Page 72 of Notice Me, Jameson Hart

“It wasn’t romantic.”

“You talked about feelings and family drama. That’s intimate.” She hits a perfect score on the chorus while I flail helplessly. “Plus, you said he kept ogling you with those brown eyes of his.”

“I never said that.”

“You didn’t have to. Your face says it all.” The song ends, and Rita scores five stars to my pathetic two. She grabs her soda from the coffee table and takes a long drink. “Okay, next song. And this time, actually try.”

The opening beats of “Shut Up and Dance” fill the basement. Rita bounces on her toes, ready to demolish me again. I try to focus on the screen, on matching the silhouette’s movements, but my mind keeps drifting back to that rock on the beach. To Jameson staring at me with such weight behind it.

“He was definitely going to confess something,” Rita says. “Nobody starts a sentence with ‘I need to tell you something’ and then follows it with casual observations about the weather.”

“Maybe he was going to tell me he’s moving. Or that he has a girlfriend in Canada.”

“A girlfriend in Canada?” Rita snorts so hard she misses a move. “What is this, middle school?”

“It could happen!”

“Kevin, the boy has been texting you constantly for two weeks. He asked you out?—”

“He asked if I wanted tacos.”

“—and then spent the entire afternoon making heart eyes at you.” She pauses the game mid-song, turning to face me with herhands on her hips. “When are you going to accept that Jameson Hart likes you?”

“When he actually says it out loud?” I collapse onto the worn sectional couch, my legs already sore from attempting to keep up with Rita’s dance expertise. Broadway dancing, I can do. This is nothing like that. “Until then, it’s all speculation.”

Rita sits beside me, tucking her legs under herself. “You know what you need?”

“A time machine to go back and prevent Tyler from existing?”

“Better. You need another opportunity to be alone with him.” She grabs her phone from the side table. “Let me check if there’s anything happening tonight?—“

The basement door creaks open, and Adam’s voice carries down the stairs. “You two decent?”

“Unfortunately!” Rita calls back.

Adam appears at the bottom of the stairs, hair still damp from a shower. Robbie’s right behind him, wearing a tank top that Rita immediately zeros in on.

“We’re heading to Tyler’s,” Adam announces. “His parents are in the Hamptons for the weekend, so he’s throwing a house party. You guys want to come?”

Rita practically levitates off the couch. “A party? Yes! Absolutely! Kevin and I are so there!”

I stay seated. “I don’t know. Tyler ruined my afternoon. I’m not really in the mood to celebrate his existence.”

“Come on,” Robbie says, plopping down on my other side. “It’ll be fun. Besides, when’s the last time you went to an actual party?”

“I go to parties all the time.”

“Cast parties don’t count,” Adam says. “Those are just you and a bunch of other theater kids singing show tunes and drinking sparkling cider.”

I gape at him. “Those are legitimate parties!”

“The whole team will be there,” Adam continues, checking his phone. “Tyler’s got a fire pit, his dad’s sound system, and apparently Matthew’s older brother is bringing?—“

“The whole team?” I interrupt, my heart suddenly racing.

Adam looks up from his phone. “Yeah. Everyone.”

Rita elbows me so hard I nearly fall off the couch. “Then that settles it. We’re going.”