That Boy: A Small Town, Friends-to-Lovers Romance (That Boy Series Book 1)

The week passes by quickly. Operation Engagement is in place, and the day of our last sorority meeting is upon us.

I’m just getting back home from studying at the library. Well, I was sort of studying. Actually, I was supposed to be studying, but instead, I was flirting with—and then making out with—this hot guy from my Tech Design class. I’ve been trying to get him to ask me out all semester. Turns out, he recently broke up with his girlfriend and finally appears to be interested. I was so hoping that would happen!

Lori is sitting at the breakfast bar, apparently waiting for me.

I see the candle box on the bar in front of her.

Uh-oh. I don’t even get to say hello. She’s across the room in a flash.

“Look at this!” she says, thrusting the box into my hands.

I’m looking at the box I wrapped in beautiful fuchsia paper. The wrapping paper has little gold pineapples on it. Inside, I know is a thick fuchsia taper.

Attached in a ring at the base of the taper are fuchsia and orange tropical silk flowers with cascades of purple, orange, and fuchsia ribbons.

I’ve never seen a more beautiful passing candle in all my years, if I do say so myself. I also know that these are the colors and flowers of Lori’s dream wedding.

I am so bad!

“Pretty box. Is that for me? Late birthday present?”

“No!” she snarls, opens the lid, and shows me what’s inside. “Don’t be coy with me, missy. I think you already know exactly what this is.”

I give her my best puzzled look.

“This is your work, Jadyn. This candle is beautifully decorated, and I know you made it.” She squints her eyes at me, puts her hand on her hip, and speaks in a threatening tone, “Whose is it?”

“My work? I’ve never decorated a candle before”—well, except this one—“in my life. What are you talking about?”

“This bow”—she points—“looks exactly like the bows you made for all our Christmas presents.”

Damn!

This girl is too observant and maybe too smart for her own good. I briefly wonder if she’s already conducted forensic research on the box. I figure, next, she’ll tell me she’s dusted it for fingerprints.

Damn! I knew I should have worn gloves.

“Let me see your hand,” she demands, grabbing my left hand, probably getting ready to fingerprint and incriminate me.

But, instead, I see she is glaring at my very empty ring finger.

She shocks the hell out of me when she asks, “Did you get engaged, Jade?”

She looks at me seriously. It’s really hard for me not to just laugh hysterically in her face, but I refrain from doing so because I’m a good friend, and I realize that she’s in distress.

But her next question very nearly blows me away.

“Did you and Phillip finally come to your senses and get together? Are you passing this candle tonight?”

Okay, ha-ha, maybe she’s not that smart.

Her hands are on her hips, so I get the impression that she is quite serious. Gosh, I wish I were recording this, so we could all laugh about it later.

“Me engaged? And to Phillip of all people? Are you serious? I’m dating, like, two—well, maybe three—different guys right now; none of whom is Phillip. And, by the way, they make bows like this,” I say in a know-it-all voice while flipping the ribbons, “at any flower or craft shop.”

Looking closely at the candle, she says with a sigh so big that it blows her bangs up off of her face, “Jadyn, this blows.”

That’s funny. Candle. Blows. Get it? Oh, never mind.

She shrugs, lets out a huge, sad sigh, and drops onto the couch.

Uh-oh. Here we go. Meltdown time.

“It’s in my wedding colors—tropical flowers even! It’s like a bad joke staring at me, saying, Ha-ha, you’ll never get to pass your candle.” Then, all of a sudden, she completely changes directions, regroups, and says conspiratorially, “Okay, so we have to find out whose this is. Go ask around. I’m going over to the house to see what I can find out.”

And, with the look of a possessed woman, she gets up, takes the candle box, and leaves.

I grin to myself. I’m not too worried about what she’ll find out. Nobody in the sorority knows what will happen tonight but me.

And what the hell was that anyway about Phillip and me coming to our senses? Whatever. She so knows we are just friends. I don’t understand why people always think there is something between us.

I think, if there were, then I would know.

Duh.

I call Danny on his cell and nearly die laughing, telling him about Lori’s visit.

She is going to be so surprised!

I can hardly wait!

Because Lori has verbally abused nearly every sorority member and still no one seems to have a clue whose candle it is, there is much interest in tonight’s ceremony, and every member is present and accounted for. Our usual long-lasting and sometimes even a little boring business meeting is rushed through in record time.

I hope Danny’s ready early.

