"See if you like these." Wes hands me the glasses and I put them on in front of the narrow mirror that's between the display racks. They look really good, better than any glasses I've tried on before. The lenses are just lightly tinted but they definitely make a difference in the bright light of the store. I'm not squinting and there's no glare. With the right lenses, these might actually work.
"I really like these," I say.
"They look great on you. Let's get them."
"I should try on some others first."
"Why? If you really like those, why keep looking? I'm telling you, Luna, those glasses look great on you."
They really do. They're perfect.
"Okay, I'll get them." I take them off and notice the price tag. "These are three hundred dollars!" I whisper to Wes so the saleslady won't hear. She just finished up with another customer and will be coming over here any second now.
"Yeah? So?" Wes takes the glasses from me and walks up to the saleslady, handing her both his glasses and mine. "We'd like to get these."
"Right this way." She walks to the register and rings up the glasses. "That'll be six thirty-two seventy five."
Six hundred and thirty-two dollars? Holy crap, that's a lot of money.
Wes doesn't seem to think so at all. He casually hands the woman his credit card and turns to me, "I could go for some dessert. What do you think?"
"I need to see some ID," the saleslady says, looking suspiciously at Wes' credit card like she thinks he stole it. This store only sells designer glasses that are really expensive. Most teens couldn't afford to shop here.
"Here you go." He hands her his ID and she takes a close look at it then hands it back. "My girlfriend will need to switch out these lenses," Wes says. "Will that be a problem?"
"It shouldn't be. But why would you change them? These are high quality lenses. Some of the best they make."
"She just needs different ones." He takes the bag from her. "Thanks for your help."
We leave and go out to the car.
"So where can we get the lenses you need?" Wes asks. "We could go tomorrow before we meet up with Stella and Sam."
"I need to check. I have it written down somewhere. But before we go, I need to check with my parents. They just got our roof fixed so—"
"They're not paying for it. This is on me. I'm the one who suggested it so I'm paying for it."
"Wes, it's too much. I feel like I should go return the glasses. I'm sure I could find something cheaper."
"But not as cool. We're going for style here. And not because we care what people think but because those glasses kick ass. So we're keeping them and we're going to wear them with confidence and pretty soon the whole damn school will want to wear them."
I can't believe he's doing all this. Buying me glasses. Replacing the lenses. Wearing sunglasses at school so I don't stand out and get teased.
If it weren't for him, I'd be mortified to show up at school with tinted glasses but now I'm looking forward to it. The headaches will end and I might actually look cool wearing them.
This has been an awesome night, which sounds crazy because it's also the night I told Wes the truth. He finally knows, and instead of tearing us apart, it brought us closer.
Chapter Twenty-Two
"You're spending a lot of time with this boy," my dad says.
It's Saturday afternoon and I'm sitting in the living room with my dad, waiting for Wes to pick me up. This morning Wes took me to get my new lenses because the place is only open until noon.
"He's my boyfriend," I tell my dad. "I'm supposed to spend time with him. Besides, I thought this is what you and Mom wanted. For me to go out more. Be more social."
"Yes, but it would be good for you to spend time with people other than just Wes."
"Which I'm doing. We're going to the ice rink with Sam and Stella."
He was reading the paper but sets it down, a sign that a lecture is coming.
"Dad, I don't have time to talk. Wes will be here any minute."
"It's not that I don't like Wes. In fact, I think you made a good choice with him. He's mature. Polite. And I can tell he cares about you."
"Then what's wrong?"
"Your mother said those glasses he bought you cost several hundred dollars."
I was hoping they wouldn't figure that out. I almost didn't tell my parents about the glasses but then I did because I knew they'd ask where I got them. My mom wanted to see them so I showed them to her and she immediately noticed the designer logo on the side.
"I told him we should find cheaper ones but he insisted on getting the ones from this store at the mall that only sells designer brands."
"Why? Is he trying to impress you by buying you expensive gifts?"
"No. He just thought I'd be more willing to wear them if they looked good, which they do. He bought himself a pair too. He's going to wear them on Monday so I don't feel embarrassed having them on."
"I understand all that but I still don't want you taking expensive gifts from that boy. I don't want you to ever feel like you owe him anything."
"I don't."
Wes needs to hurry up and get here before my dad starts giving me the sex talk. Neither of my parents have talked about that with me but I get the feeling they're about to now that I'm dating Wes. It's totally unnecessary. For one, Stella's told me everything I ever need to know about sex. And two, I have no intention of having sex with Wes. I'm not even close to being ready for that.
"You should've told your mother and me you were having problems at school."
"It wasn't a problem. It was more of an annoyance. You know how those classroom lights are. Even Mom complains about them."
"Luna, I'm serious. I know your mother tends to overreact when you tell her your eyes are bothering you but you still need to tell us. Or tell me, and I'll talk to your mother and we'll figure out what to do. One way or another we'll try to manage whatever symptoms you're having, but we can't do that if you don't tell us something is wrong."
The doorbell rings. Finally! Wes isn't late but I was hoping he'd be here early so I could get out of here.
