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“Right.” The universe truly hated me. Where was an unfinished railroad dangling over a ravine when you needed one?

There was a bang at the door, and we both jolted in response.

“We’re almost done,” Paige called, before immediately turning her attention back to me.

“We?” someone on the other side of the door replied.

Paige ignored them as she looked up at me with her big brown eyes. “So, what do you think? Can you teach me how to do... whatever that was?”

I scratched the side of my neck as I tried to figure a way out of this. “You really want my help with this? I’m no expert.”

“Uh, I think you might be,” she said, fanning her face with her hand. “I still feel a little flustered after that performance. Come on, please. Even if we just practice a little, to build up my confidence before I try again.”

“You want to practice flirting?”

“Why not? If there’s a weakness in your game, you practice, right? Remember freshman year, when Coach Ray said you needed to work on your slapshot? You stayed late after training every night for weeks. Now you’ve got one of the best techniques on the team.”

“I guess.”

“Well, I need to practice my slapshot, Coach.”

She looked so hopeful, but I knew this was a bad idea. I didn’t want to be the practice guy. I wanted to betheguy.

“Please, Gray? You’re the perfect person to help me with this. We’ve got about a week before my mom gets back. That gives us more than enough time to work out where I’m going wrong and what I can do differently. Plus, I’m so comfortable around you, and I know you won’t take anything the wrong way. Seriously, if I can’t manage to flirt with you, there really is no hope for me.”

I was screwed. Completely and utterly screwed. Despite my best efforts to destroy the friend zone for good, I was just digging myself in deeper than ever before. I was no longer its mayor; I had now crowned myself its king.

“You don’t think it’s a good idea?” Paige sounded subdued, and she must have noticed the apprehension in my eyes.

I cleared my throat. “No, it sounds great.”

“Because Bonnie said she’d start a game of spin the bottle if things with Damien didn’t work out...”

“No!” I yelled, before quickly calming. “No, you’re right.”

Her eyes gleamed with optimism and expectation. “So, that means you’ll do it? You’ll be my flirting coach?”

I sincerely hoped that wasn’t my new title. This was a mistake. So, why was I nodding?

“Yeah, I’ll help you, Pidge.”

She squealed and threw her arms around my neck. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

I was stiff at first but soon relaxed into her grasp.

This was going to be pure torture. But I didn’t have much of a choice. At least I’d bought myself some time to try to fix this. All I needed to do was show her I was the guy she should be flirting with, I was the one she wanted to kiss, and I was the one she belonged with.

Maybe I was going to need another look at the guys’ intervention checklist.

Chapter 11

Grayson

“So, how did it go?” Parker asked.

I’d just arrived home from the party. Paige had gone upstairs to jump in the shower and clean off the drink she’d spilled all over herself. But I was starving, so I’d made a beeline for the kitchen. I needed a moment to decompress and the last person I wanted to face right now was my younger brother.

Paige had been eager to leave the party after her mishap with Damien, and I hadn’t exactly felt like celebrating after my own disastrous attempt at flirting. The small amount of alcohol Paige had drunk seemed to kick in as we made our way home, because she’d looked a little tipsy when Owen dropped us off. Tipsy and all too excited about the prospect of me teaching her how to flirt. She seemed certain I was the secret ingredient that would win Damien over.