The Cure for Second Lead Syndrome by Amanda Abram

CHAPTER 19

“How can you watch this crap?” Braden dropped down onto the couch next to me and motioned to the TV, where Jeong Mi Kyong and Kim Jae Sung were about to share their last kiss before the end of the series.

I pressed pause on the remote and sighed. “Braden, I’ve already explained to you—in great detail, no less—that this is not crap.”

“I wasn’t talking to you.” He thrust his thumb in the direction of the person who was sitting on the other side of me. “I was talking to him.”

Leaning forward and turning his head so he could see Braden past me, Caleb threw him a smirk. “It’s not crap,” he echoed my sentiment, making me smile.

I had trained him well.

Braden made a face and shook his head. “Dude, you don’t have to keep pretending to like the things Bria likes. She’s already with you.”

“I’m not pretending,” Caleb insisted. “It really is a good show. And you would know that if you gave it a chance.”

I nodded in agreement. “He’s right. Why don’t you sit and watch for a few minutes? That’s how I got Caleb hooked.”

“Nope. I have better things to do with my time.” Braden leapt off the couch and turned to Caleb. “Wanna play Call of Duty?”

Caleb gaped at him. “Why would I want to do that when I can hang out with my beautiful girlfriend instead?” Grinning, he slipped an arm around me and pulled me closer.

I nuzzled against him as I beamed up at Braden. It had to be killing him that one of his friends wanted to spend time with me instead of him.

The look on his face as he glanced between me and Caleb proved it wasn’t just killing him—it was making him nauseous. “Out of all the boys in our school, you had to pick one of my friends to date, didn’t you?”

“Hey, it’s not my fault you’re friends with literally every guy at our school. What do you expect me to do? Not date anyone at all?”

“Yes!” he exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. “That’s exactly what I expect you to do. There’ll be plenty of time for you to date once we’re going to completely different colleges and I won’t know anyone you’re dating.”

“Well, I’m already dating Caleb, so you’re gonna have to deal with it.”

Braden scowled. “I’ll deal with it, but I’m not going to like it.”

“Nobody is asking you to like it,” I said.

“Good. Because I’m not going to.”

“Good.”

“Good.”

Caleb snickered beside me. “Are you guys done? Because I’d like to get back to watching the show.”

Braden sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes. “Fine. I’ll leave you two alone to watch your lame show like the lame people you are.”

“Thank you,” I said politely, ignoring his lame insult.

“But keep your hands to yourselves,” he warned, wagging a finger at us. “I could reappear at any moment, and I don’t want to see my sister and my friend groping each other or swapping spit.” He shuddered at the thought before quickly making his exit.

As soon as he was gone, Caleb looked down at me and asked, “You’re not just dating me to annoy your brother, are you?”

I tilted my head up and gave him a sinister grin. “I’d say it’s about twenty percent of the reason.”

He inhaled sharply and held his breath for a moment before letting it out and smiling. “Honestly, I’m okay with that.”

Giggling, I grabbed the remote and aimed it at the TV to resume our show, but Caleb grabbed it from me before I could hit the play button.

“Hey,” he said, “I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

I pulled away from him and shifted to face him. “What’s up?”

“I’m just curious who your next victim is going to be.”

“Victim?”

“Yeah. Your next project. Whose love life are you going to meddle in next?” Before I could respond, he took a guess. “Paige and Tyler?”

It was obvious to anyone with eyes and ears that Paige and Tyler liked each other. But neither had made a move yet to become anything more than next-door neighbors.

“Nah,” I said. “They don’t need help. They’ll get there eventually.”

I observed Caleb’s expression to see if there was any indication that the thought of Paige and Tyler getting together made him jealous. I was happy to see there wasn’t even a hint of jealousy to be found.

“Well,” he said, “they need to act fast before they both get friend zoned.”

“You’d really be okay if they got together?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Of course, I would,” Caleb said with a shrug. “Tyler’s a good guy, and I want Paige to be happy. If Tyler makes her happy, then I’m happy.”

I smiled. “That’s sweet.”

“I know,” he said, returning my smile. “Okay, so if you don’t want to help Paige and Tyler, then how about Braden?”

“Braden? Yeah, right.” I snorted. “As if that boy needs any help getting girls to like him.”

