Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating - Christina Lauren Page 0,38
the happy little shake of her head.
I hand her an apple and a cellophane-wrapped bunch of sunflowers. “I thought I’d catch you at lunch—I wanted to wish you a happy first day.”
She takes the flowers and hugs them to her chest. “You already did that when you texted me this morning!”
“Well, I’m glad I decided to be thorough or I’d have missed all of this.” I motion from her toes to the top of her head, where, incidentally, there’s a ceramic bookworm pinned in her hair.
She does a little spin. “You like? It’s my traditional first-day-of-school costume.”
“And to think my sister is just wearing a new cardigan. How’s it been so far?”
“Pretty good! No emotional meltdowns and only one tetherball incident at recess. The students are writing down their goals for the year. Do you want to come in and meet them?”
I’m in the middle of telling her no when she reaches for my jacket and yanks me inside.
“Class.” Twenty-eight sets of eyes look up from their papers and focus squarely on me. “I want you to meet my best friend, Josh.”
There is a combined verse of ooooh and one lone rebel who calls out, “So he’s your boyfriend?” followed by a chorus of giggles.
Hazel gives a very practiced tilt of her head and the room quickly quiets down. “Josh is a guest in our classroom, so we should be on our best behavior anyway, but he’s also Mrs. Goldrich’s brother. Let’s all welcome our new friend to our classroom.”
“Welcome, friend,” they say in unison, and without the lingering boyfriend scandal to hold their attention, they quickly lose interest and return to their projects.
“Well done, Ms. Bradford. That was impressive,” I tell her. “You are awesome at bossing small humans around. If only Winnie listened so well.”
“The only way Winnie listens to me is if I put a bagel on my head,” she says, and turns to set the flowers on her desk. “And thank you again for these. You’re second only to a unicorn as far as best friends go, Josh Im.”
“I wanted to see you in your element, and it gave me a good excuse to stop by with a development on the Josh and Hazel double-dating bonanza.”
“Ooooh!” She claps her hands, watching as I pull out my phone.
“My friend Dax is a veterinarian and breeds Shetland ponies or something in Beaverton. Really good-looking, too.” I open my Facebook app and find his name.
“You have a veterinarian friend with ponies and you’re just now telling me about him? An imaginary talking badger has taken back second place in the best friend hierarchy.”
“I completely forgot,” I say, and click through to his profile, zooming in on the image so she can see. “We went to high school together and he popped up in my feed this morning.”
Hazel leans in for a closer look. “Would he be bringing a pony on the date?”
“I can certainly request it.”
She takes my phone and scrolls through his other photos. “He’s not unfortunate-looking and the prospect of future pony rides does sweeten the pot.”
“Should I call him?” I ask, studying her.
She hands me back my phone. “I’ve been thinking of asking the lifeguard at my pool,” she says in lieu of an answer, her lips pursed as she considers. “She seems really cool and can save your life if you fall in the river again.”
“I didn’t fall in the river, I was more or less pushed.”
“By gravity.”
I ignore this. “Maybe we could set something up for Friday?”
“I’ll stop by the pool on my way home and let you know.”
The volume in the class behind us is rising, and I know that’s my cue to let her go. “Sweet, I’ll get a hold of Dax and we can coordinate.”
It’s only once I’m back at my car that I register the reason I was thinking of a double date again: I want to hang with Hazel.
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When I get home Friday night, Hazel has clearly let herself in. I can hear the TV as soon as I step in from the garage, yelling, “Honey, I’m home.”
Winnie skitters around the corner when she hears me, almost knocking me over as I slip off my shoes. I’ve missed this girl but she is a terrible guard dog.
Hazel sits up when I walk into the living room and grins at me over the back of the couch. “Hola, señor.”
“Sorry I’m late.” Our dates with Dax and Michelle are tonight, and I have just enough time to shower and change if