Heartthrobs Don’t Date Wallflowers (Texting the Boyband)

Chapter 14

fourteen

The rain was relentless. It pounded against the pavement, turning the sidewalk into a shallow river that soaked my sneakers with every step. I hugged my arms to my chest, trying to keep my jacket closed even though its zipper was broken, but it didn’t help. Water was already dripping down the back of my neck, making me shiver. Of course, the one day I forgot my umbrella, the sky decided to open up like this.

I should have taken the bus. Why didn’t I take the bus?

The wind picked up, blowing the rain sideways. Great. Just what I needed. My bag thumped against my hip as I picked up the pace, squinting through the downpour. My house wasn’t too far—I could make it. Maybe. If I didn’t freeze first.

Every step splashed through puddles, sending more icy water into my already soggy shoes, and my skirt clung to my legs, soaked through. It was like Mother Nature had it out for me today, and I couldn’t figure out what I did to deserve it.

Just as I mentally cursed the rain for the tenth time, a car slowed down beside me. I ignored it at first, figuring it was someone just passing by. But the sound didn’t fade. Instead, it slowed down, matching my steps. My heart jumped, a flash of panic running through me.

Was someone following me?

I picked up my pace, but the car stayed there, rolling along next to me like it was waiting for something. I had to resist the urge to break into a run. Maybe I was being paranoid, but this was how horror movies started, right?

Just as I was about to peek over my shoulder, the window rolled down, and I caught a glimpse of him.

Zach.

I hadn’t seen him since we’d held the signs up the other day. Now, he sat in the driver’s seat, with his leather jacket—because of course he was still wearing it, even in this weather—peeking out from beneath his seatbelt. He didn’t say anything right away, just looked at me, eyebrows raised slightly like he was waiting for me to do... something.

I blinked, caught completely off guard. “Uh... Hi?”

“Get in.”

I stared at him, my brain struggling to catch up. “What?”

“The car,” he said, as if it were obvious. “Get in. ”

I glanced down at myself, my soaked clothes clinging to my skin.

“I’m fine,” I mumbled. “It’s just rain.”

His eyes narrowed slightly, clearly not buying it. “You’re soaked.”

“No, really, I’m?—”

He leaned over and popped the passenger door open. “Get in, Ivy.”

I hesitated, glancing around like there was someone else who might swoop in and save me from this awkwardness. But the street was empty, just the sound of rain hitting the pavement and the faint roar of thunder in the distance.

Zach continued to sit there, the open door like a silent challenge. My teeth were chattering at this point, and despite myself, I glanced at the warm, dry seat. I cursed the universe for making this decision harder than it should be.

I couldn’t get in the car. I couldn’t embarrass myself in front of him even further like this. Except… would it be more embarrassing to walk in the rain while he watched me? What if he drove alongside me the whole way home?

“Fine,” I muttered under my breath, slipping into the car before I could change my mind. I pulled the door shut behind me, feeling instantly guilty as water dripped from my clothes onto the leather seats.

I fumbled for the seatbelt, reaching for it with my bad hand without even thinking. My fingers were already stiff from the bruising from the locker incident, and with how cold it was outside, I could barely feel them at all, making it impossible to get a grip on the seatbelt. And even when I finally did manage to grab it and pull, it wouldn’t budge. Not even an inch.

“Ugh, come on...” I muttered, struggling to yank it free. I glanced at Zach and mumbled a quick apology under my breath, still wrestling with the stubborn thing.

“It’s okay,” he said, totally calm, like nothing was happening.

“No, really, I—” I yanked harder and this time I managed to pull it out a foot before it snapped back at me, just barely missing my face. I swore I saw my life flash before my eyes in that moment and let me tell you, it was not pretty. Apparently, most of my life up until this point had been me laying alone in my bedroom.

“Take your time,” Zach said, which somehow only made this all worse. He reached over and flicked a switch. A second later, the heated seat kicked on, warming up the back of my legs and lower back. Okay, honestly, it was mostly warming my butt, but I wasn’t complaining. It felt better than freezing to death in the rain.

I finally got the seatbelt free, but of course, there was a new problem: actually buckling it. Great. With my stupid hand still barely functional and my body shaking from the cold (even with the heated seat doing its best), I could barely hold the clasp.

“Are you serious?” I whispered in frustration. My face probably looked like a tomato right now. “Why is this so hard? ”

Zach leaned toward me. “Do you want me to?—”

“No!” I blurted out, immediately regretting how loud I said it. But no way was Zach Miles going to buckle my seatbelt for me. I would never live that mortification down. He snapped back the hand that had been reaching for me like I burned him. “I mean, I’ve got it. Just one sec.”

