The Cure for Second Lead Syndrome by Amanda Abram

CHAPTER 18

Natalie was right. A trip to the carnival was just what I needed. As soon as we arrived and made a stop at the first funnel cake stand that we could find, I felt a lot better.

“This was a good idea,” I admitted as we sauntered past the game booths.

“I know,” Natalie said with a gleeful smile. “Why do you think I was so determined to drag you here?”

I draped an arm around her shoulders. “You’re the best bestie.”

Natalie giggled. “I know that, too.” She paused. “Does this mean you’re feeling better?”

“A tiny bit, maybe.” Glancing around, I stopped and asked, “So, what should we do now?”

“That’s up to you. It’s your night.”

My gaze immediately shifted to the bumper cars. With a wicked grin, I pointed. “I want to do that.”

Natalie’s face fell. “Oh, no.” She hated the bumper cars. Or, more accurately, she hated going on them with me because she claimed I was “ruthless” and “scary” behind the wheel.

“Why don’t we do something a little less violent?” she suggested.

“You said it’s my night,” I reminded her. “And I want to spend my night ramming into strangers with a bumper car.”

Natalie sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Okay, fine,” she groaned. “But stay away from me, okay? I’m still recovering from the whiplash you gave me last summer.”

I laughed. “Okay. Deal.”

We turned and were heading in the direction of the bumper cars when Natalie suddenly nudged my arm.

“Oh, hey,” she said, pointing toward the ring toss booth. “Tyler’s here.”

I looked, and sure enough, Tyler was standing there with a little boy who was probably no older than eight or nine.

“Wanna go say hi?” Natalie asked.

I narrowed my eyes at her. “You’re stalling because you don’t want to go on the bumper cars with me.”

“Maybe,” she said with a sly smile. “But we should say hi, anyway. To be nice.” Grabbing my hand, she began pulling me toward the booth. “Hey, Tyler!”

At the sound of Natalie calling out his name, he immediately turned and grinned when he saw us approaching. “Bria! Natalie! Hi!”

“Hey, Tyler,” I said as we stopped in front of him. “Fancy meeting you here.”

His grin widened. “Yeah. My parents heard about this thing and thought it would be good for me to check it out with my little brother.” He motioned to the boy next to him. “This is Hunter. Hunter, this is Bria and Natalie.”

Natalie and I smiled and said hi, but Hunter said nothing in return as he immediately darted behind his older brother.

“Hunter is shy,” Tyler explained, rolling his eyes. “He’s also afraid of heights, so he’s refusing to go on the Ferris wheel with me. Isn’t that right, Hunter?”

“No, I’m not afraid of heights,” Hunter grumbled from behind him.

Tyler moved aside and turned to give him a gentle pat on the shoulder. “It’s okay, little buddy. I was afraid of heights when I was your age, too.”

With a smile, I said, “If you’re looking to go on the Ferris wheel with someone, I can go on it with you. Natalie hates Ferris wheels. She thinks they’re boring.”

Natalie nodded. “It’s true. If it doesn’t make me dizzy or puke, I want nothing to do with it.”

“Fair enough,” Tyler said with a chuckle. “Would you mind hanging out with Hunter for a few minutes while I borrow Bria?”

“Not at all.” Natalie leaned down to Hunter, putting her hands on her knees so that she was eye-level with him. “Wanna go have fun on the bumper cars while your brother is having a lame time on the Ferris wheel?”

“Yeah!” Hunter exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.

“Hey, wait,” I protested. “You’re supposed to go on them with me.”

Natalie pretended not to hear me. “Okay. Text me when you’re done.” As she and Hunter began walking away, she added over her shoulder, “Try not to fall asleep!”

“Boy, she really does hate Ferris wheels, doesn’t she?” Tyler asked with a smirk.

“I told you.” Giggling, I motioned to the Ferris wheel. “Shall we?”

Nodding, Tyler followed me as I led the way. The line only had a few people in it, so it took less than a minute before we were ushered onto the ride.

