Page 3 of Accidentally Falling For My Best Friend (Chicago Awakenings #2)

PARKER

TWELVE YEARS OLD

“ D o you know June Smith?” Oakley asks, pulling my attention back to the lunch I’m supposed to be eating.

“Uh, the girl in our English class?” I guess.

“Yeah, with the long blonde hair, she always wears that choker necklace,” he confirms.

“What about her?” I ask.

“Apparently, she told Doug Stewart that she likes me,” he announces proudly. “She’s like the hottest girl in seventh grade,” he says with emphasis.

“Yeah, I guess she’s pretty,” I agree. I’ve never really thought about it before, but her hair is always shiny and she has a kind smile.

“ And, he said her best friend, Grace, has a crush on you too!” he adds excitedly.

A girl has a crush on me? The idea totally catches me off guard.

The other kids our age have started dating, and Oakley is so popular that it surprises me he hasn’t had a girlfriend yet.

But instead of worrying about dating, we’ve been pretty focused on being healthier and managing my diabetes.

Being diabetic isn’t the worst thing in the world.

My parents, and even Oakley, have all been eating healthier with me, and we’ve learned how to count carbs so that I can give myself the right amount of insulin in the shots I need after I eat.

There was a lot of trial and error in the beginning—keeping track of my blood sugar levels throughout the day to see how much long-acting insulin I actually needed, as well as how the short-acting insulin affected me specifically.

Everyone is different, and sometimes if I’m sick or more active, it affects my sugar levels, but now that it’s been a year, I’ve gotten into a good routine with everything, and I’ve been able to avoid the hospital.

Our moms have both been teaching us how to cook so that we know exactly what we’re eating, taking turns with whose house we’re at.

And we’ve been working out a lot more. I started playing hockey when Oakley suggested I join his team in fourth grade.

Now, instead of just practice and games, on the days that we don’t have hockey, my dad has been teaching us how to work out with him in the gym.

We’ve also all had to learn the signs and symptoms of low and high blood sugar so we can be aware of sudden changes.

Oakley is always worried if I get sweaty or seem extra hungry or thirsty.

I’m usually pretty good at picking up on the symptoms myself, but it’s nice to know that someone cares so much about me to notice the signs too.

Middle school is way better than elementary school.

We were able to pick some of our classes, so we picked all the same ones.

Luckily, we were placed in the same accelerated classes, too.

I also think they kept us together because he’s my official buddy to walk with me to the nurse’s office and back whenever it’s time to check my blood sugar or give myself insulin shots.

Not sure why I need that lady to watch me do it when I can clearly do it myself .

Hopefully in the next few months I’ll get insurance approval for an insulin pump, a device that’s smaller than a phone, that could hold the insulin in my pocket and be connected to my body by a flexible tube.

The pump would continuously give me a small amount of insulin, and I could program right in the device with how many carbs I ate to calculate how much extra insulin to take instead of having to figure it out in my head and then draw up the correct dose to give myself as a shot each time.

Then I won’t need to leave class to take my medicine, but having Oak with me makes the whole experience more tolerable.

He’s been super involved with everything from the beginning. My parents kept saying how cute it was that he wanted to learn everything with me, but I know how afraid he was after I passed out in front of him and ended up in the hospital.

Not going to lie, I was a little surprised by how upset he was when he first came to visit me there.

I don’t remember much about the day it actually happened, but my parents said he was with me and probably saved my life, or at least my brain from permanent damage, with how quickly he called my parents in to help.

I know he still feels guilty that he couldn't have done more, but I can’t imagine what could’ve happened if I had been reading or working on puzzles or anything by myself that day. He’s already the best friend I could have ever asked for, but now I literally owe him my life.

I’ve told him about the other schools I went to, my lack of friends, but I don’t think he really understands how much he means to me, and I’m so bad at explaining things like that. So, I just keep trying to be the best possible friend to him, and hope that he somehow knows.

Now that I think about it, we’ve both grown a bit and added on some muscle. I guess I’d be considered attractive, even though I don’t try very hard with my appearance. It seems like most of the guys our age have shaggy hair now, so other than the red color of it, I guess I fit in.

I think it will always be weird to me that I’m considered to be a popular kid here because of my friendship with Oakley. We’re always surrounded by other people and I try to be nice to everyone, but I’m not naturally a social person, so I’d still consider him to be my only real friend.

I don’t know why he chooses to spend so much time with me when so many other people want to hang out with him, but I’m not about to draw his attention to it by asking.

I’ve never given any thought to the whole dating thing.

