Heartthrobs Don’t Date Wallflowers (Texting the Boyband)

Chapter 25

twenty-five

When Zach told me about them having bonfires every Friday night, I tried to look surprised. I really did. I even practiced in my mirror beforehand because I knew it was going to come up at some point. I let my jaw drop open a little, widened my eyes, and even went, “Wow, really? That’s so cool.”

But clearly, I was a terrible actor because Zach saw right through it.

“How long have you known?” he asked.

“Uh, pretty much since the day I moved in,” I said. “Technically, I think we moved in on a Thursday, but then I saw you guys out there the next day, so...”

He shook his head. “And here I thought I didn’t have a stalker.”

I grinned. “Hey, I’m not the one who figured out your identity first. If anything, you’re my stalker.”

“Good thing we found each other,” he said. “Goodness knows other people might not have been so open to the idea of being watched like this. ”

He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me close, kissing me gently on the lips.

Someone cleared their throat behind us, from the direction of Zach’s open bedroom door. I pulled away with a laugh. By now, I was used to us never having any privacy at his house, with so many roommates. It was the opposite of being at my house, where we were almost always alone.

Neil was standing in the doorway, awkwardly shifting on his feet.

“The other guys are downstairs,” he said. “Luca’s trying to get the fire set up, but he can’t figure it out, and we were wondering if...” He trailed off, clearly wanting Zach to come down but not wanting to have to say it.

“I can help,” Zach said.

A girl appeared beside Neil, slipping her hand into his easily. She looked like a miniature version of Sloane, even though she was only a year younger. Not that they were identical. Where Sloane had long hair, Grace’s was cut to her shoulders and where Sloane always dressed preppy, Grace was wearing jeans and a T5 shirt, which matched her phone case that was a collage of T5 photos.

Grace was possibly the biggest fan of the band I had ever met. She was even in their fan club at school and was part of the group of girls that would go see them every single morning. I thought she would have stopped doing that when she and Neil started dating since she saw the boys all the time, but she told me it wasn’t just about seeing them, it was also about hanging out with her friends and other fans—because ultimately, even though she had Neil now, she didn’t stop being a fan of them. I thought that sounded really sweet—until Neil added that she used all of that as an excuse for seeing Jude in the mornings, because he was still her favorite member of the band.

“I just need to get changed before we go down,” I said.

Neil nodded. “I’ll let them know.”

He tugged on Grace’s hand, and she followed happily, leaning into his side and whispering something to him as they walked downstairs.

“Do you need pants or something to wear?” Zach asked, looking at my bare legs. I was still in my school uniform. I’d actually brought pants over, but it sounded like he was offering his clothes, and who was I to turn down that opportunity?

“Absolutely, I do,” I said. “What have you got?”

He grinned, clearly seeing right through me, but went to his dresser to grab some clothes.

“How would you feel about…” He started pulling random clothes out, glancing at them, and then chucking them back in. I wondered what his vetting system was—maybe what he thought I’d look cute in, or what he was okay with parting with, because he’d realized by now that I wasn’t planning on giving back any of his clothes? His sweater that I’d worn at the concert and the sweatpants he’d offered me on that rainy day, were still carefully tucked aw ay in my room. I was hoping to build up that shrine to him with some more of his hoodies. What else was the point of being his girlfriend?

“How about some Take Five sweatpants,” he said, chucking a pair of black sweats at me with the T5 logo embroidered on the right hip, “and a The Next Great Boyband sweater?”

Representing his current band and the show he went on that to become part of the band. How fitting.

“Perfect,” I said. I slipped into the bathroom and changed into the clothes quickly. By the time I came out, we were ready to head downstairs.

People were all over the house; I’d expected everyone to be in the backyard by now, but I could Grace singing to herself in the living room, and Finn was with his girlfriend Nina in the kitchen. Somehow, I’d gone this long without realizing that there was a girl who lived here too—Nina Russo Turner, Jude’s little sister. Apparently, she and Finn had started dating after she moved in, and though Jude hadn’t taken it too well at first, he’d warmed up to it by now. Finn was at the counter making some hot chocolate while Nina hugged him from behind, offering commentary about how he wasn’t putting enough marshmallows in.

We didn’t interrupt their moment as we stepped out onto the back deck. It was pretty much pitch black out by now, so the backyard was only lit by the lights in the hot tub to the right and the string lights draped over some patio furniture down the way. In the huge backyard, it wasn’t much .

