The Cure for Second Lead Syndrome by Amanda Abram

CHAPTER 2

The bonfire was everything I knew it would be but had hoped it wouldn’t be.

As soon as we arrived, Braden ditched me. He told me to text him if I needed to find him for whatever reason but requested that I not do so unless it was an “absolute emergency”. He didn’t specify what he deemed to be an emergency, but by the way he said it, I was assuming I’d either need to be hemorrhaging blood or choking on a s’more to get him to respond.

Twenty minutes in, I was bored to tears and wanted to leave. I was also cold. At Braden’s request, I had traded my yoga clothes for a pair of jean shorts and a tank top. I was now regretting my decision not to bring a hoodie with me too. Summer had officially begun a couple weeks ago, but some of the nights were still a bit on the cool side. I knew all I had to do to warm up was to go stand closer to the fire, but everyone else seemed to have the same idea. There were too many people huddled about in groups all around the fire pit, and I had no desire to stand among them all by myself.

I grabbed a can of Coke from one of the many coolers that had been placed around the area and popped it open. I took a sip as I moved away from the crowd. I hadn’t seen Braden since he’d left me alone, but I was okay with that. My plan was to find a tree to sit against, put my earbuds in, and watch This Love of Ours on my phone until Braden came to tell me it was time to leave.

But first, I wanted to give Natalie a call. Heading for the nearest unpopulated spot, I pulled out my phone. Looking down as I scrolled through my contacts, I was about to tap on her name when I walked directly into what felt like a brick wall.

“Oh!” I exclaimed as my soda dropped out of my hands and onto the ground, splashing onto my sneakers. “Darn it.”

“Hey, watch it,” the brick wall mumbled.

I glanced up to see who I had bumped into and saw Caleb Nichols—one of Braden’s best friends—staring down at me. At first, he looked annoyed, but then his features softened a bit when he realized who had bumped into him.

“Oh. Hey, Bria.”

“Sorry,” I said, taking a step back. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

“Obviously not.” He smirked. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Though, I’m not sure my shoes can say the same.” I frowned down at my formerly all-white Converse sneakers, now splattered with sticky brown beverage.

“That’s a bummer.” He was still speaking to me, but he was no longer looking at me. Instead, he was staring straight ahead, his eyes narrowing as his mouth slowly formed a thin line.

“Did I get you?” I asked.

He turned his head and blinked at me. “Huh?”

“With the soda. Did I get any on you?”

“Oh.” He glanced down at himself and shrugged. “I don’t think so.”

“Good,” I said with a smile. “Again, I’m so sorry.”

“No worries,” he said with a dismissive wave before once again averting his attention elsewhere.

Curiously, I followed his gaze to see what he found so interesting. All I saw was Paige Bishop and some guy I didn’t recognize sitting at a picnic table having what looked like a pleasant conversation. Not exactly stare-worthy.

Yet, Caleb couldn’t seem to take his eyes off them.

I knew very little about Paige, other than she and Caleb were best friends. Maybe they were more than friends. I had no idea. It wasn’t like I ever cared enough to investigate their love lives. But the way Caleb was looking over at her with another guy told me that they weren’t more than friends, but that Caleb wished they were. And he didn’t seem to like seeing her with someone else.

Hmm. Interesting…

“Who’s that guy?” I asked casually, pointing to the boy Paige was talking to. He was hot. Wavy, blond-streaked hair that was long enough to fall in his eyes. Sun-kissed skin. A sexy smile. A toned chest that he was showing off in an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt that would have looked dumb on anyone else but him. He looked like he had just spent all day catching waves at the beach.

“Tyler Baldwin,” Caleb responded in a sour tone. His narrowed eyes were now glaring over at the boy.

“I don’t recognize him. A tourist?”

“I wish,” he muttered. “His family just moved here from California. He’ll be going to school with us in the fall.”

I could tell Caleb didn’t like the guy. At all.

“He’s cute,” I remarked.

Caleb whipped his head in my direction. “No, he’s not.”

I snorted. “Um, okay. Yeah, you’re right. He’s not cute. He’s hot.”

He groaned as he shook his head. “You obviously have terrible taste in guys.”

“How so? The guy is objectively attractive. Look at that perfect bone structure. And his hair—that hair is made for girls to run their hands through.”