"Bye, Dad!" I say, racing to the door. "See you tonight."
"Not too late!" he calls out. "And you need to text us back!"
Last night, I didn't see a text from my mom and she freaked out because I didn't text back. I eventually saw the text and called her, but by then she was really mad. She's not used to worrying about me going out because in the past the only place I ever went was to the mall with Stella or we'd hang out at her house or at the ice rink with Sam.
"Everything okay?" Wes asks as we get in the car.
"Yeah. My dad was just giving me one of his lectures."
"About what?"
"How I need to check in at home when I'm out with you so my mom doesn't worry."
"Did he say anything else? Your dad seemed kind of mad when I picked you up this morning. Was it because of the glasses?"
I nod. "He said you spent too much."
"I was worried about that. I hope you don't feel the same way."
"What way?"
"I hope you don't think I was buying you those so that you'd owe me or something. I'd never do that. I'm not that guy."
"I know you're not, but my dad doesn't know you like I do. It's not that he doesn't like you. He's just looking out for me. It's a dad thing."
"I get it. My dad's the same way. After he met you, he sat me down and told me you were trouble and that I'd better be careful."
"He did?" I ask, shocked his dad would say that. What could I have possibly done for him to think that about me?
Wes laughs. "I'm just kidding. He did say you were trouble but not in the way you're thinking."
"Then what did he mean?"
"That you could break my heart, like really break it, to the point it'd take a while to get over you."
"Why would he think that? He doesn't even know me."
"My dad could tell how much I like you. He said as
soon as he saw us together he could tell I'd already fallen hard for you."
"Really? He really said that?"
"Yeah. My dad's pretty good at picking up on that stuff. Like with my mom, he knew something would happen between her and her trainer after the first session she had with the guy. My dad asked her to find a different trainer but she wouldn't do it. Then two months later she filed for divorce. Anyway, the point is, he could tell right away how crazy I am about you." He slows down as we approach an intersection. "Did I miss the turn? Where is this place?"
"Right there," I say, pointing to the ice rink. It's not easy to find. It's set far back from the street and the sign on the building is so faded you can barely read it.
When we go inside, Stella is waiting for us at the counter with Sam. She runs up to me and gives me a hug. "I feel like I never see you anymore now that you're dating that guy." She shoots a grin over to Wes. "You need to share her more."
"I try, but according to Luna, you're always too busy with Sam to hang out."
"True." She goes over to Sam and says, "We should be more social."
"Then we'd have less time for other stuff." He kisses her.
"Okay, you guys," I say. "Don't start or you'll melt the ice."
"We actually have done that before." Stella smiles up at Sam. "Remember last New Year's?"
"Hell, yeah." He kisses her again.
"You can skip that story," I say, going behind the counter to grab some skates. "What size?" I ask Wes.
"Twelve."
I grab our skates and lead Wes to a bench to put them on. Sam and Stella are still kissing. I just shake my head.
Wes nudges me. "They're in love. They can't help it."
"You'd think their lips would get tired," I say, lacing up my skates.
"Should we try it and see?"
"Try what?"
"We'll see how long we can kiss before our lips get tired. We'll do it tonight. What do you think?"
"I thought you had to work tonight."
"I don't need to. I talked to Karrie earlier and gave her more direction on the ad. Getting that done is really all I needed to do this weekend and since she's handling it, I'm free tonight."
"But what about the game you're developing? I thought you wanted to work on it."
"I hired some people to take over the programming. I don't have time now that I'm back in school and have a girlfriend." He leans over and gives me a kiss.
I kiss him back and hear Stella behind me. "Now who's the one kissing all the time?"
Breaking away from Wes, I turn and see her standing there with her hands on her hips, a big grin on her face. "Are you two going to skate or should I leave you alone to make out? The back room is empty if you want to—"
"We're skating." I stand up on my skates. "Or are we curling? What do you want to do?"
"I don't know anything about curling," Wes says, "so if we're doing that, I'll need a lesson."
"It's easy," Stella says. "You've skated before, right?"
"Yeah but it's been a few years."
"Go around the ice a few times to get comfortable with it and then Sam and I will teach you the basics of curling."
"Sounds good."
Wes and I go to the ice. There's nobody here because the building is old and run down. A new ice rink opened across town and now everyone's going there instead of here.
After a few times around, I say to Wes, "You're not as bad as you made it sound."
"I didn't say I was bad. I'm just not very good." He stops suddenly at the side of the rink. "Come here."
"Why?" I skate over to him.
He pulls me closer and kisses me, then says, "I wanted to melt some ice."
I smile. "I think it takes more than that to melt ice."
He gets in front of me, backs me against the wall, and kisses me, longer this time, his tongue sweeping over mine.
My body fills with a heat that spreads all the way down to my toes. I'm pretty sure we're melting ice. It's feeling really hot in here.
"I think you guys need a chaperone," I hear Stella say.
Pulling back from Wes, I look behind him and see her skating toward us.
