Page 33 of Falling Into You

“What’s up, little man?” Tucker asked, striding into the house.

Instantly, Jacob dropped Rory’s hands and her arms fell into her lap. Tucker walked into the living room and froze in his tracks.

“What the hell is this?” Tucker said.

Rory could only imagine what this looked like, she and Jacob with romantic music on, facing each other with their legs spread. She opened her mouth to explain, but Jacob spoke first.

“It’s exactly what it looks like.” He scrambled to his feet. “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, man, but Rory and I are running off to join a traveling circus together. We’ll be sure to write.”

There was half a beat of silence before Tucker cracked up laughing. And then another beat before Rory and Jacob were laughing, too.

Rory wasn’t sure what would have happened if Jacob hadn’t been so quick with that joke, and shereallydidn’t know why she felt annoyed at being interrupted. There was nothing to interrupt!

Her boyfriend crossed the room to give her a quick kiss hello, and Rory forced herself to smile up at him.

Jacob

“Is my girlfriend turning you into a chick? Be honest.”

Tucker shoved what looked like half his double burger into his mouth, then chased it with a long slurp of chocolate milkshake. Jacob—though his insides still felt like jelly after Tucker had interrupted his yoga session, and he was coming down from the high of his alone time with Rory—managed to laugh.

All around them, the Point Lookout Diner hummed with activity. The restaurant was the primary hangout for not only Woodmont High, but also the middle school, the busy parents of Woodmont, and the geriatric set. Dishes clanked, diners’ conversation waxed and waned, and the local news covered the weather on a flat-screen over the breakfast bar, which was decorated with autumn-berry garland. Normally, this was one of his go-to places to chill, but tonight, wedged into a small booth across from Tucker, Jacob was on edge.

“Firstly, no, not a chance,” he said, reaching for the ketchup at the end of the table. “And B, you’re the one who made me try out for the squad. You can’t be mad that I’m naturally good at everything.” He shook the ketchup over his plate of fries, and nothing came out. He shook it harder. Still nothing. When he shook it yet harder, about half the contents of the bottle plopped on top of his pile of potatoes.

Tucker cracked up through his mouthful of food. “You’re the one who made the bet in the first place, dude. Don’t put this on me.” He dipped one of his own fries into Jacob’s lava spill of ketchup and popped it into his mouth.

With a sigh, Jacob dunked a chicken finger and took a bite. He sort of wished he could turn back the clock and never make that ridiculous bet. Of course, then he wouldn’t have had all this time with Rory, and he wouldn’t have traded that for anything. Not that he could ever tell his friend that.

“Okay, you’re not the worst cheerleader in the world,” Tucker conceded.

Jacob raised his eyebrows.

“Still a pretty girlie thing to do, though,” Tucker added with a snort.

Before Jacob could punch him in the shoulder, the bell over the diner door chimed and four girls from school walked in. Jacob recognized a couple of them from the recent pep rally as members of the JV cheer squad. They immediately spotted him and Tucker and started giggling and whispering behind their hands. Sometimes being an upperclassman wasa little like being a low-grade celebrity. It was weird. Not awful, but also not awesome when he didn’t feel like dealing with other people.

A waitress started to lead the girls toward a table in the back, and as they passed by Jacob’s table, one of them said, “Hi, Tucker,” in this really flirty way, turning to walk backward so she could twiddle her fingers at him. Tucker grinned and very slowly looked her up and down like he was shopping for a new car. It made Jacob’s stomach turn.

“You know that girl?” Jacob asked, reaching for his soda.

Tucker shrugged. “Her name’s Phoebe. She’s a sophomore. She slid into my DMs last week.”

Jacob felt a little warmth rise up his neck. “Does that happen a lot?” he asked cautiously. “Random girls sliding into your DMs?”

“What’s the big deal? Doesn’t it happen to you?” Tucker shoved more fries into his mouth.

“Not really.” There was a thing last year with a girl named Ashlyn from their class, who sort of hinted around that she wanted him to ask her to the Winter Formal. But she moved on to another member of the soccer team before he could even figure out how to respond. Why would someone want to go out with him when she didn’t even know him?

“You’re missing out. A lot of girls are really into the soccer thing.” Tucker waggled his eyebrows. Now Jacob really felt sick.

“You’re not...” He scooted forward on his seat andlowered his voice. “You’re not cheating on Rory, are you?”

Tucker gave a short, terse laugh. “I never knew you were a Boy Scout.”

Why did Jacob suddenly want to punch his best friend in the face?

“I’m just kidding, man. I’d never cheat on Rory,” Tucker said. “But it doesn’t hurt to keep your options open. You never know what’s gonna happen, right?”