In all honesty, I thought this Tyler boy was just okay. Yes, he was good-looking; he just did nothing for me. He was a little too pretty. But I was purposely trying to get a reaction out of Caleb because…well, because I was bored.

And a reaction is exactly what I got.

With a huff of irritation, Caleb snapped, “Nobody asked you, Bria,” before stalking off.

“Hey,” I said, following him. “Why are you so upset?”

“I’m not upset,” he said, not bothering to glance back at me.

I broke into a jog to catch up with his long strides. Placing a hand on his arm to stop him, I said, “Caleb, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you mad.”

He stopped walking and turned to me. “I’m not mad. I’m…” His voice trailed off as his line of vision returned to the occupied picnic table.

For a moment, I watched him watching them, and it all began to make sense.

Caleb was jealous of Tyler.

Because of Paige.

“Oh! You’re in love with Paige!”

I didn’t mean to blurt it out like that, but the words were out before I could contain them.

Caleb gaped at me in horror before quickly glancing around to see if anyone had heard me. Fortunately, nobody appeared to be close enough to hear our conversation, but he still looked immensely displeased as he grabbed my arm and yanked me toward an even more secluded area.

When he was finally satisfied with a spot, he let go and spun around to face me. “What is wrong with you?”

I stared up at him with a blank expression. “What? Am I wrong?”

“Yes, you’re wrong.”

“It just seemed like you didn’t like seeing that Tyler guy with Paige.”

He glowered down at me. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I held my hands up in surrender. “Fine. I guess I read too much into your disdain for a guy you don’t even know and foolishly assumed it had something to do with a girl. My apologies.”

“What do you even know about being in love with someone, anyway?” he asked. “You’ve never even dated anyone before.”

Inhaling sharply, I pursed my lips. I didn’t need this. I wasn’t even sure why I had sparked up a conversation with Caleb to begin with. I should have apologized for bumping into him and moved on. I certainly shouldn’t have attempted to stick my nose in his business, where it obviously wasn’t welcome.

There was a reason I didn’t socialize very often, and it was because I sucked at it.

Without saying another word, I turned and walked away.

Caleb was right. I hadn’t dated anyone before. But I knew plenty about being in love from all the dramas I’d watched. I could recognize the signs of unrequited love when I saw them. I saw them with Caleb. I guess I should have kept that observation to myself.

Grumbling under my breath about how rude he was, I made my way over to the line of trees as I dialed Natalie’s number. She picked up after the first ring.

“Oh my God, Bria, I miss you so much.”

I missed her too, and hearing her voice was like music to my ears. She’d only been gone a day, but it already felt like a lifetime. “Hey, Nat. How’s it going?”

“It’s going okay, but Nana and Gramps fell asleep watching CSI reruns and now I’m so bored.”

“Yeah, me too,” I said glumly.

“Are you okay?” she asked. “You sound down. Or annoyed. Or both?”

“I’m annoyed.”

“Why? What has Braden done now?” She knew me so well. Nine times out of ten, if I was annoyed, it was because of something my brother either said or did. Sometimes, it was a combination of the two.

“He brought me to Jordan Anderson’s bonfire.”

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone. “Nat? Are you still there?”

“Uh, yeah,” she replied slowly. “I’m still here. What do you mean brought you to Jordan Anderson’s bonfire?”

“I thought it was pretty self-explanatory.”

“Well, you thought wrong.”

“Mom forced him to take me,” I explained. I spotted a large rock nearby and took a seat on it. “I spent all day watching This Love of Ours instead of vacuuming and this was my punishment.”

Natalie laughed. “Only you would consider going to a bonfire as being punishment.”

“Hey, you would too.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“But that wasn’t my only punishment,” I continued glumly. “My mom has also banned me from watching This Love of Ours for the next week. She’s changing the passwords to all our streaming services.”

Natalie gasped. “What? She can’t do that!”

“She can and she’s going to. So, we’re going to have to wait until you get back to catch up on episodes together.” There was a deafening silence on her end. “Nat? Are you still there?”

“Yeah. I’m still here.”

“You’re going to hold off on watching any more episodes until I can. Right?”

Another silence.

“Nat?”

She sighed. “I’ll try, Bria, but there’s not a whole lot to do here besides watch TV. And things were just starting to get good on the show!”

“I know. But if you watch the episodes without me, who are you going to discuss them with? Your grandparents?”

