Drew was nothing if not dramatic. Her shoulders slumped, but she didn’t say what Charlee knew she was thinking. She knew she should’ve just come alone. Her car was working now, but Drew had insisted on accompanying her. “You don’t have to stay, you know? You can take off if you want. Go get those boots you wanted at the mall, and just come back for me later.”

“Or I can give you a ride home.”

Both Charlee and Drew turned around to look at Walter. Charlee glanced at Drew, who was already beginning to smirk, but her smirk morphed instantly into a bigger smile. Charlee had seen her do that many times, and she knew what it meant. She was up to something. “So who’s your friend, Walter?”

Charlee closed her eyes for a second, praying this wasn’t Drew’s way of calling dibs on Hector, not that Charlee thought either of them had a chance with him. Drew was cute enough, and her socializing skills were light-years ahead of Charlee’s, but even Drew had never been with someone like Hector. The guy was way out of both their leagues. Well, at least Charlee thought so, but judging by Drew’s comments and the way some of the other girls in the auditorium were ogling him as well, she wasn’t the only one that couldn’t keep her eyes off him.

Glancing around casually, Charlee did her best to appear uninterested in knowing any more about Hector than she already did, but it was almost impossible. She was already bracing herself for what else Walter might let her in on.

“Oh, that’s Hector.” He glanced back in Hector’s direction then back at Drew before finally looking at Charlee. “You didn’t tell her about him?”

Drew glanced back at Charlee then shrugged and responded before Charlee could. “Well, I know he’s the guy that knocked Ross on his ass, but what’s he doing here?”

“He’s in the tournament.” Walter informed them as if it weren’t a big deal.

It was a huge deal. If he won and took Vladimir’s place on the team, it meant Charlee would get to see him on a daily basis. She stopped mid thought to swallow hard. She might actually get to talk to him—maybe even become a friend or at the very least an acquaintance.

A little worried that Drew seemed too interested but incredibly grateful that she was the one doing all the asking, Charlee hung on Walter’s every word now. Unfortunately, he didn’t offer much else except that he didn’t know how good Hector was, so he wasn’t sure what his chances were. Drew got a text, so the interrogation about all things Hector was momentarily dropped.

Charlee took advantage of Drew’s distraction to gaze at Hector again. She’d never felt so drawn to someone in her life. What was it about him? Obviously his looks had a lot to do with it, if not everything, since she didn’t know much else about him, and she’d never even spoken to him other than to say thank you. But there had to be more. She couldn’t be that shallow, could she?

“So what’s his deal?”

Charlee brought her attention back to her best friend, who was now putting her phone away. Drew’s eyebrows lifted as her gaze went from Hector to Walter. Apparently, she wasn’t done with her inquiring about Hector. As much as Charlee wanted to know more about him, she almost wished Drew would stop. She didn’t like that she was so damn interested in her fantasy guy.

“What do you mean?” Walter was doing that weird thing with his head again, moving it slowly up and down, and he was biting his lower lip.

Drew rolled her eyes. “Does he have a girlfriend?”

Great, Drew was interested in him. But Charlee had to admit she was glad Drew asked. A guy like Hector had to be spoken for. She could tell already, based on the looks he was getting here, he could easily walk out with any girl he wanted tonight. Sure it was a chess tournament, not a social event, but this guy could probably walk into a funeral and pick up. Maybe this would put to rest her insane fantasies once and for all.

“I dunno,” Walter said, glancing back in Hector’s direction and chuckled. “You might find this hard to believe, but the guy’s always been pretty popular with the ladies.”

Drew rolled her eyes again this time, smiling and exchanging glances with Charlee, who was now feeling completely uncomfortable about the subject. “Oh, yeah, that’s real hard to believe.”

Her best friend turned her still-lifted eyebrow over in Hector’s direction. All three of them watched now as he took his seat at one of the tables set up for the tournament. He smiled at his opponent as he shook his hand. God, there had to be something wrong him; even that smile was incredible. Charlee actually hoped Walter would tell them he was a criminal of sorts or maybe he was a big conceited jerk. He certainly had every right to be conceited.

They all continued to watch the players set up silently, but Charlee made note of the fact that Drew watched only Hector. Although Charlee was shy to a fault and the thought of holding even a conversation with this guy scared the daylights out of her, it secretly excited her that for once when both she and Drew found a guy attractive, she might actually have more in common with him than her much more outgoing best friend. Maybe for once she would have the always unspoken dibs Drew automatically had on any attractive guys.

It wasn’t that Drew would selfishly stake her claim on all guys they met. She wasn’t like that. But it was common knowledge that Charlee was about as socially inept as Walter seemed to be. Drew was a good friend. She often tried to encourage Charlee to be more flirtatious, and Charlee knew that not only would Drew step aside and give her dibs if she asked for it but she’d be utterly excited about it. Aside from Charlee’s mother, Drew was the only other person who knew why it was so hard for Charlee to ever consider something like that. That’s why Drew encouraged but never pushed. So while Charlee did her best to go as unnoticed as possible, Drew with her unreserved personality was just the opposite. It was inevitable that if either of the two would grab the attention of any guy it was always Drew.