Smooth, Ivy. Real smooth. Go ahead and yell at the celebrity who was nice enough to offer you a ride home in the rain.

Well, offer might be a polite way of putting it. There wasn’t much choice in the matter. More like a kidnapping.

Go ahead and yell at the celebrity who was nice enough to kidnap you from the rain.

I didn’t feel so guilty when I put it like that.

“Really, it’s fine,” Zach said, but there was a hint of amusement in his voice. Was he hiding a smile? Oh, of course he was. I was dying of embarrassment and he was just enjoying the show.

Finally, after what felt like forever, the belt clicked into place.

“There!” I exclaimed way too loudly, like I’d just won an Olympic gold medal for seatbelt fastening.

He shot me an amused look, his lips curving into a smirk. I was thrown back into that day I first saw him through the window, when he’d caught me dancing alone in my room. He had that same look on his face now and it made me flush bright red.

Was there any chance this seat heater was hot enough to make me melt away?

“I’m sorry,” I blurted out, glancing at the puddle forming beneath me. “For... you know, getting everything wet.”

His eyes drifted over me, going from head to toe and back up again, as if he was checking me out. I couldn’t imagine Zach Miles checking me out at the best of times, but especially not when I looked like a drowned rat. I suddenly wished I hadn’t brought this attention upon myself and I tugged my jacket tighter around my body like that could undo what he’d already seen.

But Zach didn’t look disgusted or mocking at all. His adam’s apple bobbed as he looked at my face again and then he said, “It’s just water.”

I stared at him, waiting for something more. But that was it. Just water . Like I hadn’t just soaked his expensive car with my soggy jacket and dripping hair. I shifted awkwardly in my seat, pulling my bag closer to my chest, trying to keep my wet clothes from touching anything else, while he finally started driving.

“Thanks for the ride,” I blurted out.

Zach gave a short nod and he glanced at me quickly. “You shouldn’t walk in weather like this.”

“Thanks, Captain Obvious.”

His mouth twitched like he was trying to hold back a smile. “I mean, there are buses that run around here. Why walk?”

I tugged a little on the strap of my backpack, not wanting to admit that the rain had been so heavy when I left school that I actually couldn’t remember how to find the bus stop a block away and thought walking home would be easier. But of course, it wasn’t, a) because of the rain and b) because I still didn’t know my way home. I couldn’t admit that to him, though, so I said, “Well, I didn’t plan on it being a monsoon when I left school.”

When he turned onto our street, I felt a strange mix of relief and... something else. Disappointment? No, that couldn’t be right. Why would I be disappointed that this was over?

Zach drove past his house so he could pull up in front of mine. I would have been okay with walking from his garage, but it seemed late to say that now as he came to a stop at the end of my driveway. He turned his head slightly, his dark eyes meeting mine, and even though I knew I should get out, I found myself frozen in place, staring into them. I felt a familiar flutter in my chest that only seemed to happen around Zach, the one that felt like my heart had skipped a beat and wasn’t quite sure how to get back to its usual rhythm.

“Thank you,” I murmured, not quite sure what I was thanking him for but feeling like I should be saying it anyway.

“I can do this again,” he said. My brows furrowed in confusion. What did he mean by this ? Saving me from the rain? Was he really that sure I’d get stuck in this situation again? And his tone was weird–not quite angry but not normal either. Maybe… embarrassed. About what, I didn’t know. I was the only one who needed to be embarrassed with how this da y was going.

“What?”

“Anytime you need a ride. All you have to do is ask.”

I wondered if he realized what he was suggesting I do. If he genuinely thought that I, quiet Ivy Wade, would ever ask a famous Zach Miles for a favor. But deeper than that, I wondered if he realized what his offer meant. How many girls out there would kill me if it meant they could take my place in his car–or that I was perhaps the only girl in school who didn’t want it.

Or maybe it wasn’t that I didn’t want it. Maybe it was that I didn’t want a favor from Zach Miles, the celebrity. I knew, if I ever did ask him for anything, I wouldn’t be asking with that in mind. I would be asking the version of Zach Miles I knew, the one who held my hand on the whole walk to the nurse and who talked to me through signs in our windows.

“And stay out of the monsoon next time,” he said, saving me from having to form a response.

I couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at the corners of my mouth. “I’ll try.”

I finally grabbed my bag and opened the door, stepping back out into the rain. It was still coming down hard, but after the warmth of his car, it didn’t feel quite as bad. I glanced back at Zach one more time, half-expecting him to already be looking away. A jolt ran through me when our eyes locked again and I realized he’d been watching me, even as his hands rested on the steering wheel like he was ready to go.