“Good point,” she said with a defeated sigh. “Okay, fine. I’ll try to hold off watching any more until I get back. Just don’t say I’ve never done anything for you.”

I smiled. “Thanks, Nat.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She paused for a moment. “So, what’s it like at the bonfire? Are you having fun? Have you talked to anyone? Did Braden ditch you?”

“It’s boring,” I replied. “No, I’m not having fun. Yes, Braden ditched me. And the one person I talked to was kind of a jerk.” I glanced back at Caleb to see him still staring over at Paige and Tyler. But then, as though he could feel me watching him, he turned his head in my direction. When our eyes met, I averted mine to the ground.

“Who did you talk to?” Natalie asked.

“Caleb.”

“Oh.” Another pause. “But Caleb isn’t a jerk.”

I sighed. “Well, I bumped into him and then wrongfully accused him of being in love with somebody. Maybe I just got on his bad side or something.”

“Ooh!” Natalie’s voice perked up the way it always did whenever she was about to hear some juicy gossip. “Who did you accuse him of being in love with?”

“Nobody.”

“Oh, come on, you can tell me! I swear, I won’t tell anyone.”

“Sorry, Nat, but my lips are sealed.”

“Did he at least admit to being in love with this person?”

“Nope. He denied it. But I can tell he’s lying. Not just to me, but maybe even to himself.”

I glanced back over at Caleb and was surprised to see he was making his way toward me. “Hmm. I think he might be coming over to talk to me.”

I waited to see if he would make a sudden turn in a different direction, but sure enough, he kept on a straight path that led directly to me, keeping his eyes on me the whole way.

“Um, yeah, he’s definitely coming over,” I whispered into the phone. “I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay, but—”

I didn’t say goodbye before ending the call. By the time I was putting my phone back in my pocket, Caleb was standing in front of me.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” I said back.

“Look, I’m sorry for being a grouch back there, and I’m sorry for what I said before you walked away. I’m in a bad mood, that’s all. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.”

“It’s fine. I understand. I shouldn’t have accused you of being in love with Paige.”

He took in a deep breath and held it for a moment before slowly letting it back out. He pointed to the rock I was sitting on. “Mind if I join you?”

There was enough room for another person, so I moved over to give him more space. “Have a seat.”

He sat down next to me and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. After a few seconds of silence, he said, “Is it that obvious?”

“Is what that obvious?”

“The fact I’m in love with Paige.”

I somehow refrained from exclaiming I knew it! “Oh, uh, I don’t know if it’s obvious to other people, but it was obvious to me.”

He glanced at me sideways. “How was it obvious to you?”

I smiled. “Well, you seemed jealous of the new guy. And by the way you were looking at him and Paige together, I could just tell. I have radar for stuff like this.”

“Radar, huh?” He sat up straight and returned his gaze to the picnic table, where Paige and Tyler were still talking.

“So,” I said.

“So, what?” he asked, not taking his eyes away from them.

“So, you’re in love with Paige. What are you going to do about it?”

That got him to look at me. “I’m not going to do anything about it.”

“Why not?”

“Because,” he said matter-of-factly, as though that was the only answer I needed. When he could tell I wanted him to elaborate, he sighed and lowered his head. “If I tell her and she doesn’t feel the same way, it will ruin everything. Years of friendship—destroyed forever.”

He was not wrong about that. “Do you think she feels the same way?”

“How would I know?”

“You wouldn’t necessarily. Girls can be tough to read. Sometimes their over-friendliness is misconstrued as romantic feelings.”

Caleb groaned. “See? That’s why I can’t do anything about it. And now this Tyler guy has shown up and she keeps talking about him. And she gets this little giggle in her voice whenever she does. She’s obviously attracted to him. Because you were right—he is hot.”

It took a lot for a straight guy to admit another guy was hot—especially when the other guy was potential competition. Caleb was bordering on being hot himself. He was tall, brown-haired, blue-eyed, and looked like he’d lifted a few weights in his day. But Caleb’s brand of hot was very boy-next-door. Tyler’s brand of hot was on a whole other level. He had the look of a player. A heartbreaker. A panty melter. If he was going to be Caleb’s competition, Caleb was screwed.

“How long have you been in love with her?” I asked cautiously, not wanting to scare him away.

Caleb’s lips relaxed into a smile as he stared off into space. “A long time. I’ve loved her since we were little kids.”