“Okay.” Caleb thought about it for a second. “How about Natalie?”

I shook my head. “No. She doesn’t even have a crush on anyone right now.”

“How about setting up Natalie and Braden together?” he asked, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

“Ew! No way!” I gave his shoulder a playful push, but he didn’t even budge. “Why would you even suggest that?”

“I dunno. I’ve noticed a bit of a vibe before.”

“No, you haven’t.”

“Yes, I have. Remember Truth or Dare? When he asked her who she’d want to get to second base with and she said him?”

“Oh, that?” I said with a dismissive wave. “Natalie said that to get a reaction out of him. And it worked.”

“Yeah, it did. But I could tell Braden didn’t exactly hate the thought of…you know…with her.”

“Stop it!” I squealed, covering my ears. “I don’t want the mental image of my best friend and my brother doing anything together. That’s so gross!”

Caleb smirked. “Well, I guess now you know how Braden must feel when he sees you and I together.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I paused and sat back. “To answer your question, though, I don’t have a next victim. My days of meddling are officially over.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s a dangerous game. People can get hurt.”

“But everything worked out fine with you and I,” Caleb pointed out.

“Yeah, but you and I weren’t the intended endgame. You and Paige were.” I paused and smirked. “What if I were to help out some other boy and he fell for me instead of the other girl, like you did?”

Caleb’s face instantly fell at that. Squirming uncomfortably, he said, “You know what? You’re right. It probably isn’t such a good idea to butt into other people’s lives.”

“That’s what I thought,” I said, laughing. I grabbed the remote back from him. “Can we get back to our show now, please?”

“Actually, not yet.” Caleb reached over the side of the couch and retrieved the backpack he’d arrived with earlier. It was kind of weird he’d brought it with him, but I didn’t question it.

“I have something for you,” he said. Unzipping the bag, he pulled out a medium-sized box wrapped in light blue wrapping paper and handed it to me. “Here.”

“A present?” I gushed. “For me? But my birthday isn’t until next month.”

Caleb grinned. “I know. It’s just something I wanted to get you. Open it.”

Excitedly, I ripped into the paper and tore it off to reveal what looked like a shoe box. Lifting off the lid, I saw that it was a shoe box, and inside was a brand new, bright white pair of—

“Converse!” I exclaimed, removing each shoe from the box. They were identical to the pair I had stained with soda at the bonfire.

“Yeah. Since I was the reason you ruined your other ones, I figured buying you a new pair was the least I could do.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” I said. “You weren’t even the reason they got ruined. I was the one who wasn’t watching where I was going when I bumped into you.”

“Yeah, but you wouldn’t have bumped into me if I hadn’t been so busy obsessing over Paige and Tyler.”

“If I hadn’t bumped into you, we wouldn’t be here right now.” I glanced down at my new shoes. “Which is why—while I’ll happily wear these from now on—my old pair will always hold a special place in my heart.”

Caleb smiled. “So, you like them?”

I returned his smile and gave him a small peck on the lips. “I love them. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Caleb said softly.

I leaned in to kiss him again, but he placed a hand on my shoulder to stop me.

“Braden told us to keep our hands to ourselves,” he reminded me with a smirk.

“Do you really think Braden dares to check in on us, knowing he might see something he can’t unsee?”

“Good point,” Caleb said, chuckling. Pulling me back toward him, he pressed his lips against mine. The slow, deliberate kiss made my heart flutter and my stomach do somersaults.

And just like that, our desire to finish the last episode This Love of Ours was completely gone. Tossing the remote over my shoulder, I climbed onto his lap and began to kiss him back—only to be immediately interrupted by somebody clearing their throat behind us.

As I clumsily leapt off Caleb, my first thought was that Braden had dared to check in on us after all. But a glance at the doorway to the living revealed someone way worse than Braden.

It was my mom.

“Mom!” I exclaimed, scooting as far away from Caleb as I possibly could. “We were just—” I pointed at the TV. “We were watching—” I stopped as she arched an eyebrow at me. “Braden’s here. In fact, he was just in here with us, like, a minute ago, and—”

“Hello, Caleb,” Mom interrupted, greeting my guest with a slight smirk.

