Click to Subscribe - By L. M. Augustine Page 0,5
to herself. “Surprised. That’s it.”
“So, how was the ice cream?” I say after another instant of us both blushing and not meeting each other’s gazes, changing the subject immediately.
She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and her face goes back to normal like nothing ever happened. She proceeds to look at me like I’m an idiot. “West,” Cat says. “It’s ice cream. What do you think my answer is going to be?”
“Along the lines of ‘badass’ and ‘best thing ever.’”
“You know it.”
“Dude, I totally do.”
We keep talking until the conversation slowly devolves into pulling out our phones and checking random memes. I sift through my vlog page without thinking and glance at some of the comments when an email pops up. It’s from Harper. Immediately, I click it.
from: Harper Knight
to: Sam Green
subject: OMG
I just saw an ad for a box-set of Stars Wars and Harry Potter mugs. Do you know what this means for my life?????? Awesome things, Sam Green. AWESOME THINGS.
I glance up at Cat, who is busy checking her phone, careful to make sure she doesn’t see what I’m doing. Like with my vlog, I’d rather her not know about Harper. I’m not sure why, but I almost feel like I’m somehow cheating on her with Harper. I mean, yeah, it’s stupid because Cat is strictly my best friend and Harper is, well… she is the girl I want, but I still feel like it.
That’s not a weird feeling to have, right?
I close my eyes. Oh who am I kidding? That’s totally weird. I have no idea why I feel that way, either.
Finally, I type my response.
from: Sam Green
to: Harper Knight
subject: RE: OMG
OMG is right. This is groundbreaking! Revolutionary! But when you buy it, promise to a) order a Harry Potter one for me and b) when you get it, put your feet on a table, get a Chewbacca glass, and drink orange soda from it like a boss.
from: Harper Knight
to: Sam Green
subject: RE: RE: OMG
OF COURSE I’ll get you one and OF COURSE I’ll drink from the Chewbacca glass like a boss. But it won’t be orange soda. I will, being the class girl I am, drink root beer instead.
Because let’s be honest here, root beer is a total turn-on.
from: Sam Green
to: Harper Knight
subject: WHAAAAT
I am now picturing you sitting on a beach chair and getting fanned with giant green leaves by servants on either side of you while you drink your root beer out of a Chewbacca glass (like a boss) and stare at a hot guy by the pool. (The hot guy being me, obviously, with ripped abs and biceps and perfectly tanned skin because that’s just how I look.)
Also: is this your screwed-up way of wooing me, Harper Knight?
from: Harper Knight
to: Sam Green
subject: RE: WHAAAAT
That’s exactly how it is. Then you get out of the pool and shake the water off your hair and perfectly chiseled stomach in slow motion with romantic music playing in the background. And after that you approach me equally slowly and we flirt via Chewbacca glass root beer because we are the cliché.
Also: yes, yes it is.
I grin, because Harper just has that effect on me. I’m about to type my response when Cat looks up from her phone and says, “You ready to go?”
“Um.” I glance down at the unanswered email. “Yeah,” I say, nodding. “I guess. Let’s go.”
“Cool.” She smiles at me, grabs her shopping bags, and we march out of The Icecreamery, leaving a tired-looking Sharon and several weirded-out parents in our wake.
Chapter 3
The next morning is a total daze. My alarm goes off too late, and I roll out of bed only to find that school starts in just forty minutes. Just my luck.
I throw on a shirt, race down the stairs, and skid into the kitchen, armed with a glass of orange juice and a bowl of Lucky Charms. It’s a Monday, and I am exhausted. Harper and I spent the entire night emailing back and forth to each other, a conversation which started out about school and ended in making fun of celebrities at award shows and lusting for Girl Scout Cookies. I was too smiley while talking to her to sleep or even worry about how shitty I’d feel in the morning, so I guess this whole Curse of the Monday Fatigue thing I’m feeling is my fault. I swear, though, it was so worth it. Talking to Harper is always