Hmm. This was starting to sound familiar…

His smile morphed into a sheepish grin. “She’s the only girl I’ve ever loved. I’ve tried dating other girls, to get over my feelings, but none of those girls were her. She’s beautiful and sweet and perfect and…” His voice got softer and softer until it wasn’t audible anymore. He was now lost in his own little world, probably imagining a future where he and Paige were married and raising their kids together.

“So, you have no idea if she feels the same way or not?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No. But if I had to guess, I would say she doesn’t. I’m in the friend zone. Which is fine—I love being her friend—but I wouldn’t mind being a lot more than that, you know?” He paused for a moment. “Sorry, I don’t know why I’m telling you all this.”

“Because I rudely inserted myself into your business,” I said. “Sorry, by the way.”

“Don’t be. It feels good to talk about it. You’re literally the only one who knows I like her.”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “Really?”

“Yup.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “And hopefully it will stay that way. I don’t want Paige hearing from somebody else that I’m in love with her.”

“Understandable. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”

He looked a bit skeptical, and for good reason—he didn’t know me well enough to know if I could keep a secret. For the most part, I could. Sure, sometimes I would tell Natalie, depending on the secret, but she was even better at keeping them than I was, so I felt safe confiding in her.

“You promise?” he asked.

“I promise.” I glanced over at Paige and Tyler. “So, are you going to let this new guy sweep in and steal the love of your life, or what?”

Caleb chuckled. “Well, Paige isn’t mine, so he can’t exactly steal her. But yeah. If that’s what he’s going to do, I’m going to let him. Doesn’t mean I have to like it, though.”

I rolled my eyes at that. “Are you serious? You’re not going to fight for what you want?”

“I can’t fight against a guy like that. I’ll lose. To Paige, Tyler is this new, exciting guy, and I’m just boring old—”

“Lee Kang Dae,” I finished without even thinking.

Confused, he furrowed his brow at me. “Huh?”

Of course! I knew there was a reason why his story was sounding so familiar. It was basically the plot of This Love of Ours:a boy in love with his oblivious best friend, who becomes smitten with another new boy who is totally wrong for her.

I gasped. “Oh my God.”

His look of confusion intensified. “What?”

I shifted my position to face him. “Caleb, you’re Lee Kang Dae!”

He shook his head. “I’m not following.”

“You’re a second lead!” I jumped up from the rock and began pacing back and forth in front of him. “I didn’t think they actually existed in real life, but here you are!” I stopped and stared intently at him, studying him like he was a fascinating exhibit at a museum.

I could tell that made him uncomfortable. Pushing off the rock, he said, “Bria, what are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the fact that I know how to help you.”

“Help me? Help me what?”

“Get the girl, silly.” My mouth formed into a devious grin.

“How do you suppose you can help me ‘get the girl’?”

“I’ll tell you exactly how.” I glanced around to see that the number of people attending the bonfire had multiplied since Caleb and I had started talking. Kids were even starting to encroach on our spot, leaving us very little privacy to talk about an extremely sensitive subject.

I turned back to him with a questioning look. “What do you say we get out of here? We have a lot to discuss.”

***

I managed to talk Caleb into taking me to my favorite ice cream shop, Dairy Dreamer, so we could have a little more privacy to discuss his Paige situation. We could have gone anywhere to talk, but I wanted to get away from the bonfire, and I had a craving for ice cream.

Caleb watched in amusement as I shoveled a heaping spoonful into my mouth. He lowered his gaze to the large banana split sitting in front of me and asked, “Is that good?”

“Delightful,” I replied, not bothering to wait until I was done chewing and swallowing first.

He smirked as he sat back in his chair. He had already finished his small vanilla ice cream cone and I could tell he was eager to get down to business.

“So, you really think you can get Paige to fall in love with me?”

I nodded. “I don’t think I can. I know I can.”

“Is that so? And why do you know you can?”

“I guess you could say I’ve done a lot of research on this topic.”

“What kind of research?”

Leaning forward, I said, “I’ve watched a lot of K-dramas.”

“K-what?”

“K-dramas,” I repeated. “Korean dramas. You know—TV series that originate from South Korea? You are living your own Korean drama right now.”

Caleb dragged a hand down his face. He already looked annoyed. “I don’t know what that means.”

