The Boyfriend League Read online

  I was really careful applying the mascara, keeping my eyes wide open until it dried—no clown spots this evening. I wriggled into my hip-hugging jeans and slipped on a lacy light blue camisole. I accessorized with a navy blue lace choker. Maybe I was half a Tiffany.

  The doorbell rang. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. My first official date with a guy from the baseball team. Shouldn’t I have been more nervous? Or at least a little more excited? Mac was hot. He was cute. He was interested.

  This was going to be fun.

  And at the end of the evening, maybe he’d give me a kiss to make me forget all about Jason’s.

  I grabbed my big beach tote, the one I used when I was going anywhere near the water. I’d stuffed an old frayed quilt into it, because the outdoor amphitheater wasn’t exactly set up for plush seating. Bird and I had been regulars last summer, and we pretty much had our routine down.

  I stepped into the hallway at the same time that Jason was coming out of his room. He was wearing jeans and a burgundy T-shirt that accentuated his dark coloring. It was the first time I’d seen him since last night. He’d been noticeably absent all day, working I guess. Or practicing. Or maybe just avoiding me.

  “Hey,” I said.

  “Hey.”

  I pointed to the stairs. “I’m going to the concert.”

  “Actually, Tiffany and I are going, too.”

  “Oh, really? You mean like a date?”

  “No.” He furrowed his brow, shook his head. “Just…friends I guess. She asked if I was doing anything tonight, and I wasn’t, so…”

  “That’s good. You’ll have fun. I’m glad. Really glad.”

  Okay, since I’d started running at the mouth, I decided to run for the stairs.

  “Mac’s really looking forward to tonight,” Jason said.

  I glanced over my shoulder and smiled so brightly I thought my jaw might come unhinged. “Me, too. I was kinda worried he wouldn’t show, after my jinxing the team.”

  “You only jinxed me. I’ve been thinking about it all day. I realized that I overreacted.”

  “Ya think?”

  “I’m trying to say I’m sorry.”

  “We decided last night didn’t happen, so as far as I’m concerned, all of it didn’t happen.”

  “Works for me.”

  “Excellent.”

  “Good deal.”

  “All right then.”

  I waited a beat. “We’re on the same page.”

  “Absolutely.”

  We both grinned.

  “I’ve run out of affirmatives,” I said.

  “Me, too.”

  “Okay, then.”

  Before we could start another volley of senseless banter, we both turned to the stairs. Partway down them, I heard voices. I wasn’t rushing down the steps and had no plans to go swinging around the corner. As I neared the foyer, though, I heard Tiffany.

  “But aren’t all baseball players catchers? I mean, aren’t they all supposed to catch the ball, so technically they’re all catchers?”

  I shook my head. She did not just ask that. No way.

  But when I came around the corner, Mac was looking at her like she was an alien life-form. Maybe she was, because no one could be that ignorant.

  Tiffany laughed. “I’m just teasing.”

  “That was a good one,” Mac said, but he said it like maybe he thought it was as lame as I did.

  Then he looked past her to me. “Hey, Dani.”

  “Hi.”

  He nodded at Jason, Jason nodded back, a real macho guy kinda greeting.

  “I think we should all ride to the concert together,” Tiffany announced.

  Mac actually looked embarrassed. “Uh, I have a pickup truck, one front seat.”

  “Jason could drive, couldn’t you, Jason?” she asked.

  I wanted to say no, but I didn’t know how to do it without sounding rude, and it looked like Jason didn’t know how to, either, so we all ended up in his car.

  “No misbehaving back there,” Tiffany said from the passenger seat, with a totally fake-sounding giggle.

  For a brief moment, I wondered if she was nervous. It was the kind of sound people make when they’re nervous. But no way was she not feeling comfortable. I mean, she was accustomed to being on a stage, strutting her stuff in front of hundreds of people. And she had, like, a million dates, so going out with guys was no big deal for her.

  While for me, it was an incredibly big deal.

  I was sitting behind Jason, so I could see his eyes in the rearview mirror. He was so serious, like driving down this street took immense concentration.

  “This is going to be so much fun,” Tiffany said. “We can all sit together at the concert.”

  “We’re meeting Bird there,” I told her.

  “She can sit with us, too,” Tiffany said, like she was being really generous in making room for my friend.

  “Actually, it’ll be Bird and Brandon.”

  She twisted around slightly. “Who’s Brandon?”

  “One of the other baseball players in town for the summer.”

  “That’ll be fun to include him, too. I bet the guys know him.”

  Jason and Mac kinda grunted, which I figured was their way of telling her she’d guessed correctly.

  “I’ll see. Bird may have other plans.” I didn’t want to commit Bird to sitting with us if she didn’t want to. Besides, I wasn’t totally certain I wanted to sit anywhere near Jason. It would be more than weird after what happened last night. Between trying to forget him and trying to impress Mac, my nerves were definitely on edge. Add Tiffany to the mix, and I could see only disaster on the horizon. I just wasn’t certain how many of her silly comments I’d have patience for tonight.

  I glanced over at Mac and really wished I hadn’t, because his gaze was focused on Tiffany, or as much of her as he could see, considering he was sitting right behind her. Tiffany with her hair all flowing around her, her makeup all perfect, and her shoulders bare because she was wearing a halter top.

  My tolerance for silly comments was going to be zero.

  When we got to the amphitheater, we did end up all sitting together on the grassy knoll. Brandon, Bird, me, Mac, Tiffany, and Jason. In that order.

  The stage was set up at the bottom of a small hill and the seats were carved into the landscape, reinforced with stonework, so it looked like a series of wide steps. People sat on the steps. Except at the very top—which was where we were—they sat on blankets.

  The band was local. The Blue Moon Group. The music had a dark, edgy sound to it. I couldn’t really decipher the lyrics, since they were screamed more than sung. It wasn’t the type of show I’d expected, but the concert committee had advertised they’d have an assortment of bands, orchestras, and offerings throughout the summer. This group had this whole Goth thing going, with leather and chains.

  “This music is so un-Ragland. Do you think the committee thought they were booking Blue Man Group?” Bird asked, near my ear, loudly.

  There weren’t any people sitting near us to be disturbed, and the volume of the music actually had the ground shaking. I wondered if they could cause an earthquake. Not that we were prone to earthquakes. Tornadoes were more our speed.

  My answer to Bird’s question was just a shrug. I was trying not to feel like a third wheel. Or in this case, a fifth wheel. Honestly, it was like I’d come without a date.

  “How does she do that?” Bird asked.

  I didn’t have to ask who the she was. I knew it was Tiffany. Nor did I have to ask what Bird was referring to. Jason and Mac were leaning toward Tiffany, listening to whatever it was she was saying, like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

  “Does she wear, like, turn-’em-stupid perfume or something?” Bird asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe guys like thinking they’re way smarter than girls.”

  “It’s gotta be an act. No one is that brainless.” She grimaced. “I don’t mean to dis your sister,