Finally, it’s showtime!

In usual presidential fashion, Lori announces that there will be a candlelight ceremony tonight.

But everyone already knows this and is forming the circle. Someone dims the lights while Lori lights the candle and starts the singing.

I knew that, as planned, Danny would be hiding just behind the door to the kitchen with the house mom, Doris, who, even though she is old, is still female and as such adores Danny.

I told him not to get distracted and to peek and listen carefully, so he would come out at just the right time.

Lori starts passing the candle around the circle to her right and says, “Promised or lavaliered.”

I’m strategically standing next to Lori on her left. I know she will practically die when the candle makes it all the way around to me on Engaged.

The candle makes its first lap, and as Lori starts the second round, she says, “Pinned.”

Once again, the candle makes its way around to Lori without getting blown out.

She pauses, holding the candle for an extra second, and then says with dramatic flair, “Engaged.”

Then, she starts it on its third go-round.

Whenever we get to Engaged, there is a special magic in the air, and even though we are all singing, there is kind of a collective, Oh!

This time is no exception. We know it’s the big one!

The candle is almost back to me, and I am freaking out! I’m using my mind to try to send Danny major telepathic messages.

Come out now!

Come out now!

But it doesn’t seem to be working. The candle is just being passed to me. Lori is giving me a look that, by all rights, should knock me dead. She waits for me to blow out the candle.

What a joke that would be!

Me engaged? Ha! And to Phillip!

Although, I mean, that wouldn’t be an awful thing. He is really hot and adorable.

But, oh, yeah, everyone is staring at me. They now know that either Lori or I got engaged. I look at Lori and smile at her. She gives me another death look.

I’m frantic!

So, I decide to stall. I take a breath in and pretend like I’m going to blow it out, and—thank you, God—Danny suddenly parts through the other side of the circle.

I shouldn’t have freaked. I should have known his timing is always impeccable.

I watch him walking toward us. Danny moves like a panther. Graceful yet feral. I mean, girls can’t help but stare, and trust me when I say that all eyes are riveted on him.

Well, all eyes but Lori’s.

She’s still got her eyes laser-locked on the candle she thinks I am about to blow out. I keep the candle in my hand, look at her, and bug out my eyes toward Danny.

She sees him and gets a look of horror on her face.

I can tell she is thinking, Oh my God, why is he here? Did something terrible happen?

He stalks up to her, and she whispers, “What’s wrong? Why are you here?”

Danny doesn’t answer her.

He looks her straight in the eye and slowly bends down on one knee.

The singing stops, and there is a collective gasp of breath from the girls. They’ve all figured out what is about to happen.

Lori still isn’t completely sure what Danny is doing, and if she’s figured it out, she can’t believe it’s really happening. She just stares at him in disbelief.

Danny takes her hand and says, “Lori, you are the most beautiful and brilliant woman I have ever known. I love you more than I ever thought was possible, and I keep falling further in love with you every day. You’ve made me so happy. I’m hoping you’d like to keep me that way for the rest of our lives. Make me a happy man, Lori. Marry me?”

Lori and most of the sisters have tears streaming down their cheeks.

Danny stands up.

Lori intensely looks at Danny, throws her arms around him, and screams, “Yes!”

The girls go, “Aah,” and just as they are finishing, a loudmouthed sophomore yells, “Where’s the rock, Danny?”

Danny backs away from Lori, into the center of the circle. Then, he starts doing what he does best—playing in front of a crowd.

“Come on, ladies,” he says, leaning back and holding both arms out in the air. “I have just pledged my undying love”—he brings both his hands to his heart—“to this woman in front of all of you. Do you really think she needs a ring?”

All of us, Lori included, scream, “YES!”

Danny nods, pulls a gray velvet ring box out of his pocket, drops back, and …

I don’t believe what I’m seeing.

For the first time in my life, I see Danny’s hand shake as he throws a pass.

He does manage to pass the ring box to Lori, but the pass is wobbly and a bit too high.

I fight my natural reaction to reach up and grab it.

Sadly, this pass is not meant for me.

Lori, bless her heart, who has probably never caught a football—or any ball, for that matter—in her life, suddenly develops the reflexes of a cat. She leaps up and snatches that ring box right out of the air. It’s amazing what a girl can do with the proper motivation.

She opens the box. I can’t see the ring, but when I see the way she looks at it and how happy she is, I start to tear up a little myself.