“Finally!” Jude yelled as soon as we stepped out. He and Hudson were standing over the fire pit while Megan and Sloane were curled up beside it, blankets around them. I broke away from Zach, leaving him to deal with the boys, and went to sit with them.

Megan immediately offered me a blanket, and I took it, wrapping it around myself.

“How long have they been working on this?” I asked.

Megan groaned. “Don’t ask.” She took a swig from a thermos and then offered it to me. I took it and sipped, loving the taste of the hot apple cider.

“Yum,” I said, handing it back to her.

Grace came tearing out of the back door a second later, with Neil just behind her with a guitar in his hand.

“Found the chips,” she announced, holding up bags full of them. She dumped them by our feet and sat down beside her sister, yanking some of the blanket off her. Sloane glared at her but let her take it anyway. Guess that’s what big sisters did. I could relate.

“Will you guys hurry up?” Sloane said. “I’m freezing here.”

“This is harder than it looks!”

She glared at him. “Luca Jude, you do this every single week. Don’t you think you should know how to do it by now?”

They continued to bicker back and forth, but I was more focused on the first thing she said. Luca Jude. So he was Luca. The Luca that Zach would talk about all the time. The Luca in the group chat. The one who always made Zach coffee, who stole Hudson’s shirt, and who seemed to be possibly the most chaotic person ever. Of course. I should have realized it before.

I looked at Megan. Somehow, in all the craziness since Zach and I started dating, I’d forgotten to tell her about the mix-up with the group chat.

“Hey,” I said. She turned her curious gaze on me, her light blonde hair blowing around in the breeze. “I’ve been meaning to tell you—do you remember that first day of school when you added me to the science group chat?”

Megan nodded, looking a little confused.

“Well, see, the thing is, you didn’t actually add me to the science group chat.” She opened her mouth, probably to ask what exactly I meant. So I just barreled on and said, “You actually added me to the band group chat. At least, I think it’s the band group chat. I mean, Zach and Jude are definitely in it, and obviously, you are, and I’m guessing the rest of you are.”

Megan’s eyes widened and for a split second, I thought she was going to be angry. But then she burst out laughing. She elbowed Sloane hard in the side, breaking her out of the bickering match she was having with Jude, and said through a fit of laughter, “Ivy’s been in the group chat this whole time.”

It took Sloane a second to understand what Megan was talking about but then she started laughing too. If I’d realized they were going to find it this funny, I would have told them sooner. But then again, maybe it was better that I was telling them now that I was actually dating Zach. It might have been a different story back in those early days when I was just the new girl in town.

“I’m so sorry,” Megan said through fits of laughter. “I really—I really thought I added you to the science one. I—oh gosh.” She suddenly flushed bright red and let her head fall into her hands. “Oh, the things we talk about in there. You probably think we’re all freaks. It’s a wonder you’re even willing to be here tonight.”

“Megan was added to the group chat by mistake, too,” Sloane told me. “She was the first one of us ever added to it, because they added her instead of Zach by accident.”

“What?” I asked. “How—how does that?—”

“Wrong number,” Megan mumbled, still laughing into her hands. “They typed it in wrong, and here we are.”

If somebody had told me two weeks ago that they’d done that, I probably would have thought it was ridiculous that she stayed in the group chat, the fact that she ended up dating one of the boys in it. But who was I to judge? When I accidentally texted the wrong boy instead of my ex, I’d done the exact same thing. What was it about Zach’s number that was so hard to get right?

“So, who is everyone in the group chat?” I asked. “I’ve been trying to figure it out but it seems like they’re all inside jokes.”

Megan sighed. “Oh, trust me. It took me a while to figure it out, too. So, the boys first, uh… Hudson is Bay—you know, like Hudson Bay. And then there’s Ni-Ni, who’s Neil.”

“Right, I figured that one,” I said.

“Finn is Sharky.”

“Finn?” I asked, then it clicked. “Oh, like a shark fin?”

“I have to assume that’s why,” she said. “I’m not the one who named him, but that does seem like the kind of thing Luca would do, and I am certain that he is the one who named everyone.”

“Luca,” I said. I glanced at the boys by the fire pit. “Jude.”

“Yes.” She snapped her fingers like she was remembering something. “Sorry, I forgot to tell you. He only goes by Jude in the band, but his real name is Luca.”