“Then allow me to explain.” I pushed my banana split aside and clasped my hands in front of me. “Most Korean dramas—namely romantic dramas—follow a particular formula. First, there is the female lead. She’s usually pretty, kind, and smart, but often also naive and oblivious to other people’s feelings. Then, there is the male lead. He’s typically good-looking, popular, rich, and successful, but also tends to be aloof and cold. Lastly, there is the second lead, most often male. He is cute, sweet, protective, funny, and caring. And he’s always in love with the female lead.” I stopped to see if Caleb was following me so far.

“So, I’m the cute, sweet, caring guy in this scenario?” he asked slowly. “The second lead?”

“Yes. Paige is the female lead and Tyler is the male lead.”

“Okay. Well, what usually happens with the second lead? Does he get the girl?”

I frowned and shook my head. “Sadly, no. He never gets the girl, despite the fact most viewers are rooting for him to.”

Caleb looked skeptical. “If that’s the case, then why are you so confident that you could help me, the second lead, get Paige, the female lead?”

“Because I know how the two main leads usually fall in love. So, all we have to do is insert you into the role of male lead before Tyler finds his way in.”

“And we plan to do that how?”

“By creating moments between you and Paige that would normally happen between the main leads.” I smiled proudly as my imagination began running wild. I had an endless supply of ideas of how I could get Paige to fall for Caleb. They were practically foolproof—especially since Paige already loved Caleb as a friend. We just needed to get her to see she loved him as more than a friend. By turning Caleb into male lead material, we would achieve just that.

Closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, Caleb sighed. “Sorry, Bria, but this all sounds a bit too fantastical to me. I mean, this is real life, not a TV show.”

“I know. I get it. I understand your hesitation.” I stared blankly at my hands as I twiddled my thumbs. How could I convince him this was a good idea? One that would work? “What are you doing tomorrow afternoon?”

He shrugged. “I don’t have any plans.”

“Great. Come over to my house tomorrow and watch one episode of a K-drama with me. I’ll show you exactly what I’m talking about.” Hopefully, I’d be able to convince my mom to let me watch one last episode before she pulled the plug on me. The fact that I would be watching it with someone besides Natalie would probably be enough to help me win my case.

“Um...” Caleb ran a hand through his hair. “I think I’ll pass on all of this, but thanks for the offer.” He pushed his chair back as if we were about to leave, but I quickly grabbed his wrist to stop him.

“Wait. Don’t you want Paige to fall in love with you?”

He removed his wrist from my grasp. “Of course, I want Paige to fall in love with me. But I don’t stand a chance against that Tyler guy, so what’s the point in even trying to win her over?”

Pushing back my own chair, I stood and handed him my phone. “Put in your number so I can text you tomorrow and tell you when to stop by. You do stand a chance against Tyler, but you’re going to have to work for it. I’m going to help you do that.”

Reluctantly, Caleb typed his phone number into my contacts and handed my phone back to me. “Why do you want to help me?”

“Because I’m sick and tired of nice guys finishing last and never getting the girl,” I replied. “I have no control over what happens on the TV shows I watch, but maybe I do have control in real life.”

The subtle hint of a smile played at Caleb’s lips. “Okay. I’ll come over tomorrow and watch one episode with you. Then you can give me the details of your plan, and maybe I’ll consider letting you help me.”

I excitedly clasped my hands together in front of my face. “Great! You will not regret this, I promise!”

“We’ll see about that,” Caleb muttered as he stood from the table. “Are you ready to go?”

“Yep.” I took one last bite of my banana split and threw the rest away as I followed Caleb out of the ice cream shop.

“Back to the party?” he asked, taking his keys out of his pocket.

I could have asked him to bring me home, but I could tell he wanted to get back to the bonfire as soon as possible. Probably to keep an eye on Paige and Tyler.

“Yeah, sure,” I said, and we climbed into his car. Once I was buckled up, I turned to him and smiled. “Hey, thanks for the ice cream.”

“No problem. Thanks for offering to help me. Even if I don’t take you up on it.”

“Oh, you will. Trust me.”

Caleb smirked and shook his head as he pulled out onto the street.

Glancing down at my phone, I turned it back on to make sure Caleb had put in his number like I’d asked him to. I saw right away that he had, only instead of putting in his own name in the contact info, he’d put in ‘Second Lead’.

I smiled to myself. Something told me he wasn’t going to be that hard to convince after all.