The Bad Boy's Trap

My best friend handed me the most feared boy on campus and told me to go chase him.

Not to date. To chase. As a hobby. So she wouldn't feel so alone chasing hers.

I'm the sick girl who never leaves the apartment. For the record, this was not my idea.

I sent him exactly one message.

He detonated.

Rewind a few weeks. She'd spent three of them chasing the most unavailable guy on campus, and he hadn't so much as glanced at her. So, naturally, she'd solved that by assigning me his best friend.

"Dating's good for your health," she said, and pushed a stranger's contact into my hands.

Fast-forward again. I've blocked him. I've quit the entire experiment. And now the untouchable golden boy she chased is blowing up her phone at 2 a.m., agreeing to date her, begging.

Elliot: [Fine. I'll be with you. Just get your friend to unblock him. I'm drowning over here, he will not stop.]

Which brings me to the one thing I somehow missed.

That terrifying boy she gave me. The one who looks at me like I'm the only thing keeping the roof up.

He'd been quietly, catastrophically in love with me since high school.

Everybody could see it coming.

Everybody but me.

Chapter 1

Nadia's love life has always been a group project. I am the group. This time she'd already picked my assignment for me: the most feared boy at Northgate, and orders to go chase him.

It started, like most of her disasters, with a crush.

A month ago she'd sat in on a class at Northgate and come back obsessed with their golden boy. Elliot. She chased him for three weeks. He didn't give her one look.

Any sane person would have quit. Nadia doubled down.

"That's exactly the kind of man I want," she told me, dead serious. "Too easy, and he stops appreciating you later."

I have a body that likes to quit on me, so my parents rent me a place off campus. Nadia lives here too. Officially to help. Mostly to narrate her love life at me.

That night it was raining. She came in past nine, loaded down with bags and fury, kicking off her heels.

"He is impossible," she announced. "I wore the good dress. I brought my whole arsenal. And he sat there like a monk who took a vow against joy."

I looked up from my movie. She was in a red strapless gown, fully armed for war.

"He's hard to get," I said. "Maybe look at literally anyone else. Plenty of people chase you."

"No. No." She pulled a drink from the fridge and dropped onto the couch. "Elliot's different. He's the only one who makes my heart do the thing."

She covered her mouth and grinned like a cartoon wolf.

"And the body. I watched him play once. Abs like they were drawn on. One kiss would be a felony."

I went back to my movie. I do not understand people in love.

"Hey." She elbowed me, sly now. "Let me show you a picture."

She unlocked her phone, opened the camera roll, and handed it over.

A boy filled the screen. Sharp eyes. Hard, striking features, all edges. The kind of face that reads as a threat.

Stolen off his socials, probably.

"So?" she said. "Cute, right?"

Nadia and I have been a two-person unit since we were small enough to share a bath. When her eyebrow does that specific twitch, I know exactly what stupidity is loading.

I pointed at my own colorless lips. "You want me to chase him."

She blinked those big shiny eyes and grabbed my hand. "Serena. Those two are joined at the hip. Someone has to pry them apart. And chasing Elliot by myself is so lonely."

She went full wounded puppy.

"Just keep me company. And dating's good for your health."

On my screen, the heroine threw up her hands. I cannot believe I fell for this.

Same, girl.

My phone chimed. Nadia had already pushed me his contact.

"Trust me," she said. "He looks a little scary. He's a sweetheart underneath."

I sighed.

"Fine."

She has never once been right about a man in her life.

Chapter 2

"I love you!" Nadia lunged to kiss me, then remembered she was still in full makeup and hadn't showered. "After I wash up I'm kissing you to death. Wait for me, baby!"

I said nothing.

While she was in the shower, I went to add him.

Turned out I'd already added him.

Huh.

I looked at his profile picture. A grinning golden-retriever puppy, tongue out, deliriously happy to be alive.

My own handle is a little embarrassing. SleepyKing. A photo of a sloth mid-yawn. My entire life goal is to eat well, sleep well, and worry about nothing. Same as him.

His handle was HappyKing.

My thumb hovered over the screen. A boy whose whole profile is a golden-retriever puppy can't be that bad a person.

By the time Nadia came out, I'd switched my movie to Spirited Away. I don't have many hobbies. Anime and movies are most of them.

"Serena, did you add him?"

She walked out toweling her hair, in a thin camisole.

"Mhm." I answered without really leaving the movie.

Then I remembered something and scratched my head. "Do I have to announce it? Tell him I'm chasing him?"

"Mm." She considered. "Ask if he likes anyone. If he says no, you say: mind if I add myself to the list of people who like you?"

"...What." I looked at her like she'd sprouted a second head. "That is unbelievably corny. Please tell me that's not your actual technique."

"Everyone's got tricks these days. The plainer I keep it, the more pure and untouched he thinks I am. Do it my way. Can't miss." She flipped her hair. "It's called disarm, then conquer."

I did not believe her. I typed it anyway.

Me: [Hi. Do you have someone you like?]

I set the phone down, certain it would be ages. I reached for the remote.

It buzzed instantly.

Rhys: [?]

If he just sends back a question mark, what am I even supposed to

Before I finished the thought, a second one landed.

Rhys: [No.]

I flinched. Nadia leaned in. "Okay, send him the line. I'm going to blow-dry."

"Fine."

Rhys: [What's up?]

Me: [Then would you mind one more person liking you?]

I sent it and threw the phone to the far end of the couch like it was contagious.

So corny.

The phone stayed dead. I went back to my movie in peace.

Nadia finished her hair, flopped down beside me, and picked up her phone. "Well? What'd he say?"

"Nothing," I said honestly.

