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“Well, I was looking for a word that meant nope. You’ve been one of us so long, we’ve all managed to screw up in front of you and do the things guys aren’t supposed to do. But since you don’t knowallthe rules, it would be prudent if you refrained from holding our past behavior against us. Well against me, anyway. If you use it against them, I won’t complain.”
The teasing in his tone demanded I join in, so I said, “But that would really not be fair. A level playing field means you all get the same opportunities.” A thrill skated through my system.
“That means we get the same handicaps,” Archie mused. “Crap, I need to get Coop a car because I am not asking you to pick me up for dates.”
“Seriously? That’s kind of sexist, you know.”
“No, it’s very sexist, but I like being the guy who picks you up. That puts me in charge of your time, of making sure you enjoy yourself, and getting you home safely. I’m not the dude that lets you drop me off and then sends you out into the night by yourself.”
“Wow, you do realize we live in the twenty-first century, right?”
“Don’t care,” he said with a shrug. “There’s a way to do it right. I’m the guy, so I pick you up and I take care of you.”
“So what do I do? Just look pretty?” Some of my earlier giddiness dissipated.
“No, you’re freaking brilliant. You’re probably going to end up running the world someday, and I’ll be looking at the television and saying,I remember sucking Madame President’s fingers clean of her juices before I took her out to dinner.”
Heat flushed through me like a bomb going off, and I squeezed my thighs together. “Your mouth should be illegal.”
“Trust me, babe, I bet in some states it is. For now, you’ll just have to wait and see how much.” The dark promise licking every one of those words went right through me and I leaned my head back against the seat. How long would dinner take?
Trying to tame the chaos, I ran my fingers over the bracelet. It grounded me some, at least enough to not squirm in my seat. “Archie…”
“Hmm? We’re almost there by the way, and I changed the reservation while you were showering, so we’ll be right on time.”
“Thank you.” I still didn’t know whereherewas, but based on the evening so far, I would be teased, tantalized, and a little tortured before it was over. “This—this thing between us? What we’re doing? The flirting?”
“Umm-hmm,” he murmured, sliding another look at me.
“If you ever decide you’re done, will you just tell me straight out? Don’t just disappear?”
“You mean like you did this summer?” I deserved his sly question and tone.
“Exactly like I did this summer. I should have talked to you guys back when Rachel told me.”
“Racheltold you?” He snapped. “Seriously?”
“She thought I should know.”
“What a bitch.”
“Actually, I don’t think she is as much anymore,” I admitted. “She has always kind of been overbearing but looking back, she’s never been mean to me. Just really, really blunt.”
“Yeah, well, fuck her anyway. You’re right, you should have talked to us then. Maybe we could have been doing this all summer.”
Sharon’s words in the bathroom echoed in my ears. “I didn’t know then. I didn’t know you guys would even ask.”
“I know,” he said pulling off and into the lot of a restaurant. A really nice—reallyexpensive—restaurant. Instead of parking, he pulled right up under the awning for the valet to take the car. “You do now, so we look forward, yeah? Not back?”
He hadn’t really answered my question before he’d asked his own. “We have a lot to look forward to.”
“Damn straight we do.”
Inside, the restaurant was every bit as nice as it had appeared. Our waiter showed us to a table set off to the side with some privacy. The food was expensive enough that there were no prices in the menu. We had a little bit of everything, but the steak was divine, and he had the sea bass. I’d never tried it, so he moved his chair around. We sat next to each other rather than across and we took turns trying the different dishes. He even fed me some of his fish.
It wasn’t bad, but not something I thought I’d order. We talked about a lot of things. We talked about school and post-high school plans. He was still zeroed in on MIT but planned to apply to Harvard, too. When the subject of the other schools came up, we were both a little ambivalent. I really wanted Harvard.
I wanted it bad enough, I could taste it. I wasn’t quite Rory Gilmore crazy for it, but damn if I didn’t want to see that acceptance letter. The money—I’d figure that out later. There was a reason I saved every penny I could and had.