“Luca Jude,” Sloane added. “It’s his middle name. That’s why he picked it.”

I nodded. “Okay, right. Makes sense.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Megan said pleasantly. Then she just continued on as if she hadn’t said that at all. “Not Zesty is Zach, but I’m sure you knew that already.”

“Yes”, I said. “Actually, it’s the name he used when we first started talking over text and we didn’t know each other. It was the name he gave me. That’s how I figured out he was in the chat.”

Megan’s eyes widened. “Okay, I need the full story of this sometime because I am so lost.”

“I’ll tell you later,” I said. I let my hands fall back on the grass and stared at the boys, who were still bickering about the best way to light the fire. It seemed like they finally started a flame, but now Luca wanted to add some more bark to it and Hudson was telling him not to.

“Okay, so that’s about half the group chat,” I said. “Who are the rest?”

“I’m Eggo,” Megan said. “It’s an old nickname from when I was a kid.”

“And Sloane,” I said, looking at her, “I’m guessing, you’re I cheer, you cheer? Which leaves Grace.” I racked my brain for what the last name was, and suddenly it all made sense. “Right, the Fangirl.”

Grace smiled widely. “Yep, that’s me.”

I looked over at the kitchen window, where I could still see Nina and Finn laughing about something inside. “Why isn’t Nina in the chat, then? I mean, I know Finn said that he wouldn’t want to subject her to that, but does she actually not want to be in there?”

Megan rolled her eyes and laughed. “We’ve actually added her a couple times. She keeps leaving every time. And Jude says he doesn’t want her there because having his little sister in there would ruin the fun.”

“I told him to get over it,” Sloane said flatly. She turned to glare at Grace beside her, who just smiled brightly back. Sloane’s facade cracked after a second and she smiled too.

“I think Nina just likes being annoying,” Megan said. “It’s funny to her.”

The back door opened, and Finn and Nina came spilling out, laughing about something. She had a blanket wrapped around her and was holding hot chocolate in her hands while Finn smiled at her like she’d hung the moon. I realized now, as I was looking at her again, that I’d actually seen her around the neighborhood before. Specifically, I’d seen her and Finn running in the mornings. I just hadn’t really processed exactly who they were or why he would be with her.

When I really looked at her—really, really looked at her—I could see how she and Luca resembled each other. They didn’t have the same hair, hers was a light strawberry blonde, while his was a dark brown, but some of their other features were the same. Their nose, their eyes, the way they smiled and laughed—it was all just similar. I wasn’t sure if I’d necessarily place that they were siblings in the way that I could with Sloane and Grace, but once I knew, I could see it.

“All right, so the fire started?” Finn asked as they came up. They plopped down on the grass as well.

“All good,” Hudson said. The boys dispersed and came over to sit with each of us. Zach pulled me in close, trying to take the blanket, but I just pulled it closer to myself.

“Blanket hog,” he said.

“Hey,” I replied, “you pegged me as that from the moment you met me. You don’t get to complain about it now.”

He held his hands up in surrender, letting me tug the blanket tighter on my shoulders. “Hey, anything not to end up back on your hit list. Oh speaking of which…” He pulled out his phone and wrapped his arms around me so I could see the screen while he typed. “I think it’s about time we changed your name in the group chat, don’t you?”

“Not princess,” I said warningly. “Only you get to call me that.”

I could feel his smile against the side of my face. “Fine.”

I watched as he opened the group chat and clicked on my contact. He deleted my name and hesitated only for a second before he replaced it.

Bee

“Bee?” I asked.

“Like that day I met you in the office,” he said. “you said your name was Bee.”

“I did not SAY it was Bee!”

“Then you need to learn to enunciate better.”

“No, your hearing must just be damaged from playing in the band.”

“Whatever you say.”

I smiled and snuggled further into Zach, who wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head. From this angle, I could perfectly see my balcony outside my room, the yellow light from my room spilling onto it. I’d forgotten to turn it off earlier—like I’d thought I would be back there again, like I was every Friday night. My heart ached at the sight of the empty balcony, as I imagined myself back up there—alone, watching, waiting for the day I’d get to be down here instead.

I let my eyes fall away from the balcony and looked around at everyone around me. Finn and Nina. Luca and Sloane. Neil and Grace. Hudson and Megan. Zach.

All of them and me.

Never in a million years would I have expected to end up here. And now, I never wanted to leave.