“I said this outing would be whatever you wanted it to be,” I clarified. “You never asked me what I wanted it to be.”
She blinked. "And what exactly do you want this ‘outing’ to be?"
I laughed softly at her use of air quotes when she said outing, amused beyond belief by her skeptical tone. Was it possible that this girl still didn't get it? I sobered up quickly when I studied her, realizing that it wasn't that she didn't understand, it was that she couldn't seem to believe it.
It made me angry on her behalf. Who had made her feel this way? What had she been through that she so lacked in confidence?
“What do I want this to be?" I stroked her cheek with my thumb. “I want this to be a date." I didn't give her a chance to protest or even to question what I'd said. I slipped my arms down around her waist and pulled her tight against me. "Even better, I'd like to take you out on a real date. A proper date."
Her expression said that I was speaking Swahili. “A proper date," she said repeated slowly. "What does that even mean?”
I met her gaze and held it, I needed her to be able to see just how serious I was. “It means I want to take you out, I want to spend an evening with you in which there is absolutely zero doubt about what we are doing.”
Her brows drew together in confusion. Honestly for a girl so smart she seemed to be having quite a difficult time grasping the obvious. “And what exactly is it that we would be doing?”
I tilted my head back with a laugh before meeting her gaze again. “Dating, Susie Q. We'd be dating.”
“Oh.” Her expression was difficult to read. She didn’t exactly look happy about the proposition. But then again, she’d returned my kiss with more passion than I’d ever experienced. That couldn’t mean nothing, right?
“What do you think?” I decided to take advantage of this uncharacteristic stunned reaction. “Next Saturday?”
“Next Saturday is Halloween.”
I smothered a grin. That wasn’t a no. “It is. Will that be a problem for you?”
She shifted, her eyes darting down and then up again. I could practically see her mind clicking back into gear. “No, I guess not.” Her gaze clashed with mine. “But I don’t do parties.”
I smiled. “Okay.” This was a glimpse of the feisty Suzie I knew and loved. “No parties.”
“I mean, I just wanted to clarify because after the whole Labor Day thing some people seem to think—”
“I don’t.”
She swallowed the rest of her explanation. “Okay.”
My smile was in danger of growing dopey. I felt like a dope, like an utterly moronic idiot because I was so freakin’ happy that this girl had agreed to go out with me.
Sort of.
“So, no parties,” I said. “But how about dinner? I could take you out to this place that just opened—”
“Alone?”
Oh crap, that was definitely fear in her eyes, not excitement. I backpedaled quickly. “Not necessarily. We could do a group hang sort of thing if that makes you more comfortable.”
Her expression grew wary as she studied me and I just knew she was doubting my sincerity. She had that look she got when she couldn’t tell if I was being serious or not. I dropped my hands to reach for hers. “Look,” I said. “I like you. I want to go out with you. But I don’t want you to be scared stiff like you seem to be right now.”
“I’m not—” she started to weakly protest.
“You are, and I get it,” I said. “You don’t trust me yet. But you will.”
She clamped her lips shut, no longer trying to deny that she didn’t trust me. That hurt a little more than I cared to admit, but I did get it. This girl had spent a lifetime either not being seen by me and the crowd I hung out with or being bullied by them. She had no way of knowing that I was her friend, the guy she’d been talking to so openly for months now. The guy who knew her inside-out.
“Until I earn your trust, I’m more than happy to do this on your terms.”
“By ‘do this’ you mean date,” she clarified.
I smothered a laugh at the way she said it, like it was a foreign concept or something.
“Yes, date,” I said. “So, what were you and your friends planning to do for Halloween?”
Her cheeks flushed pink. “You’re going to think it sounds childish.”
“Try me.”
“We go to the carnival every year,” she said. “You know, the one behind the middle school?”
I knew the one. I remembered it well from when I was…well, in middle school. I hadn’t been back since.
“Great,” I said. “Then we’ll go to the carnival.”
“With my friends?”
I shrugged. “If you want.”
“Okay,” she said. As she leaned back against the seat I noticed that she was a little more relaxed than she was just a second ago. A smile even hovered over her lips.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I’m just trying to picture you at the carnival.”
“That’s so hard to imagine?”
She lifted one shoulder in a shrug, but she was clearly smothering a laugh. “I think your Fonzie status might be revoked if you go.”
I slapped a hand over my heart. “Are you saying I can’t still be cool and go to a children’s carnival? I’ll take that as a challenge.”
“It’s not meant to be,” she said.
“Nope.” I shook my head. “Game on, Suzie Q.”
She was still laughing as I reached for my phone. “Who are you calling?”
I nodded toward the ski lodge. “One of my buddies up there to see if they have jumper cables.”
“Oh, right.” Her face fell just a little bit and I hoped beyond hope her disappointment had to do with the fact that this day had to come to an end.
We got out of there quickly and she drove us back to her house so I could pick up the car. With her brother hovering nearby once again, I didn’t try to kiss her.
Plus there was the fact that she started inching away from me the moment we both got out of the car.
She needed space. I could respect that.
“I’ll see you Monday,” I said.