She chewed her lip, thinking hard. I assumed she was reflecting on her strategy. Instead she said, "It's fine. Normal. He didn't answer me at first either."

I decided not to tell her that her line had probably knocked the poor man unconscious.

She pulled up her group project and started grinding on slides.

I picked up my phone again and nearly dropped it.

"Oh," Nadia added. "His name's Rhys, by the way. Elliot's friend."

Rhys: [Wait. What does that mean? I don't just accept anyone who likes me.]

Rhys: [I'm not that kind of guy.]

Rhys: [Are you saying you like me?]

A full minute of silence. Him waiting for me to answer. Me not answering.

Rhys: [Okay actually I'm pretty easy. Are you trying to chase me?]

Rhys: [I'm very catchable.]

Another minute.

Then he cracked.

Rhys: [If you like me, let's just be together.]

Chapter 3

My phone did not stop.

Rhys: [I'm sorry. I was posing a little.]

Rhys: [Did something come up? Can you reply when you see this?]

Rhys: [It's been ten seconds. Still busy?]

Rhys: [I said it wrong. It should be me chasing you. You don't have to chase me. Please reply?]

Rhys: [Okay I messed up, I shouldn't have posed, I was just too excited so I asked my friend and he told me to answer that way.]

Rhys: [He said if I said yes too fast, you'd have me too easy and stop cherishing me.]

Rhys: [Baby. I'm sorry. Don't be mad, okay?]

Rhys: [The truth is I've liked you for a long time. I just hadn't figured out how to say it. I didn't think you'd like me back.]

I stared at the screen.

Me: [...]

"What?" Nadia craned over. "He answered? He did, didn't he?"

I pressed my lips together. Thought about it.

"When you chase a guy," I said slowly, "the other person is supposed to reject you first. Right?"

"Yes."

So what was this.

Then it hit me.

Me: [Reject me.]

If he rejected me, I'd have a reason to chase him. Which meant Nadia wouldn't have to be lonely.

He sent back a sobbing cartoon sticker.

Rhys: [No. No, I don't want to reject you.]

Rhys: [I'm serious, I would physically fight the version of me that just played it cool.]

Rhys: [I shouldn't have posed. I shouldn't have listened to my friend. I know I was wrong. Hit me, yell at me, whatever you want. Just don't not want me.]

Me: [No. You reject me. I'll chase you.]

This time he took a while. The typing bubble surfaced and vanished, surfaced and vanished.

Finally, careful:

Rhys: [Baby, is this a kink?]

Rhys: [Promise me you won't stop wanting me.]

Rhys: [How long are you planning to chase me? You have to tell me. I need to prepare.]

I glanced at Nadia, hunched over her slides, fighting for her life.

Me: [Don't know yet.]

Rhys: [Then. Baby. I reject you.]

Rhys: [That was in response to the message above. Not this one.]

I finally got to turn to Nadia. "He rejected me."

She patted my knee, magnanimous. "It's okay. Us grown women, we've got big hearts. I'll teach you my technique in a minute."

Then I watched her pitch her voice up two octaves and send Elliot a voice note. "Hey, think you could save a couple seats tomorrow for me and my bestie? I wanna watch you play up close."

I quietly opened a browser and searched how to chase a guy.

Some influencer had a list.

One. Play it cool. Don't be too available.

Two. Hot and cold. He runs warm, you run warm. He runs cold, you let him sit in it.

Three. Build a persona. A little innocence goes a long way.

Four. Do not simp.

I looked at Nadia. "Did you get your technique off the internet?"

"Ha." She flipped her hair, glowing with confidence. "Do I look like I need to copy other people?"

No wonder she'd been striking out for a month. Self-taught. By an amateur.

The next afternoon, after class, Nadia walked me onto the Northgate campus like she owned it.

The gym was already packed when we arrived.

She spotted someone, her fox eyes lighting up, and waved. "Elliot!"

I was still hunting through the crowd when she dragged me forward.

A boy in a black-and-white sleeveless jersey turned. Cold eyes. A face like a closed door. Elliot, in the flesh. I'd only ever seen him on Nadia's phone.

I've been sick most of my life. I don't do crowds. I don't do noise. I really don't do rooms this full of strangers.

Every instinct I had said turn around and go home.

I didn't.

Chapter 4

Nadia dipped her head to my ear. "Serena, the second you feel off, tell me. It's packed in here. The air's probably bad."

"Okay." I gave her a small hand signal.

We were about to move when Elliot turned to the guys around him. "Where's Rhys?"

"No idea. Nobody's seen him all day."

A beat later a guy by the door pointed, jaw on the floor. "No way. Is that Rhys?"

Every head in the gym swung toward the entrance.

Tall. Fresh haircut, spiked up sharp. An earring in his left ear. Trouble in human form.

"What did he do this whole time, go get a haircut?"

"Who lit a fire under him?"

He came in scanning. Left, right, across the whole crowd. Then his eyes snagged on one pink jacket in the stands and stuck.

Me.

He started walking. Straight at me, fast.

Three steps out, his whole body went tight, and he veered off like he'd been headed somewhere else the entire time.

Nadia was already reaching for my arm when a girl came up behind Elliot and tapped his shoulder.

"Hey, Elliot. Where's the seat you saved me?"

Shoulder-length hair. A little cluster of girls trailing her.

"Who's that?" I asked.

Nadia's smile dimmed. "His childhood friend. They grew up together."

I don't talk to people much. But I read. A lot of novels.

Which is how I recognized the scent already rolling toward us. Sugar, flowers, and something underneath it that curdles.

The perfume of a girl who cries on cue and makes it your fault.

One word surfaced in my head, fully formed. Wingman. The girl-who's-just-a-friend who is never, ever just a friend