“I have to admit, I’m a bit surprised you wanted to go on this,” I said as our lap bar was lowered over us.

Tyler turned his head to give me a curious look. “Why is that?”

“I dunno.” I shrugged. “I pictured you as more of a thrill ride kind of guy.”

“Oh, I like those, too,” he said. “Although, I prefer nature’s thrill ride over every other kind.”

“Nature’s thrill ride?” I echoed. “What’s that?”

He flashed me a grin of pearly whites. “Waves.”

“Oh. Of course.” I chucked as the ride began to move. “Have you tried any surfing since you got here?”

Tyler shook his head. “Not yet. I’ve been helping my parents unpack.”

“And taking your little brother to the carnival,” I added.

“Yeah,” Tyler said, grinning, “and that.”

We were silent for a moment as we reached the top, and the ride stopped to let more people on.

Tyler leaned forward slightly to peer past me toward the ocean. “Wow, the view from up here is amazing.”

“You can barely see anything right now,” I said. “It’s so dark.”

“You can see the reflection of the moon on the water.” Tyler pointed. “That’s all you need to see.”

I couldn’t help but smile at that. Why couldn’t Paige have fallen for him instead of Caleb?

My smile instantly turned into a frown with that thought.

“Are you okay?” Tyler asked as the ride started moving again.

I turned my head to him and nodded. “Yeah. I’m okay.”

“Are you sure? Because if there’s something you want to talk about, we have nothing better to do for the next few minutes.” He paused and then added, “I’m a good listener.”

I considered his offer for a moment. I didn’t know him well enough to pour my heart out to him, but maybe that would make him the perfect person to talk to. It wasn’t like I had to mention the names of anyone involved or anything.

“Well,” I began slowly, “There’s this boy I like—”

“Caleb?” Tyler guessed.

My jaw dropped. “W-what? How—I mean, no. I don’t like Caleb.”

“Oh.” Tyler held up his hands in surrender. “Sorry. I thought—well, I mean, it seemed like you liked him.”

My stomach twisted into a knot. If my crush was obvious to Tyler, who else was it obvious to? It had been obvious to Braden and Natalie because they both knew me better than I knew myself. But Tyler barely knew me. So, how did he know? And—oh my God—did Caleb know?

I pushed the horrifying thought out of my mind. “Well, I don’t.”

“Okay,” he said, accepting my lie. “So, what about this boy that you like who isn’t Caleb?”

I stared down at the rapidly approaching ground as we completed our first rotation. “I like him, but he likes somebody else. No, scratch that. He’s madly in love with someone else.”

“Oh.” Tyler gave me a sympathetic half-smile. “That’s a bummer.”

“Yeah. And it turns out she feels the same way. Now they’re together.”

“Ouch.”

“Pretty much.” I sighed and glanced back at the moonlight reflecting off the waves.

“Well,” Tyler said after a few seconds of silence, “whoever this guy is, he’s dumb for being in love with somebody else. You’re clearly the better choice.”

I had to chuckle at that. He wouldn’t be saying that if he knew the “somebody else” was Paige—the girl he most likely had a crush on.

“Thanks for saying that,” I said, smiling politely. “But I’m actually not. These two are perfect for each other. I’m the dumb one for allowing myself to fall for him. I should’ve known better.”

Tyler shook his head. “Nah. It’s not your fault. You can’t choose who you like. Besides, he probably led you on.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head, “he didn’t. I knew all along how he felt about this girl. In fact, I even helped him win her heart.”

“Oh. Wow.” Tyler winced. “Well, I guess it is your fault, then.”

I shot him a mock glare and he gave me a guilty grin in return.

“Sorry,” he said. “So, is that why you’re here tonight? To distract yourself?”

“Yup. After we’re done with the Ferris wheel, I’m going to take my frustrations out on the bumper cars. You might want to keep Hunter far away from there. Natalie tells me I’m brutal with a bumper car.”

