Page 39 of Catching Feelings

I felt so bad after. I never lie! I just hadn’t known how to talk to him about Kara’s weird rumor, and it felt way too awkward to raise my worries after I kissed him back—emphatically—so I was deeply overthinking and in my head. My usual approach of keep it smiling, keep it light, keep it moving hasn’t failed me yet.

Until now. Because it’s making me act like a totally cold jerk with Tyler.

I don’t blame him for keeping his distance today.

A car honks cheerily at me, jolting me from my thoughts, and I lift my head with a brighter smile than ever. “Standard wash, ten dollars; sparkle wash, twenty!”

Naomi comes to switch spots after thirty minutes or so, skipping over with her phone already in her hand.

“You sure you won’t be bored?”

She looks at me with wide, disbelieving eyes. “You kidding? Ryan and Gabe are about to start a water balloon fight, and I don’t want my phone anywhere near that. At least here I can scroll in peace and point anyone who gets lost toward the very obvious line of cars.”

I laugh and wave over my shoulder as I head toward the fray. “Okay, well, have fun.”

“Approach with caution!” she calls after me.

I gird my loins as Tyler looks up to meet my gaze, his face flashing with something unreadable.

Approach with caution is right.

I grab a squeegee and head to the opposite side of the SUV they’re currently working on, pretending he’s just another guy. Just another football player. Friendly, not flirty.

“Hang on—we’ve got Sabrina now?” Gabe crows. “We’re gonna start working double time!”

I roll my eyes. “You all better try to keep up.”

Ryan raises an eyebrow. “Oh, we can keep up.”

Across the car, there’s a wet slap as a sponge hits the window with great force. But when I stand on my tiptoes to peer across, Tyler seems to be extremely focused on erasing any streak marks from the glass.

“So, Sabrina… how are preparations for homecoming going?” Gabe asks.

I tear my attention back to the task at hand. It doesn’t matter if Ryan’s flirting, and if Tyler feels any kind of way about it—we’re here for business, and that’s how I’m going to keep it.

“They’re going great.” My stomach tightens at the reminder of my to-do list, and I nod toward the hockey team on the other side of the car. “Thanks for rallying some extra muscle. We need all the donations we can get for the biggest dance Hamilton Lakes has ever seen.”

“Oh, I bet it’ll be magical,” Lauren, flyer on the cheer team, says. “Though some of us are still looking for dates…”

Do I imagine her casting a sidelong glance at Tyler? She wouldn’t, would she? She knows we’re going together!

Wait. We are still going together, aren’t we?

Irrational jealousy rears its head, a fire-breathing dragon in my chest. I scrub faster, my cheeks burning. I bend to get at the muddy spots on the bumper—all the better to avoid Tyler and whoever’s flirting with him.

I have no right to get jealous. We had one kiss, and haven’t spoken about it since, and it’s been two whole weeks. And I’m busy, I don’t need that, I don’t care if someone else is trying to—

And then the breath is knocked out of me in one shocked gasp as ice drenches my entire body.

I slowly straighten, blinking the water out of my eyes. I have to drag my hand across my face, surely smearing my mascara beyond repair, before I can see clearly again.

When I do, Gabe is frozen in horror, empty bucket dangling limply from his hands.

“Oh shit. I didn’t see you there, Sabrina—I was just trying to—”

“Wash the car,” I say through teeth that are already beginning to chatter. “Yeah. Not your fault.”

“But now you’re—” His eyes flick down my body, and I’m sure every inch of my exposed skin turns tomato red. His gaze bounces stubbornly back to my face, refusing to look below the neck, and I hug my arms around myself.