Another week of school came and went, and I did my best not to be hyper-aware of Leonardo Bracci. Of course, that didn't work. I would automatically look for him everytime I enter a room, even if I knew he wouldn't be there, and my eyes were always drawn towards him when he was. By the end of the day I was ready to bash my head against a wall or something.

I have tried to be as friendly as I can whenever we text, but today I haven't replied to any of his messages. So as I sat on the back porch steps of my house that Friday afternoon, witnessing dad struggle to fix one of the garden sprinklers, I stared at the phone in my hands.

He's asking about my day.

He was making it incredibly hard for me to keep being Justine the girl he sent his nudes to, and not Justine his classmate who has a crush on him.

"What's wrong, peanut?"

I looked up to find dad temporarily give up on his plumbing (was it considered plumbing?) and was wiping his dirt covered hands down the front of his jeans. Mom was going to kill him. With a grunt, he plopped himself down next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

"Come on, you can tell me."

I sighed and played with the corner of my phone's case. "I have a crush on this guy at school...but so does half of the school's population."

"Aah," Dad nodded his head, "I see. He's popular?"

"Yep," I said popping the p.

He nodded again, and there was a short pause in the conversation where we both just stared out at our backyard. Next thing I knew he had his Glock in his other hand

"Want me to persuade him to take you out?" He nonchalantly asked.

I raised a brow at him. "Gee, dad, thanks. Good to know you have such faith in my boy-catching skills."

"Honey," Dad made me look him in the eyes, then continued with a dead panned look, "You just called it boy-catching, that should tell you all about my faith in your skills."

I sighed again then covered my face with my hands. "I'm bad at this dad..."

"I'd say," he chuckled, "Last time you had a crush, you were eight, and told the poor boy when you marry him you'll have a pie fight at your wedding."

"Hey! The pie fight idea was your fault!" I exclaimed with an accusing finger pointed at him.

"How was it my fault?!" Dad's voice rose an octave and he looked thoroughly insulted.

"You got me hooked unto The Great Race which had one of the greatest pie fights in all of movie history!"

"Not my fault it became your favorite!"

"What are talking about?" Aubrey asks as she stepped out unto the porch.

Without missing a beat, dad answered, "Justine's school crush."

"Oooh! Who is it?" Aubrey grins like a Cheshire cat as she sits down on the porch swing, while I groan, knowing full well nothing I could say or do will make my sibling and sperm donor drop the subject.

"Yeah, Justine, who is it?" Dad grins as well. No matter how close we are, Aubrey inherited his cunning and hot-headed nature, while I took after mom's more calm and inquisitive approach to life.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not saying names."

"Knew it!" Aubrey exclaims, pumping both of her fists in the air, while dad looked at her expectantly. Seeing this, she explains, "I think it's best if I didn't tell you who he is, but he is the school's Mr. Popular, the captain of the football team, and the Golden Boy."

"Woah," Dad was impressed, and I'm not surprised. "You picked a rare one, didn't you?"

"I wish you all the luck, sister dear," Aubrey says as she slumps back in the swing. "You'll be competing with the whole fu-damn school."

The three of us took a moment to look and see of mom caught Aubrey's near slip-up. The coast was clear. I frowned at my sister, "The whole school? Lee said only half."

"It's the whole school. All the guys I know and all the guys the girls on the team know has some sort of man crush on Leo," Aubrey shrugs.

"So does that mean you have a crush on him, too?" I raised a brow at her.

Aubrey makes a face at me, similar to the one dad gave me earlier when I supposedly insulted him. "I'm not so basic as to have a crush on him. Sure, he's got a nice...butt, but I perfer my guys to be a bit lean and on the geeky side."

There was another lull in the conversation where dad and I digested this new found information about Aubrey. Then I frowned again.

"What are you doing out here again?" I asked her.

She looks up from her phone, "Oh! Mom wanted me to tell you dinner's ready."

"Guess the sprinklers can wait till tomorrow!" Dad grins as he stands up and stretches.

Later on that night, as I crawled into bed, I finally grew the balls to text Leo back.

I smiled at my phone screen then tapped in another reply.

😜

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