Oakley has commented on pretty girls in the past, but we usually don’t bother to talk about girls or dating when it’s just us hanging out.

And his older brother, Beck, who lets us hang out with him sometimes, only likes boys, but I don’t think he’s dated any yet.

“So, do you like her back?” Oakley asks me expectantly, not waiting for me to respond before he continues.

“Because I was thinking we could ask them to go on a double date. Doug said June’s mom wouldn’t let her go on a date alone,” he explains.

“We could all go to a movie together. I think that it’s about time we start dating, don't you?” he asks, clearly very excited about the idea.

I’m not about to get in the way of him going on a date that he so obviously wants to go on. Plus, I kind of like that I would be included in such a big moment for him, even if I probably wouldn’t have any interest in hanging out with Grace one-on-one.

“Sure, sounds great,” I tell him.

“Awesome, we can ask them during English today! Let’s get there early and do it before class starts. Are you free on Friday for the date?”

“Obviously. What would I be doing without you?” I ask with a laugh.

“Good answer,” he teases.

We rush to finish our lunch and get to class early enough to ask them. Luckily, I do know who Grace is, we were assigned as partners for a project last year. She’s very nice and way more outgoing than I am, and she seems really happy about the date when I ask her.

I got a cellphone last year, and I double-check that I still have her number saved from that project, which I do, so I tell her that I’ll text her with details after I figure it out with Oakley.

We’re seeing an animated movie since we aren't thirteen and can't see anything rated higher than PG. It’s about a family that all have superpowers, but society has decided superheroes are a liability and they have to hide their abilities. It’s a great movie, so I’m not too focused on the whole date thing.

Oakley and I ended up sitting in the middle, with our dates on our other sides. I glance over and see that he and June are holding hands. Crap, is that something I’m supposed to be doing too?

I try to casually look at where Grace has her hand, and it’s resting on the armrest between us, so I decide to go for it. I grab her hand gently with my own and interlock our fingers like I saw Oakley and June are doing.

Grace turns to smile at me, giving my hand a slight squeeze, so I think that made her happy. Good. I would hate to upset her because I didn’t know that I should be doing something as easy as holding hands.

We watch the rest of the movie and I enjoy it way more than I was expecting to. We head out to the lobby afterward, and the girls giggle as they go into the bathroom while Oakley and I wait off to the side.

“I texted my dad that the movie just finished, so we should have, like, fifteen minutes before the driver is here to pick us up,” he tells me.

“Cool,” I nod, looking at the coming soon posters hung up on the wall.

“That should be plenty of time to kiss them,” he adds.

“Wait, what?” I question, shifting my attention to Oakley.

“Well, I didn’t want us trying to kiss them in the car in front of the driver, he’ll tell my dad and he’ll turn it into a whole big thing,” he explains. “And we’re almost teenagers, we should have kissed someone by now,” he laughs.

I guess that this is another one of those things I haven’t thought about. I don’t dislike the idea of kissing Grace. I just wouldn’t have thought to do it on my own.

The girls come back and we all walk outside toward the benches in front of the theater. Oakley holds June’s hand again and leads her to their own bench, so I do the same with Grace. I can hear Oakley talking to June, but with the city noises, I can’t make out what he’s saying.

“This has been really fun,” Grace says brightly, pulling my attention back to her.

“Yeah,” I agree, even though I’m feeling awkward.

How do you kiss someone? What if she doesn’t want me to kiss her? But what if she does, and I’m too awkward to initiate it? She’s a great girl and I don’t want to hurt her feelings.

“Can I kiss you?” I blurt out.

She flashes a big smile at me, scooting closer on the bench. “I’d like that.”

I lean in so that our lips touch, I have no idea what I’m doing, but luckily Grace seems to, and she moves her lips a bit so they rub against mine while I try to mimic her movements. We pull apart and she gives me another big smile. It must not have been too awful.

I was honestly so in my head about doing it wrong that I’m not sure if I even liked it, but I smile back at her. I think this was a good date, I don’t have any complaints and she seems happy.

Oakley’s driver gets there and drops the girls off at their houses before taking us both back to mine. We have a hockey game in the morning, but his parents said it was okay for him to spend the night.

“I feel like we’re more mature or something now,” Oakley declares when we get to my room and out of my parents’ earshot.

“Because we went on a date?” I ask with a laugh.

“Yeah,” he agrees excitedly. “And finally had our first kisses,” he adds.

“It was cool we got to do it together,” I add, and he nods in agreement, a huge smile on his face.