“Noted,” Tyler said with a chuckle. “Well, I hope the distraction works.”

“Me too.”

We were silent for a moment before I finally decided to change the subject. After all, it was hard to distract myself from Caleb while talking to someone about my feelings for Caleb.

So, I turned to Tyler and asked him all about California and his life there. And for the next couple of minutes, I listened to his stories about surfing, his friends, his ex-girlfriend, and about how California has the best fish tacos, and it really helped. By the time the ride was over, and we were stepping off, I felt a lot better.

“Thanks for riding with me,” Tyler said as we walked down the exit ramp.

I smiled. “You’re welcome. And thank you for helping to distract me.”

“Anytime.” Once we were off the ramp, he stopped and glanced around. “Hmm. I don’t see Hunter and Natalie anywhere. Wanna head over to the bumper cars?”

“Yeah, sure.” I began to follow him, but we made it only a few feet before I suddenly heard my name being called out behind me.

“Bria.”

Immediately recognizing the voice, I stopped mid-step and turned around to see Caleb striding toward us.

“Caleb,” I said, surprised—not just because he was there, but because he was there, and Paige appeared not to be.

“Hey, Caleb,” Tyler greeted him with a friendly grin and a wave as he came to a stop in front of us.

Caleb’s eyes, which had been locked on me as he made his way over, instantly shot to Tyler at the sound of his voice. “Tyler?” he squawked, returning his gaze to me and thrusting an accusatory finger in Tyler’s direction. “That’s who you’re on a date with? You said I didn’t know the guy.”

“Huh?” At first, I was confused. Then I realized Caleb thought I was on a date—because I’d told him I was going on a date tonight. And he thought my date was Tyler because I’d just stepped off the Ferris wheel with him, and not the made-up guy that I told Caleb about earlier. “Oh, wait—” I started to explain, but he cut me off.

“Why would you—how did—” He stopped to rake a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe this.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but Tyler spoke before I could say anything.

“Um, I’m not sure what’s going on here,” he said, “but I should probably find Hunter.” As he slowly began backing away, he pointed to the Ferris wheel and added with a smile, “Again, Bria, thanks. See ya!”

I nodded and returned the smile. “Yeah, see ya.”

As soon as he was out of earshot, Caleb asked quietly, “Why him?”

I took a deep breath and held it for a moment before turning to face him. “What’s your issue with Tyler now? There’s no reason for you to dislike him anymore.”

Caleb said nothing as his shoulders sagged forward and he lowered his gaze to the ground.

“But regardless,” I continued, “he isn’t my date. We ran into each other. He’s here with his little brother who’s afraid of heights and didn’t want to go on the Ferris wheel with him. So, I volunteered to go on it with him instead. That’s all.”

He looked almost relieved at that. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Then where’s the guy you’re actually here with?” Caleb asked, glancing around.

“Bathroom,” I replied without missing a beat. I was proud of how quickly I came up with an answer.

I was getting good at this whole lying thing.

Caleb rubbed the back of his neck and nodded. “Oh.”

I narrowed my eyes up at him. “Caleb, what are you doing here?”

“I need to talk to you,” he said. “It’s important. Can we go somewhere?”

“Where?”

Instead of answering, he simply grabbed my wrist and started leading me toward the boardwalk.

“Where are we going?” I asked, trying—without success—to remove myself from his grasp.

He said nothing until about a minute later when he stopped suddenly and released my hand. “Do you know where we are?” he asked, turning to face me.

“Of course, I do. We’re on the boardwalk.”

“Yeah, but do you know specifically where on the boardwalk we are?”

“Caleb, what are you—”

“This is where we did the Bump and Catch. Right here.” He pointed to the exact spot where I’d meant to bump into Paige but ended up tripping instead. “Do you remember that?”

“How could I forget?” It hadn’t been one of my finer moments.

“When you tripped and I caught you instead of Paige, that was the moment I realized I didn’t want to continue with your plan.”

