place, so they dressed up.â
I looked at Sydney and Callie, slowly making their way to the door. âI wonder how it got âlostâ in the first place if it was so precious?â
âExactly! So I told them to go,â said Emma.
Matt was still laughing. âThe drama with all you girls!â he said. âI canât believe it. Itâs so dumb!â
âBelieve it, mister,â said Emma as she took our drinks from him.
âThank you,â I said to Matt. But as I took a sip, I saw my mother talking to Sydney and Callie atthe door. She seemed to be guiding them toward the refreshments instead of the door! What was she doing?
Now Sydney and Callie headed toward us. That made me madder than ever, and when I am mad, I think the adrenaline makes me do things I would normally be too afraid to do! I looked over at Matt, and he was looking at them, then at Emma, then at me. And right then he and I both said at the same time, âWanna dance?â
I couldnât believe it! I know where my courage came from (the adrenaline from being mad!), but I will never know what made Matt ask me to dance. I donât know if Emma said something to him before the party, or his mom, or if he decided it himself, but whatever it was, the timing was great.
Matt and I laughed and hit the dance floor just as Sydney and Callie arrived where weâd been standing. Emma winked at me and went off with Mia and Katie to get some hors dâoeuvres.
The truth is, Matt and I didnât have anything to say to each other. We smiled a lot, and since I am a good dancer, I think I impressed him. He is an okay dancer, but for someone so athletic, heâs not that great. I donât want to say I fell a little out of love with him right then, but between Emmaâsand my friendship being on the line, us having nothing to say to each other, and him being only a so-so dancer, my crush kind of lost a little fizzle that night. And I was okay with that. I was proud to have set a goal, and to have reached it!
As Matt and I danced, I thought about all of my equations and my research. Oh, I was superhappy the whole time I was with Matt, but I decided that when it comes to love, there is no perfect recipe. There are so many ingredients, and things just have to happen naturally. If you need to force them or manipulate them, then they just arenât meant to be.
There was a lot of crushing going on that night at Dylanâs party: I liked Matt, Callie liked Matt, maybe even Sydney liked Matt, Dylan liked Noah, Sam liked Dylan . . . and Iâm sure there were a lot more equations that may not have a solution. All I know is this:
Nothing > friends
I repeat: Nothing is greater than friends!
CHAPTER 15
Later that Night . . .
D ylanâs friends freaked out over the cupcakes. People came up to her all night to rave about them, and in the end, Dylan declared that the sâmores disco gift cupcakes made the party. That and Noah coming. They had a plan to go to the movies the very next night, which just goes to show you that if something is meant to happen, it just does.
For me, what made the party were the dance with Matt, the look on Callieâs and Sydneyâs faces when he and I danced, making up with Emma, Dylan loving the cupcakes, and my big moment on the dance floor with Dad. Everyone gathered around and cheered. We were so good! We would have won if it was a contest! At the end he gave me a big hug and said, âAlexis, you are wonderful.Just the way you are!â I looked over and saw Matt smiling at us, and I smiled back.
When we got home that night (along with Meredith and Skylar, who were sleeping over), I opened my locked drawer and took out the Matt notebook. It had been fun doing the research online and reading all the studies and their results, but it had been hard to quantify the results in a real-life setting. I needed data that was more concrete. And real feedback.
I looked at Sydney and Callie, slowly making their way to the door. âI wonder how it got âlostâ in the first place if it was so precious?â
âExactly! So I told them to go,â said Emma.
Matt was still laughing. âThe drama with all you girls!â he said. âI canât believe it. Itâs so dumb!â
âBelieve it, mister,â said Emma as she took our drinks from him.
âThank you,â I said to Matt. But as I took a sip, I saw my mother talking to Sydney and Callie atthe door. She seemed to be guiding them toward the refreshments instead of the door! What was she doing?
Now Sydney and Callie headed toward us. That made me madder than ever, and when I am mad, I think the adrenaline makes me do things I would normally be too afraid to do! I looked over at Matt, and he was looking at them, then at Emma, then at me. And right then he and I both said at the same time, âWanna dance?â
I couldnât believe it! I know where my courage came from (the adrenaline from being mad!), but I will never know what made Matt ask me to dance. I donât know if Emma said something to him before the party, or his mom, or if he decided it himself, but whatever it was, the timing was great.
Matt and I laughed and hit the dance floor just as Sydney and Callie arrived where weâd been standing. Emma winked at me and went off with Mia and Katie to get some hors dâoeuvres.
The truth is, Matt and I didnât have anything to say to each other. We smiled a lot, and since I am a good dancer, I think I impressed him. He is an okay dancer, but for someone so athletic, heâs not that great. I donât want to say I fell a little out of love with him right then, but between Emmaâsand my friendship being on the line, us having nothing to say to each other, and him being only a so-so dancer, my crush kind of lost a little fizzle that night. And I was okay with that. I was proud to have set a goal, and to have reached it!
As Matt and I danced, I thought about all of my equations and my research. Oh, I was superhappy the whole time I was with Matt, but I decided that when it comes to love, there is no perfect recipe. There are so many ingredients, and things just have to happen naturally. If you need to force them or manipulate them, then they just arenât meant to be.
There was a lot of crushing going on that night at Dylanâs party: I liked Matt, Callie liked Matt, maybe even Sydney liked Matt, Dylan liked Noah, Sam liked Dylan . . . and Iâm sure there were a lot more equations that may not have a solution. All I know is this:
Nothing > friends
I repeat: Nothing is greater than friends!
CHAPTER 15
Later that Night . . .
D ylanâs friends freaked out over the cupcakes. People came up to her all night to rave about them, and in the end, Dylan declared that the sâmores disco gift cupcakes made the party. That and Noah coming. They had a plan to go to the movies the very next night, which just goes to show you that if something is meant to happen, it just does.
For me, what made the party were the dance with Matt, the look on Callieâs and Sydneyâs faces when he and I danced, making up with Emma, Dylan loving the cupcakes, and my big moment on the dance floor with Dad. Everyone gathered around and cheered. We were so good! We would have won if it was a contest! At the end he gave me a big hug and said, âAlexis, you are wonderful.Just the way you are!â I looked over and saw Matt smiling at us, and I smiled back.
When we got home that night (along with Meredith and Skylar, who were sleeping over), I opened my locked drawer and took out the Matt notebook. It had been fun doing the research online and reading all the studies and their results, but it had been hard to quantify the results in a real-life setting. I needed data that was more concrete. And real feedback.
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