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This whole time, his interpretation was wrong. Even going as far as touching her more to tease her. A regret lumped in his throat and he swallowed it down as best he could.
He’d never meant to make her uneasy, but he didn’t want to keep making that mistake anymore.
“You don’t sound certain,” he said, and she raised a surprised eyebrow at him. “Give a straight yes or no.”
She paused, and after a second of studying him, glanced over her shoulder. He followed suit and saw his friends still standing there, watching them walk across the street, and saying something to each other. He waved, Tommy and Kimmy waved back. Tricia didn’t bother. Tully looked forward again.
“No.” Her tone this time was final, sure.
It was the exact answer he thought it would be. She was too tense, too caught off guard by his friends. If she already hated being touched, then she would hate it even more when she was this perturbed.
“You got it,” he inched to the side, the tiniest bit just to make sure their arms didn’t accidentally brush as they walked. “What did they say to you? Were they being assholes?” Whatever they had talked about had her on edge.
She shook her head and sighed. “No. Well, Tricia was, but she always is. She said it was like you were hiding me from people and then grilled me on when we started dating. I think she suspects something.”
Nathan understood now. Tully had caught onto the visual part of their charade, but the lying part seemed to stump her the most. Combine that with the worry that someone was waiting for her to mess up, well, it’d be too much pressure.
“What did you say?” They needed to get their stories straight if they were going to continue convincing Tricia or anyone else.
She shrugged. “Nothing. I wasn’t sure what to say because you and I never talked about it but you showed up right on time. I thought they’d figure it out.”
Nathan chuckled and waved off her concerns. “Don’t worry. They’re as stupid as I am. They won’t connect the dots that easily just because you hesitated. For all they know, you’re just too shy and embarrassed to talk about your relationship. Which adds up because that is exactly what I told my parents about you too.”
That snapped her right out of her uneasiness. “You told your parents I’m embarrassed?”
Nathan bit back a smile at her expression. Her eyes always got so big and her pale cheeks a little red when something upset her.
“I told them you are shy.”
“That’s basically the same thing.”
He smirked down at her. She glared and frowned up at him as they reached the front of the theater. “Fine. Then everyone thinks you’re too shy and embarrassed to admit anything about our relationship. Just tell them we started dating right before the party if they ask again.”
“What if they ask how we suddenly started associating?”
“Tell them we got close during the summer and reconnected during the school year outside of class. We met up on weekends, just like this, and started dating right before the party. We decided to keep it low-key because we wanted to make sure things were serious before we told anyone,” he shrugged, because it really was that easy to him. The excuse slipped from him with so little thought. He wished he had been able to lie his way out of his grades as easily, but in this case, it was like cutting through butter.
Her face straightened, but her eyebrow raised. Maybe it was his own ego, but he could swear she looked impressed. Now if only she would smile too and he’d feel complete.
“Not bad,” she said.
They were right by the ticket booth now. The guy inside, looking bored, eyed them like watching them was the most exciting for him to do:Are they or aren’t they going to approach and purchase a ticket?Nathan gave him a polite wave, to which man nodded back. He might be disappointed when he realized they were not buying tickets, just buying time until his friends left.
Tully glanced back at the park, then back at him. “They’re still there.”
Nathan frowned. He was afraid that would happen. His friends were too nosy. They’d stay as long as they wanted just to see what happened, even if it was boring.
“Are you guys going in or what?”
The man in the ticket booth interrupted their plotting, apparently uninterested in watching them contemplate their next move. They turned to him, and he shrugged, urging them to answer.
An idea sparked into existence and Nathan stepped up to the booth. “Two tickets, please.” He pulled out his wallet. Tully stepped up next to him.
“What are you doing?” she hissed. The man looked from Nathan, to Tully, then accepted the dollar bills slipped through the hole in the glass separating them.
“If they’re not going to leave, we might as well have some fun,” he smiled, enjoying this idea more and more as the seconds passed.
“What about studying?”