I sighed. “I know. I remember. You chased me down to tell me that. You said you wanted to give up because you figured the plan was never going to work.”

Caleb nodded. “Right. And that’s what I thought the reason was at the time, but I know now that wasn’t the case.”

“Okay, then, what was the real reason?”

He lowered his gaze to the ground for a moment before finally raising it back up to meet with mine. “There’s something I need to tell you,” he said softly. “Something I need to confess.”

“What is it?” I asked, ignoring the sudden quickening of my pulse. What could he possibly have to tell me? What would be so important that he needed to interrupt my supposed date?

He took a step closer, his eyes burning into mine. “Bria,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper, “I’m in love with—”

I drew in a deep breath and held it, anticipating his next words.

“—K-dramas,” he finished, and I instantly let my breath back out in one big whoosh.

I stared at him, dumbfounded. Was he for real? “I’m sorry, what?”

“I’m in love with K-dramas,” he repeated. “After you forced me to watch that one episode of This Love of Ours, I went home and watched the first episode. Then, I watched the second one. And then, before I knew it, I was starting to watch the entire series. I didn’t tell you I was watching it because I was embarrassed to admit that I loved every second of it. It was entertaining. It made me happy, it made me sad, it made me angry. I couldn’t get enough of it, and—”

“Caleb.” I held my hand up to stop him. “Did you seriously drive all the way here to interrupt my date to tell me how much you suddenly love K-dramas? Couldn’t you have told me that in a text?”

“You don’t respond to my texts these days,” he said, frowning. “Or my calls.”

Touché.

I tapped my foot impatiently against the ground. “Okay, so, you’re a K-drama fan now. Congratulations. Is that what you dragged me over here to tell me?”

“No.” Caleb shook his head. “I also wanted to tell you that you were wrong.”

My hands formed fists at my sides as irritation began coursing through my veins. I had no idea what he thought I was wrong about, but I honestly didn’t care. “Gee, Caleb, great talk,” I said dryly. “Can I get back to my date now?” I turned to leave, but his hand shot out and grabbed my arm to stop me.

“Bria, please,” he pleaded. “Hear me out.”

Closing my eyes, I counted to five before turning back around. “Okay. I’m listening. What was I wrong about?”

“You said I was the second lead of my story,” he replied. “But that’s not true. I’m the male lead.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said, swallowing hard. “I saw the kiss between you and Paige.”

“Yeah, but—” he began, but then he stopped. “Wait, what do you mean, you saw the kiss between me and Paige?”

Whoops.

There was no use trying to backtrack. As the realization hit him, his eyes widened, and he thrust an accusatory finger in my face. “You were there, weren’t you? At The End Zone.” He paused for a beat and then gasped. “The redhead and the gray-haired chick who won the jackpot! That was you and Natalie, wasn’t it?”

I nodded sheepishly and he burst out laughing.

“Oh my God, I thought those girls looked an awful lot like you two. Paige thought I was crazy.” As his laughter subsided, he said, “So, what’s the name of that alter-ego?”

“Zoey Buchanan,” I mumbled. “She’s Carly’s sister.”

Caleb shook his head and grinned. “Of course, she is.” Tilting his head to one side, he threw me a curious look. “Why were you there? To spy on us?”

I had to decide between lying and telling the truth. But I knew there was no way I could come up with even a half-way believable story explaining why Natalie and I were wearing disguises as we just happened to be at the same place at the same time as Caleb and Paige. It was pretty much an open and shut case.

So, I went with the truth.

“Yes,” I admitted. “We were there to spy on you.”

All traces of amusement were now gone from Caleb’s face as he frowned. “Why?”

“Because.” I lowered my head in shame. “I didn’t want to wait to find out how everything went. And I wanted to be close by in case…”

“In case what?”

“In case things didn’t go well. In case Paige rejected you.” I returned my gaze to his. “I wanted to be there for you. To be your shoulder to cry on or whatever.”