"We were seeing if we could melt some ice," I tell her.
"From what I saw, I'm pretty sure you did," she jokes. "Sorry to interrupt but there's a kid party here at four so if we want to show Wes how to curl, we should probably get started."
We skate over to the part of the rink that's sectioned off for curling. Sam is already there holding the broom that sweeps the ice. To play, one person sweeps the ice while the other person pushes a big smooth stone toward a target. It looks easier than it is. I've been doing this with Stella for years and I still suck. Of course, my tunnel vision is part of the reason for that, but even if I had good vision, I think I'd still suck. It's just not my game.
But Wes loves it. After a quick lesson, he's already scoring points and saying we should do this again. I'm happy he likes it, and that he likes my friends. At one point, Stella came over to me and whispered that he's a keeper. She's right. He is, but that doesn't mean I'll be able to keep him. We're young and have no idea where our futures will take us.
"We have to wrap it up," Sam says. "A group's coming in to use the ice."
We've been playing for over an hour but were having so much fun it didn't seem that long.
As we're taking our skates off at the bench, Wes says, "You guys want to meet up later for dinner?"
I lean over to Wes. "They can't. They kind of have a tradition on Saturday nights."
"Oh, yeah? What's that?"
"Don't ask."
Stella and Sam both laugh and Stella says, "It's our sexy time. Sam's dad works on Saturdays."
Wes nods. "Got it."
"I told you not to ask," I say, taking his skates back to the counter.
Wes gets his wallet out. "How much do I owe you?" he asks Sam.
"Don't worry about it. I got you guys in for free."
"Thanks, man."
"No problem. We'll have to do this again. It was fun."
"What are you guys doing tonight?" Stella asks me.
"I'm not sure." I look at Wes.
"We could hang out at my place. My dad's not home." We all look at him and when he realizes what we're thinking he says, "That's not what I meant." He laughs. "Sorry, I probably should've suggested something else."
"It's fine," I say, as we all laugh. "That's Sam and Stella's tradition, not ours." I give Stella a hug. "Call you later, okay?"
"Not during sexy time," she says.
"Yeah, I know better than that. See ya!"
Wes and I leave and when we're driving off, he says, "I didn't mean anything when I invited you over. I was thinking we could watch a movie or order takeout. I wasn't thinking anything would happen."
"I know. It was just funny because Sam had just said that stuff about his dad not being home on Saturdays and...well, it was funny. I hope you weren't embarrassed. We all knew what you meant."
"So what do you think? Do you want to go to my house or not?"
"Yeah, we can go. I like the idea of getting take-out. Maybe order a pizza and eat by the pool before it gets dark?"
"That works. And then maybe watch a movie?"
"Okay. What time's your dad getting home?"
"I don't know. He's on a date so it's hard to say. If it doesn't go well, he'll probably be home around six."
"Is this a first date?"
"Yeah. He met her online."
"Has he met anyone else online?"
"He talked to a few women but never went out with any of them until now. I don't think he likes the online dating thing. He said he did it as an experiment to test how well they match you up with a potential partner. That's what he told me but I think the real reason he did it is because he's lonely. Moving out here meant leaving his friends and all his work colleagues."
"Then why'd he leave? Just to get away from your mom?"
"And all the memories. The divorce
was really hard on him. Everything there reminded him of my mom and their life together so he wanted to get away from it all. He wouldn't have moved if I hadn't agreed to it, but I wanted to get away too. Seeing my mom meant seeing her boyfriend all the time and I really don't like that guy. If they end up staying together then I guess I'll have to learn to get along with him, but right now, I'd rather just stay away."
"What do you think of your dad dating? Does it bother you?"
"I'm okay with it. I think he assumed I wouldn't be, which is why he didn't tell me he had a date until a few hours ago."
"Do you know anything about her?"
"No. He didn't want to say much until they'd gone out. He's not confident it'll go anywhere. He hasn't dated in twenty years. He's afraid he'll do something wrong or say the wrong thing and she won't want to see him again."
"That's sweet he's worried about that. He seems like a nice man. I'm sure he'll find someone."
"I told him that but I don't think he believed me. He thinks he'll never find someone he loves as much as he loved my mom. He thinks he's too old."
"That's sad."
"I told him I never thought I would find anyone and look what happened. I found you on the first day of class."
"And I wasn't even looking for someone to date."
"Why not?"
I point to my eyes. "Because of these. Nobody wants to date someone who can't see in the dark."
"I do. I don't care if you can't see in the dark. It just gives you an excuse to hold onto me." He smiles. "I like that."
"I wish that was the only thing wrong with my eyes. Unfortunately, it's going to get a lot worse."
"Can we talk about that?"
"About my eyes?"
"Yeah. I don't want to make you angry but I did some research this morning and I have some questions."
"Um, okay. Go ahead."
"The research I did said not all people lose their vision. Some people end up being legally blind, which I know is bad but at least they still have a little of their sight left. And as for timing, I read that it could be a really long time before you lose your vision, if you lose it at all."
The Geek and The Goddess Page 20