I hesitated for a second, then shut the car door. The rain instantly soaked through my clothes again, but I didn’t mind as much this time. I watched as Zach started to turn the car, leaving me standing there in the downpour, still trying to figure him out.

I couldn’t shake the weird feeling in my chest. It wasn’t just the fact that Zach had stopped for me in the rain. It was something else. Something about the way he didn’t act like I was some huge burden for ruining his car, or the way he didn’t make a big deal out of helping me.

It was... unexpected.

And maybe that was the weirdest part of all.

I trudged up the steps to my front door, shaking off the worst of the rain. My fingers were frozen as I fumbled for my keys, already thinking about how nice a hot shower was going to feel.

But as I dug into my backpack, shoving aside wet notebooks and stray pens, my fingers didn’t find the familiar cold metal of my house key. My heart did a little flip—this time not the cute, fluttery kind.

I froze.

No. No, no, no.

I dumped the contents of my bag right there on the porch, frantically searching through everything: my damp history textbook, my half-eaten granola bar, my phone that was about to die. But no key.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

I swore softly under my breath, hunching down to double-check the pockets of my jacket, then feeling around on my skirt, as if it might have somehow grown pockets since I put it on this morning.

Nothing. Of course. Because that was just how my day was going.

I stared at the locked door, rain still dripping down my face. My mom wouldn’t be home for at least another thirty minutes since she was still at work and it wasn’t like Poppy would be of any help at boarding school. I was on my own.

I glanced at my phone, barely any battery left. Maybe I could call my mom, but... even if she answered, she couldn’t exactly leave work.

My teeth chattered as I looked around, assessing my options. The overhang above the porch wasn’t big enough to keep me dry, but maybe I could huddle under it for a while.

But just as I was weighing the options, a light lit up next door and I spun around. Zach was just coming up onto his own porch now and the automatic light over the door had lit up, unfortunately also capturing me in their spotlight.

Of course, this was happening. First, I drenched his car, and now I was about to get caught looking like some sad, rain-soaked dog who didn’t even have the common sense to bring her keys.

I forced a shaky breath, willing myself to stay calm. Maybe if I just stood here quietly, he’d go inside and leave me to figure this out on my own. But of course, because life had it out for me today, I saw him walking back down and a few seconds later, he was on my driveway.

I swallowed, pretending to busy myself with my bag, like if I looked occupied enough, he might not ask why I was still standing here like an idiot.

“You locked out?” His voice cut through the rain, and my heart skittered in response.

I looked up at him, heart sinking, but I tried to play it off. “Uh... yeah. I think I left my keys inside.”

Zach just stood there, watching me for a second, rain dripping off the ends of his dark hair. He didn’t look bothered by it at all.

I, on the other hand, was starting to shiver uncontrollably. “It’s no big deal,” I added quickly. “I’ll just... wait for my mom.”

Zach raised an eyebrow. “In the rain?”

“Well, the porch has an overhang,” I said, gesturing weakly to the barely-there protection above my head. “So, you know. It’s fine.”

Zach didn’t look convinced. His eyes flicked up to the overhang, then back to me, his expression unreadable as always. And then, without another word, he turned on his heel and started walking back toward his house.

I blinked, unsure of what to do. Was that it? Was he just going to leave me standing here? A weird mixture of relief and disappointment washed over me, and I let out a breath.

But just as I was looking for the driest spot to sit down on–it was looking like the spot right up against the door, where I could lean against it and pull my knees up to my chest to keep them out of the rain–I heard Zach call over his shoulder.

“Come on.”

I looked up, startled. “What?”

Zach stopped at the edge of his driveway. “You’re not staying out here. Come inside.”

I stared at him for a second, not sure I heard him right. “Oh, no, that’s really okay,” I stammered. “I don’t want to?—”

“Ivy.” His tone was firm, but not unkind. “It’s freezing. You’re not staying out here.” He paused, eyeing my shivering form for a second. “Come on.”

There was that insistent look again. Like he was technically giving me a choice, but not really. I hesitated, glancing between his house and mine, weighing the options in my head. My house was locked. His house was... well, his. And I wasn’t exactly keen on the idea of spending any more time in the rain.

“I don’t want to bother you,” I said weakly, still not moving.

“You’re not,” Zach replied, completely unfazed. He was already halfway to his front door by the time he finished speaking, clearly expecting me to follow.

I let out a long, shaky breath. What was I supposed to do? Stand out here and freeze? Get pneumonia just to avoid a little awkwardness?

With another shiver, I picked up my bag and reluctantly followed him.