A smile pulled at Caleb’s lips but then quickly disappeared. “Okay, so you saw the kiss. Does that mean you saw what happened after it?”

“No, I left before it was over. It didn’t feel right watching the two of you make out.” I paused before nonchalantly asking, “What did happen after?”

“Nothing.” Caleb ran a hand through his hair as he leaned back against the boardwalk railing. “Nothing happened because we both felt nothing.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “I don’t get it.”

Caleb chuckled softly as he lowered his gaze to the ground. “We kissed, and it was like kissing a sibling. Or a good friend. There was no spark. No fireworks. For either of us. It was just nothing. In fact, immediately after the kiss ended, we both laughed at how absurd it all was.”

“Wait. But…” I tried desperately to wrap my brain around what he was telling me. He’d kissed Paige—the love of his life—and he’d felt nothing? Nothing at all? “How is that even possible? Paige is your female lead.”

Caleb returned his gaze to mine. “Not anymore, she isn’t.” He pushed off the railing to stand in front of me. “She hasn’t been since the night you bumped into me at the bonfire.”

“What are you—” I began, but he immediately cut me off.

“Bria, you’re my female lead,” he said. So casually. So matter-of-factly. Like he was telling me the sky was blue or water was wet. “I’d been so preoccupied with trying to get Paige to like me as more than a friend that I didn’t realize I had started to like someone else. You.”

My breath hitched in my throat. I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out.

“That’s the real reason I drove all the way here tonight,” he added. “To tell you that I like you. As more than a friend. As more than some girl who decided to selflessly help me become a male lead. Because I…I’m falling for you, Bria.”

The world grew silent then. Suddenly, I could no longer hear the waves of the ocean, the chattering of people around us, or the distant sounds of the carnival. All I could hear was my own heartbeat pounding in my ears. The whooshing sound of blood pumping through my veins.

When I said nothing, Caleb’s face slowly grew concerned. Like he realized he’d made a mistake. Like he had said something he wasn’t supposed to say.

“Look, I know I shouldn’t be telling you this right now,” he said, his voice riddled with guilt. “I know you’re on a date with someone else—”

“I’m not,” I blurted out, finally coming out of my daze and finding my voice again.

His face relaxed only slightly. “You’re not?”

I shook my head. It was time for my own confession. “No, I–I’m here with Natalie. There was never any date. There was never any boy at the beach. I only told you that because I didn’t want to hear about your date with Paige.”

He shook his head in confusion. “Why didn’t you want to hear about my date with Paige?”

“Because…” I stared up at him as I gathered the courage to admit to him what he’d just admitted to me. “Because I’m falling for you, too.”

Caleb’s jaw dropped, and for a moment he said nothing as he stared down at me in shock. “Wait—for real?”

I couldn’t help but smile at that as I nodded. “Yeah. For real.”

Slowly, his look of shock faded as a big, vibrant grin began to form on his face. “Okay, um…so…what does that mean, then? What do we do now?”

My heart raced inside my chest as I pretended to think about it for a second. “Well, uh, if we were in a K-drama, this would actually be the moment when you ki—”

The last word was cut off as Caleb closed the distance between us, placed his hands on either side of my face, and pressed his lips firmly against mine.

I was instantly brought back to the bonfire. To Truth or Dare. Caleb’s lips were still as warm and soft as they were that night, but now I was allowed to enjoy them. Because it wasn’t part of a game this time. It wasn’t part of some elaborate plan to get some other girl to realize she was in love with him.

I wasted no time in kissing him back, wrapping my arms around his neck as he lowered his to wrap around my back, pulling me closer. I was aware our kiss was on display in front of a boardwalk full of tourists, but I didn’t care. And neither did Caleb. As far as we were concerned, we were the only two people on the entire beach.

But sadly, the kiss was short-lived. Seconds later, Caleb pulled away slightly and grimaced. “Please tell me you were about to say that would be the moment when I kissed you. Otherwise, I’m so sorry—”

I placed a hand on his chest and giggled. “No, don’t apologize. That was exactly what I was going to say.”