Danny puts the ring on her finger. The girls cheer and then start singing again.

I gently nudge her shoulder. “I think this is yours,” I say and pass her the candle.

Danny winks at me, and Lori gives me a huge grin. Now, she understands.

She and Danny blow the candle out together.

Someone turns up the lights.

Danny says, “Hey, I understand there is usually serenading after this. How ’bout we head outside?”

Danny and Lori lead the way with me tagging along right behind them.

I’ve got to see this! I can’t imagine what Danny had to promise to get some lowly freshman football players to come sing to his girlfriend.

This could be a total disaster.

This was the part he and Phillip planned on their own.

I just hope, for her sake, she’s not embarrassed if it’s totally pathetic.

But, as we come out the door, I literally see a sea of red.

I gaze around at the mass of people that Danny and Phillip have assembled.

There is what appears to be the whole football team dressed in red practice jerseys, pretty much every fraternity boy at the school wearing his house letters across his chest, and—my God—what must be the majority—no kidding!—of the school’s marching band! They are wearing assorted red shirts, shorts, and their big band hats.

Like magic, when Danny appears, the music begins. The team’s fight song. After that, they play a song everyone knows, and everyone sings along.

I sing the first few lines and then start humming, “Hum, hum, hum, hum, hum, hum, hum, hum, hum …”

Uh, I really should have learned the words to this song.

Well, one thing’s for certain! No one’s likely to forget this candlelight ceremony soon!

This isn’t an engagement.

It’s a wedding pep rally!

After a few songs, the serenading stops, and the event takes on a life of its own. Everyone has come out of the neighboring houses and dorms to see what’s going on, and pretty soon, it becomes one big street party. The band keeps playing, and everyone starts dancing. I’m standing on the steps of the sorority house, watching the whole spectacle in amazement, when I see Phillip waving at me from across the street.

I was wondering where that boy was hiding.

I also can’t help but notice how exceptionally hot Phillip looks tonight. He’s wearing a team logo T-shirt and a pair of baggy khaki cargo shorts. Nothing terribly exciting, but damn if he doesn’t look good in it.

He and Danny still work out together. Danny has been trying to bulk up a bit in preparation for the pros, and I realize that Phillip has bulked up a bit, too. I mean, he’s always had a great chest and arms, and I don’t know, maybe it’s because I see him every day, but I really haven’t noticed how great he looks. I especially like how big the muscles that go from his neck down to his shoulders have gotten.

Wow!

I run down the stairs, across the street, leap into his arms, and scream, “Phillip!” I throw my arms around his neck and give him a quick kiss on the lips.

“What was that for?” Phillip yells in my ear as he grabs my hips and starts dancing with me.

“I don’t know.” I shrug. “I can’t believe you guys did all of this. I’m so proud of you both!”

Honestly, I really don’t know why I just kissed Phillip. All the romance in the air must be adversely affecting me. That, or it’s because Phillip looks so hot. I mean, it wasn’t much of a kiss, just a quick little peck, but for some strange reason, I don’t think I would mind kissing him again.

Phillip intensely looks at me for a second, evidently reads my mind, and gives me a kiss on the lips. This one is just a bit longer than my peck, but still, it’s just a friend-type kiss.

I ask, “What was that for?”

Phillip just smiles and shrugs his shoulders, like, If you don’t need a reason, neither do I.

We dance together for the rest of the evening. We’re both just so happy for Danny and Lori.

We’re walking home when Phillip asks me, “So, are you bummed you never got to pass your candle?” He’s holding my hand and swinging my arm irritatingly high while we walk.

“Well, since I haven’t found a guy who can put up with me for longer than about three months, I’d say it’s probably for the best.”

“Gosh, what a spectacle that was. Would you ever want to be surprised like that in front of so many people?”

“I don’t know, Phillip. Part of me says no, way too flashy, but most of me says yes ’cause, God, what a romantic thing it would be to know that a guy planned all of that just for me. It would be pretty amazing.” I sigh and shake my head. “But I really don’t think I’m gonna have to worry about it.”

“Why? Never getting married?”

“No, I just can’t seem to find a guy who can handle me.”

“You are pretty tough to handle,” he replies while bumping his shoulder into mine.

“Yeah. Well, you and Danny are the only ones who can seem to do it, and darn it, now, it’s official; Danny’s off the market.”

“I guess it’s back to just you and me, Princess.”

“Yeah,” I say, wondering if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.