Awakening Autumn

Can reality be better than a daydream?My overactive imagination has wrecked things for me again. Dreaming up the perfect boy and giving him Joe’s face was my first mistake, because he’s just not into me. I have been crushed by my crush, and that will not happen again. I’ve learned my lesson. Any guy interested in me is going to have to do all the daydreaming, all the yearning, and all the pursuing. I’ve set my heart on someone for the last time. Enter Owen Anderson.I’ve never been the object of someone’s desire, and that’s fine. It’s no big deal if I graduate high school without my first kiss. I’ll suffer through it if it means I don’t have to feel the sting of rejection again.The first order of business is to make sure I don’t daydream about anyone, especially Owen Anderson. Owen, who finds me crying in the stairwell over Joe. Owen, who’s there when I learn I won’t be working with Greta and I’m afraid we’ll drift apart. Owen, who sees me at my most overwhelmed by my responsibilities to my family. Owen, who cannot possibly see me as anything other than a walking disaster.Just once I’d like him to see me strong and capable with decent hair. Not that it would matter if he did, because he’s way out of my league, and I’m not going to let myself think of him in that way. Or think of him at all. Nope. No way. But he keeps showing up, and I keep wondering if maybe, just maybe, Owen sees something more in me than I think he sees.