“Really?” He breathed a sigh of relief. “Then can I kiss you again? Because that one was way too sh—”

I didn’t let him finish before pressing my lips against his in another kiss. But this one ended up even shorter than the last when I heard a sudden squealing behind me.

“Omigod!”

I knew right away who that squeal belonged to. Reluctantly breaking away from Caleb with an inward groan, I glanced over my shoulder to see Natalie standing a few feet away from us. Her eyes were wide, and her jaw practically unhinged as she stared at us in disbelief.

“My date’s here,” I informed Caleb with a smirk.

Natalie glanced down at her watch. “How long was I on the bumper cars? You were getting on a Ferris wheel with Tyler when I left you, and now you’re making out with Caleb? Explain yourself!”

I chuckled. “It’s a long story.” I turned my head to look up at Caleb for confirmation, but he shook his head.

“Actually, it’s not,” he said. He slipped an arm around my shoulders; the act so natural it felt like something he’d been doing all along. “I realized last night that I liked Bria. And then this morning when she told me she met some other guy and was going on a date with him, I knew I had to act fast and tell her how I feel.”

Okay. Maybe it wasn’t a long story, after all.

Natalie, about to burst into happy tears, ran the remaining distance over to us and threw her arms around us. “I can’t believe this is happening!”

I let her have her hug for a few seconds before I tried prying her off. “Natalie,” I giggled, “give us some space, please.”

“Oh. Sorry!” She pulled away and glanced back and forth between us. “So, are you dating now?”

Caleb and I exchanged a curious glance. We hadn’t discussed dating yet; we’d just gone straight to the kissing part.

“Um—” I began, but Caleb quickly chimed in.

“I haven’t officially asked her out yet.”

Natalie stared at him expectantly. “Well, what are you waiting for?”

I motioned to her and said, “She asks a valid question. What are you waiting for?”

Caleb removed his arm from around my shoulders and turned to face me. With a shy smile, he grabbed my hands in his. “Bria, would you like to—”

“Yes,” I said before he could finish the question. “I would love to go on a date with you.”

“Okay,” he said with a small smile. “Well, would you also like to—”

“Be your girlfriend?” I finished for him. “Absolutely.”

“Aw, you’re already finishing each other’s sentences,” Natalie gushed. “Now, kiss again!”

On her command, Caleb and I both leaned in and gave each other a small peck on the lips to seal the deal.

“Oh, come on, you can do better than that,” Natalie said with a pout.

Caleb and I shot her a look and slowly her brow began to furrow. “Oh, I’m being weird, aren’t I?” she asked.

We smiled and nodded.

“And I’m being a third wheel.”

“No,” I quickly assured her. “You’re not.”

With a dismissive wave, she shrugged. “No, it’s okay. I totally am. I’m gonna head home and leave you two alone.”

“No, really,” Caleb insisted. “You can stay. We can all hang out together.”

Natalie shook her head furiously back and forth. “No. No way. You need some time alone. Besides, I have a date at home with a really good book.” She glanced at Caleb. “Can you bring her home for me?”

“Absolutely,” he replied with a nod.

“Okay, then!” She threw her arms around me in a tight hug. “I’m so happy for you,” she whispered in my ear. “Promise you’ll call me later and tell me everything.”

“I will,” I said, hugging her back.

When she was gone, Caleb turned to me and said, “Well, she seemed happy about this.”

“Of course, she did,” I said. “She’s been our number one ‘shipper for a while now.”

He blinked at me, confused. “What’s a ‘shipper?”

I sighed, giving him a pat on the shoulder. “I still have a lot to teach you about this romance stuff.”

With a grin, Caleb wrapped his arms around my waist, pulled me close, and planted a soft, sweet kiss on my lips that sent the butterflies in my stomach soaring. “I can’t wait to learn.”