"Dustin, will you stop?" I pry his arms off my waist. "I didn't come here for this."

He grins and flicks water at me. "Aw come on, have a little fun!"

I'm starting to regret my rash decision. I give myself one day off, and I'm spending it here? Doing this? When Dustin showed up at my doorstep earlier today, I'd been taken off guard. The guy had actually put in the effort to find a parking spot—not easy in this neighborhood—and come up to my floor instead of honking his horn.

"We really need help," he'd insisted. "Hardly anyone is going to be there. You'd be doing me a huge favor. We need every spare hand we can get."

The official reason for saying yes—the one I'm telling myself—is because I just wanted to be a good friend and lend a helping hand. But deep down, I wonder if I'm secretly hoping to recapture that feeling of comfort I used to have with Dustin? He doesn't care about my horrible grades and has no expectations of me. And maybe he's changing a little. He did put in the effort to come to my door after all.

I pause in my thoughts. Are my standards really so low that coming to my door makes Dustin more attractive?

Darts of cold water interrupt my thoughts, and I swat his wet hand away. "I said stop!"

He raises his hands in surrender but doesn't stop grinning.

I shake my head and turn to re-soap my sponge.

And freeze.

No.

No, no, no!

Seth?

The sponge slips from my hand with a splash into the bucket. He's watching me, face clearly crestfallen as he trails behind the team's enormous star linebacker.

Tai gives me the easy-going smile he's known for and hitches his chin up in greeting. "What's up, Jordi?"

I gave him a weak smile, eyes sliding back to Seth.

"Tai, my man!" Dustin tosses his sponge aside as soon as he sees his teammate. "About time you got here." They high-five and give each other manly back-slaps. "Ready to get down and dirty?"

"I was hoping we'd get clean. This is a car wash, isn't it?" Tai quips.

"Whatever man, go grab a hose."

"Hey, this is my buddy, Seth. Came here to help out." Tai shakes his friend's shoulder and catches Jordi's eye. "He's a good guy."

Dustin looks Seth up and down, quickly dismissing him. "Thanks, man," he says curtly before turning to sucker-punch the quarterback nearby.

Seth looks miserable, and I wonder if it's because of me. "Hi," I say, searching his face for some indication of what he's thinking.

"Hey," he mumbles, eyes dropping to my sandals.

"Seth, I—" The sudden jolt of water on my back makes me suck in a breath and whirl around.

I find Tai with upraised hands and wide eyes. Beside him, Dustin holds the hose and laughs raucously.

My nostrils flare. Overall, Dustin is a great guy, but I really hate who he turns into when he's around his team. It's like he goes out of his way to be obnoxious.

"Hey, new guy!" Dustin hurls a towel at Seth. "Go dry that car over there."

He manages to catch it, but one end of the towel still smacks him in the face. His jaw clenches as he turns around and slinks away.

I scowl at Dustin before grabbing an extra towel and trotting to join my favorite stalker. "Seth, I'm sorry."

"For what?" His sad brown eyes say everything. Sorry for that creep, Dustin? Sorry for leading me on? He begins wiping droplets from a newly washed Lexus.

"He and I aren't together."

His hand stills and he pins me with a suspicious glance. "You're not?"

"We used to be. But not anymore."

He studies me a moment longer, then grunts and goes back to wiping.

He must have seen me with Dustin's arms around me. Why else would he act this way? And if that's true, does it mean... he likes me? As more than friends?

I stay close to him as we dry the car. When he makes no attempt to speak, I finally explain, "Dustin wants us to get back together, but I'm not keen on the idea, okay?"

He stops to appraise me for a moment, and I'm not quite sure what his expression means. He seems indecisive about something. It's not until he's drying the bumper that he says, "You didn't say hi."

I stop wiping, confused. "Sure I did. After Tai introduced you."

"No, not today. I mean..." His mouth twists. "No, it's stupid." He shakes his head and resumes shining the bumper. "Never mind."

Now I'm really confused. "No, Seth, tell me. I'm not sure what you're talking about."

"Don't worry about it. It's dumb. And I know why now."

"Why what? Don't you dare jump to conclusions about me." I hear my voice rising with frustration and make a mental note to calm myself before I make a scene in front of the whole team.

He stops wiping to look at me. "In the text message. I'd said hi and good night, but all you sent was a smiley face, and not until the next day." His tone isn't quite accusatory, but there's definitely a hint of hurt there.

This pouting is over my apparently disappointing reply? I try to avoid anything involving writing and spelling, especially around smart people, so I figured a smiley face was safe and wouldn't open up a whole text conversation.

"My phone is old and died yesterday," I explain. "I plugged it in but forgot to turn it back on until the next day."

"Oh." He's avoiding my eyes now and resumes polishing.

"I didn't mean to blow you off. I'm sorry. I just hate text messages, that's all."

He straightens and meets my eyes again. "Really? Why?"

I shrug, unwilling to share my real reasons. "You can't convey tone, and I think that's important."

"How about email? Can I write you?" he asks hopefully.

Ugh, email is worse, but I don't tell him that. "You can call me. Anytime! Hopefully my phone is alive at the time." I put on a grin to sell the idea.

"Oh." His face falls and he begins drying the rims.

Why is he being so cagey? "You don't like talking on the phone?"

"Not really." He moves on to the next rim. "I sound like an idiot on the phone."

"I'm sure you don't. You sound fine right now."

"Talking in person is different." He pauses and peers up at me. "You can see facial expressions and gestures. But on the phone, all you get are large gaps of silence while I frantically think of the next thing to say. I don't know, it feels more stressful."

"It sounds more stressful when you put it like that. I had no idea."

It's kind of funny, he seems to hate phone conversations as much as I hate texting. Maybe we're not so different after all?

When the car is finally dry, I glance around at the growing group of laughing car washers. More friends have shown up. Would anyone miss me if I left? Dustin might.

I glance over and find him horsing around with a bunch of guys.

Come to think of it, he might not notice I'm gone at all. I suddenly don't want to spend another second here.

"You wanna get out of here?" I say, tossing my towel onto the car.

Seth stares at me as if I suggested skydiving. "Just leave?"

"Yeah, they've got plenty of help now. They don't need us."

He surveys at the group, looks back at me, and breaks into a big grin. "Okay!"

His braces are gone. I liked his smile before, but now...

I drag my eyes away from his mouth and begin walking. I shouldn't be thinking about the mouth of a guy I barely know.

He scurries after me. "Shouldn't we, um, tell someone?"

I glimpse at him over my shoulder. He's pointedly peering at Dustin.

I have no desire to talk to that guy anymore. I'm not sure why he invited me here in the first place. "Nah, they'll figure it out."

"O-okay. Let me text Tai since he's my ride home." He sends a quick text message, then tucks the phone back into his pocket. "So... where to?"

I smile. "Anywhere we like. Within walking distance."

Misunderstandings, sorted! Yay! Time for some votes.