She nodded. “We have a lot of work to do to get you up to speed on coding.”
“I can’t think of a better teacher,” I said with a grin.
Her smile still held an exasperating hint of wariness. “Are you going to be this nice to me all week?”
“Probably,” I said. “Is that going to freak you out?”
She tilted her head from side to side. “It’s better than you mocking me all the time, I guess.”
I walked toward her, loving the way her cheeks tinged pink as I drew closer. “Never mocked,” I said. “Only teased. And only because I had this sneaking suspicion that you can give as good as you get.” I arched a brow. “Was I wrong?”
She pressed her lips together in a non-answer but her eyes were flickering over my face, studying me. I let her—I had nothing to hide.
Well, I had a lot to hide. But I was done keeping secrets from this girl. I would tell her. I had to tell her.
Just…not today.
After studying me for what felt like ages, her lips curved up into a sweet smile that made my heart melt. “I’ll see you Monday.”
Chapter Eight
Suzie
I saw Luke Monday…and Tuesday, and Wednesday, and Thursday, and Friday. Not just at school, like normal. Nope. Luke was everywhere, at my locker first thing in the morning, at our cafeteria table at lunch, along with his BFF Jason, and at the computer science lab with me every day after school.
Every. Day.
Not that I was complaining. I wasn’t. His commitment to learning was impressive, and I was happy to find that he was indeed a quick study like I’d guessed. When I wasn’t trying to tutor him on the basics, we were hashing out the details for our concept, and the more we worked on it the more excited I was about the idea.
It w
as definitely different from everything else that was out there in the world of MageLand, but what set us apart could very well be what made us a success. The idea was youthful, fresh, and marketable to the right target audience.
The best part about this week was that Luke seemed to be just as obsessed as I was. Margo, Matt, and Jason had to enact a law at lunchtime that limited how long we were allowed to talk their ears off about our idea because once we got started we were on fire.
But there were no limits after school, except for my mother’s insistence that I be home on time for dinner, which meant we spent every free second talking—mostly about the game, but then there were times we’d get off topic.
Now that I was used to talking to him all the time, it was amazing how easily these side tangents occurred. One minute we’d be talking about magical moguls and the next we were talking about my odd relationship with my brother, or the embarrassing story of how I got into video games in the first place.
“So, wait,” Luke asked on Friday after school. “You’re telling me you’re a gaming master because of Cara ‘Mean Girl’ Snyder?”
I laughed at both his use of the term gaming master and the way he’d called Cara a mean girl—like Cara was some Wrestlemania character or something. “Yup, pretty much. She invited me over with a few other girls in fifth grade.” I snagged one of the chips from his open bag between us because this story required comfort food. “I was so excited to be invited, and when I got there they were playing Mario Kart.”
“Seriously?” Luke’s shock had me laughing again. Which was odd since this memory used to make me cry.
“This was fifth grade,” I reminded him.
“Okay, carry on,” he said with a little wave.
“Well, I tried to play but I’d never really played many games before. My mom didn’t believe in having them in the house so she never bought us a Nintendo or an X-Box or anything.”
“Cruel, cruel woman,” Luke murmured under his breath, making me laugh again.
“Exactly. So…” I drew in a deep breath, only now realizing how pathetic this story made me look. I rushed through the last part on one long breath. “Anyway, I wasn’t good. They made fun of me, and they didn’t try to hide it. And then we moved on to do something else and they made fun of me some more, and that was when I realized…they’d just invited me over as a joke.”
He winced and I looked away.
“I didn’t want my mom to know for some reason—I guess at that point I didn’t realize that I wasn’t cool. I thought maybe I could be popular like them.” I shook my head. “I don’t know what I’d thought, to be honest. But that day my eyes were opened.”
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.
I shrugged. “It was a long time ago.”
For a second I couldn’t quite bring myself to look at Luke. This story was a reminder of just how different we were. This whole week I’d managed to forget about the fact that we lived in two different social hierarchies—it had been easy to forget since we were working on the same project—but now…
Well, I had a flicker of fear that he’d forget all about that kiss that had rocked my world and would wake up. He’d come to his senses and realize that he could have any girl at this school so why would he settle for a nerdy, plain girl like me?
He leaned forward, his elbows on the table between us. “Let me guess. After that day you got your vengeance by becoming a master of video games.”
I let out a laugh of surprise at his teasing tone, grateful beyond belief that he didn’t go the pity route and instead got us back on track with the easy conversation that had prompted this stupid story in the first place.
“Correct,” I said with a nod.
He shook his head. “Evil genius.”
“I know, right? I really showed them.”
“You don’t have to prove anything to anyone, you know that, right?” he asked, his voice surprisingly genuine.
I nodded, a little choked up, to be honest. “Of course I do…now.”
“Right,” he said with a shrug. “In your defense, we were all idiots in middle school.”
“You more than most,” I added.
He grinned. “Touché.” Leaning forward he shut the notebook where we’d been jotting down ideas. “So, are you ready?”
I feigned ignorance. “For our presentation next week? Yeah, I’m confident we’ll be ready.”
