hand for me to shake. I take his, intimidated by the way he towers over me. Even when he takes a seat between Kristen and me, he’s still a whole head taller than me.
I introduce Hannah, since Kristen clearly doesn’t intend to.
“Nice to meet you both,” Maurice says to me.
He glances at Hannah, and she smiles at him politely but in an annoyed way that only I notice, because I know her. Then he returns his attention to me, eyes all relaxed, the color of brown tea, tight curly hair fading into a crisp shape up at his hairline, and full lips stretched into a smooth, easy smile.
Maurice is factually and objectively attractive. His skin is a deep, blemish-less brown. He’s wearing a jacket, unzipped, and exposing a dark blue shirt tight enough to showcase the rippling ridges of hisabs. And his jacket sleeves are taut over what must be equally muscular arms.
“Vincent and Maurice skate together. They’re putting on that show in October,” Kristen explains. “Maurice is single.You’resingle—”
“Kristen!”
“I figure, why should two supercool people like yourselves stay single?”
“Oh myGod!” I thrust my fingers into my hair and hold my face in my hands, mortified. “You did not just say thatout loud.”
“Clarity, it’s okay. Maurice, unlikeyou, has been totally on board with the whole matchmaker thing,” Kristen explains, not helping even in the slightest. She adds, I assume to Maurice since I’m still covering my face with my hands, “She’s kinda shy.”
“I think she’s just caught off guard,” Hannah chimes in.
I drop my hands immediately and look from her to Kristen… and then to Maurice, who—judging by the wide smile on his face—is eating this up.
“Sheis fine,” I huff to the air. “It’s nice to meet you, Maurice. I think it’s cool, what you and Vincent are doing to raise money for the skate park.”
“It was mostly Vincent’s idea, but I’m glad to help. You’re coming, right?” he asks, gently bumping his shoulder against mine.
“Yes, I am.”
“And Kristen tells me that you plan festivals,” he says, though it comes out more like a question.
I open my mouth, but Kristen rushes to say, “She’s planning the Squash the Pumpkin Festival. Our school hosts it, but thewhole township is welcome to come. It’s a pretty big deal, and this year Clarity ispresidentof the festival planning committee, so it’s going to be the best one yet.”
Kristen describes the festival in more detail before hammering her point home. “Clarity is the backbone of the committee. She’s worked so hard ever since she joined as a freshman. I’m excited. You have to come.”
Maurice glances at Kristen a couple times during her spiel, but mostly, his eyes stay on me. On my face, then on my eyes specifically. The attention is daunting, like I’m under a microscope. And without looking ather, I can feel the negative energy rolling off Hannah.
I don’t blame her. I basically invited Hannah on my own blind date, and instead of making any attempt to clear everything up, she just has to take it.
“The festival sounds supercool,” Maurice admits.
I jump in and add, “Hannah is actually my copresident this year. We’re working on it together.” Looking over Maurice’s shoulder, I catch Kristen’s lips twitch. Thankfully that’s subtler than an eye roll. “We just decided to have the festival at Highland Park.”
“Isn’t that, like, the make-out park?” Maurice asks, laughing a little.
“You’ve been?” I ask.
“I mean, yeah. I’m pretty sure everyone’s been at least once. Haven’t you?”
“Um—I—” I stop before I stammer out of control and resistthe urge to glance at Hannah. My cheeks tingle as my face begins to heat up.No one knows about the kiss. You’re just friends. There’s nothing to hide.“We went to scope it out,” I say, technically not lying.
That easy smile slips over his lips again, and it reaches his glassy eyes—he’shigh. The realization hits me, and I don’t know what to feel. I’m a little annoyed, especially that Kristen would go to such lengths to set me up with someone who smokes when she knows I don’t like it. At the same time, Maurice isn’t even a prospect for me, so whether or not he likes to smoke doesn’t actually matter…
I glance over at Hannah and catch her watching the game before my movement draws her attention back to me.I’m sorry.
“Do you still want snacks?” I ask instead, figuring she might need to vent more than me at this point.