“Hi, Mrs. Copeland,” Caleb muttered, waving at her but avoiding eye contact. His face was beet red, almost mimicking his sunburn from a couple of weeks ago. I kinda felt bad for him, but I also found his embarrassment to be endearing.

“Bria?” Mom spoke up again. “Can I see you in the kitchen, please?”

She didn’t wait for me to respond before disappearing from the doorway. I exchanged a glance with Caleb as I scrambled off the couch.

“Do you think you’re in trouble?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. Probably.” I paused and threw him a flirty smile. “But even if I am, it was totally worth it.”

I made my way to the kitchen, where Mom was already waiting for me.

“Mom,” I began, “I swear, we weren’t doing anything—”

“Relax, sweetie.” She smiled and gave me a pat on the shoulder. “You’re not in trouble.” She walked over to the cabinet where she kept the pots and pulled one out. “Is Caleb staying for dinner?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t asked him.”

“Well, he’s welcome to stay if he’d like.”

I blinked at her. “So, I’m not in trouble?”

She chuckled. “For making out with your boyfriend? No. In case you didn’t know, I was young once, too. I remember what it’s like being in a new relationship and trying to keep your hands off each other. When your father and I started dating—”

My hands instantly shot to my ears, covering them, and protecting my eardrums from having to hear her next words. “Ew, Mom, no. Stop right there.”

She laughed as she started filling the pot with water. “Honey, I just wanted to tell you that I’m very happy that you and Caleb are together. But—”

“Uh-oh,” I interrupted. “There’s a but?”

“Yes. I’m happy you and Caleb are together, but you can’t let your new relationship distract you from doing the things I ask you to do while I’m at work. Things like vacuuming.”

I slapped a hand to my forehead. “Oh, no! I forgot to vacuum, didn’t I?”

“Yes. You did.” Mom smiled. “But I’m letting it slide this time because I think Caleb is a much better excuse than your last one was.”

“Although, technically, it’s the same excuse,” I said without thinking, “because we were watching TV.”

She brought the pot over to the stove and set it down. “Good point.”

“So, is that all you wanted to talk about?”

Mom turned around and gave me a light pat on the cheek. “That’s all, sweetie. You can go back to your boyfriend, now.”

I smiled as I made my way back to the living room, where Caleb was patiently awaiting my return.

“So?” he said. “Did you get in trouble?”

“Nah.” I dropped down next to him on the couch. “She just wanted to remind me not to neglect my chores. Oh, and you’re invited for dinner.”

Caleb looked relieved. “Cool. Invitation accepted. Oh, and—” He held up his phone in front of me. “Paige texted me while you were gone.”

“She did?” I glanced at the text thread on the screen and scanned to the bottom of it.

“Tyler asked her out,” Caleb said before I could read the text for myself.

I gasped. “He did? Finally?”

Caleb grinned. “Finally.”

I clasped my hands together. “That’s so great!”

“It is,” he agreed “Oh, and she’s wondering if we’d like to go on a double date with them.”

“Of course, we would!” I exclaimed but then paused. “That is, if you want to. If you don’t think it would be too weird.”

“Why would it be weird?” He turned off his phone and tossed it onto the cushion beside him before sliding his arm around my shoulders and pulling me against him. He planted a kiss on my temple. “I’ve got you, and she’s got Tyler. We’re both happy, and we’re still best friends. Our story could not have ended any better.”

I rested my head on his shoulder and smiled. “Good. I’m glad you feel that way. Now, speaking of endings, are you ready to finish our show?” I pointed to the TV.

Caleb returned my smile as he pressed the play button on the remote. “Let’s do this.”

In the final episode of This Love of Ours, Jeong Mi Kyong and Kim Jae Sung got married—no surprise there. But you know what? I was happy for them. I might have started the series hoping and praying that the female lead—for once—would open her eyes and realize that the perfect guy had been there all along, but I ended it with a whole new outlook.

I expected to feel sad for Lee Kang Dae, the second lead, but I didn’t. Because in the end, he knew that he and Mi Kyong were much better off as friends. And then he found his own female lead. One who was perfect for him in every way. One who challenged him. One who only had eyes for him.

Sometimes, second leads just need to find their own story. And Caleb did. With me. And together, we were going to find our happy ending.