He smirked. “For our date.”
I hated my cheeks so much right then. They gave me away every time. I wished I could’ve been the calm, cool chick just once, but noooo. My cheeks turned to flames at the reminder that tomorrow we would be going on our first date.
“I’m ready,” I said as I toyed with my pen. We’d been so relaxed around each other all week I’d managed to forget that I was about to have my first date with the guy who was also my first kiss.
The fact that said guy was Luke was just about the craziest thing to ever happen to me. The fact that our first date would be at the silly Halloween carnival was a close second. What had I been thinking? Who thought a group hang at a middle school carnival was a good first date?
At the time it had sounded safe, but now it just felt childish. I was absolutely certain that the kind of girls Luke typically dated were not afraid of being alone with him. I mean, I wasn’t afraid of him, obviously. I’d gotten to know him well enough to know that Margo had been right. He was basically a good guy underneath the smirks and the teasing.
But he was still a guy. An attractive guy. An attractive guy who looked at me in a way that made my skin burn and my belly do backflips.
It was nerve-wracking…but not in a bad way. Being around him was alternately exciting, scary, and soothing. Sometimes all three at once.
Yeah, it was confusing. But again…not necessarily in a bad way.
“So, who all is going to the carnival?” he asked.
I shifted uncomfortably. “Um, the lunch crew, pretty much.”
The lunch crew being Jason and Margo, plus Matt. Luke grimaced slightly. “Are you sure Matt will be okay with me tagging along on what’s traditionally a friend night?”
I didn’t pretend to misunderstand him. While Margo and Jason had been thrilled to find out that Luke and I were…well, whatever we were…Matt had been far less enthusiastic. Actually, he’d been acting downright weird. “He’ll be fine,” I said with more certainty than I felt.
Luke didn’t look convinced but he let it slide.
I scrambled to think of something to say to excuse my friend’s odd behavior. He’d been acting weird for a while now, but whereas he’d grudgingly embraced Jason’s sudden appearance in our lives, he’d been far less accepting of Luke. The incident when Luke had come to pick me up the other day had just been the tip of the iceberg. He’d been either outright rude to Luke or ignoring him all week at lunch. Luke, for his part, had been going above and beyond to be inclusive and nice—well, nice for Luke, which I now realized involved joking. Often at others’ expense.
But his joking was never mean toward Matt so I couldn’t figure out what Matt’s problem was. Despite what Luke had implied several times this week, I knew Matt wasn’t jealous.
The thought was laughable.
No, his issues with Luke had to do with the whole #GeeksGoneWild war. The worst of it might have ended at homecoming, but Matt couldn’t seem to move past it.
Was Matt thrilled when he’d learned Luke was joining us this weekend? No. Definitely not. But Margo and Jason both assured me that they’d make sure he was on his best behavior.
Margo and Jason seemed just as invested in this date going well as I was.
Maybe more so.
“It’ll be fine,” I said again with more certainty than I actually felt. Luke didn’t look convinced but he also didn’t seem overly concerned. Luke had more self-confidence than anyone I’d ever met. He wouldn’t let the disapproval from one of my friends keep him from enjoying our first official date and neither should I.
; But that was easier said than done.
“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Luke said as he walked me out to my car.
This was another thing he’d been doing every day this week. After our work sessions were up he walked me to my car, going so far as to open the door for me.
If you’d told me a week ago that Luke Warner, resident bad boy and known player, was secretly a gentleman?
Yeah, I would have laughed until I’d cried.
But there were hidden layers to this guy who’d always seemed so very shallow. He might’ve been a basketball player and a partier and have gotten a reputation for hooking up with every available girl at the school…but that was only one part of him. That was the part he let the rest of the world see.
I paused before getting into the car because it hit me like a punch in the gut. He had the same sort of defenses that I did. Matt and Margo always accused me of hiding behind the quiet and meek façade, and they had a point. But it had never occurred to me before that Luke did the same thing.
He hid a part of himself behind the brash, smirking, confident swagger.
Huh.
“What is it?” Luke said, his smile making his eyes impossibly warm and inviting. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?”
He gave his head a little shake as he studied me. “I don’t know,” he said slowly. “But I like it.”
And then he kissed me. It was the first time he’d kissed me since the ski lodge and it was just as amazing. I’d been starting to think that maybe I’d exaggerated its magnificence in my memory. Maybe I’d blown it out of proportion since it had been my first kiss and all…but no.
If anything, my memory hadn’t done his lips justice.
This one was short and sweet, thanks to the fact that we were in a parking lot, no doubt. But it still knocked me off my feet and left me breathless.
It also left me wanting more.
But the gentleman that he is, he just gave me a soft smile and helped me into my car, waving me off.
The next day I faced Margo and Matt again, and yet again they were both on my bed as I got ready. Margo sported big yellow cat ears as part of some anime costume she was wearing, while Matt had gone with a simple black cape, like he did every year. He’d throw in some fake fangs before we headed out and bam, his costume would be done.
My Virtual Prince Charming: Geeks Gone Wild #2 Page 9
