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“Okay.” Then with a glance around to make sure we were still alone, I looked at him. “Dumb question?”
“Sure.”
“What do you want to do that late?”
“See, the girl I like. She’s really busy, and she’s got these other dates planned, but I still want to see her.” Jake gave my hand a squeeze. “I don’t care if we do homework or watch videos. I’ll grab a pizza and bring it, then you and I can hang out.”
The jitters turned into little knots. “That’s really sweet.”
“But I’m putting in my request right now. Your next full free evening… you and me. Real date.”
My next semi-free evening was Sunday. I’d been… “Are you busy Sunday?”
He grinned. “I am now.”
Face heating, I went to lean back in my chair, but Jake kept ahold of my hand.
That was pretty much how we spent the rest of our study hall, holding hands while we both pretended to read. But Jake spent most of that time watching me rather than reading, and I couldn’t stop the stupid grinning.
AP Euro wasn’t much better. Though, we pretended to quiz each other. Jake wanted to do a scoring system so that whoever got the highest score picked our date on Sunday.
Ourdate.
A niggle of guilt wormed through me because I wasn’t going to have as much time for Mathieu, but I was taking him to the party.
After class, Jake walked me out to my car, hand in hand. We breezed right past Maria and she did a double take. Mentally, I sighed. Rachel Manning spotted us, too. It would hit social media anytime now. As tempted as I was to pull my hand out of Jake’s to save us both the grief, I didn’t want to. It was—nice.
As with the day before, Coop and Bubba were waiting for us next to my car, with Archie. There on the top were two roses, both white in a fresh vase. Jake let out a grunt. “That’s two days in a row.”
“We noticed,” Bubba said, turning to glance at us and just like the day before, he looked to where Jake was holding my hand and then narrowed his eyes at Jake. They’d left the roses sitting on the roof of the car with another note attached. Tugging away from Jake, I jogged the last couple of steps and reached for them. The glass was just a little warm and like the other vase, it was weighted at the bottom. The flowers showed no wilting.
“And this isn’t any of you?” I glanced at the four. Bubba held up his hands.
“They were there when I got here, but then so were Coop and Archie.”
Glancing at the note, I read the four lines and then laughed.
White roses signifyinnocence and new beginnings. They also mean I’m thinking of you. Now that I’ve typed that it sounds creepy. It’s not. I promise. I just want to see you smile.
The roses smelledgreat and the petals were still soft. But when I looked at the guys, I found no answers. “Well, I like ‘em.”
“What does it say?”
“Something for me,” I teased. “But it’s funny,” so I read it to them. Neither Jake nor Bubba laughed.
“Thatiskind of creepy, Frankie,” Bubba pointed out and I shrugged.
“They’re roses. I like ‘em.” I dropped my backpack in the backseat and Coop took the roses for me. “You’re following?” I turned to look at Bubba.
He nodded.
Archie scowled. “Is there a reason the calculus study session is closed? You know, some of us also have math homework.”
“Because we get distracted when it’s all of us, and I need to pass this math class.” Bubba’s logic was sound.
“And you want Frankie all to yourself,” Archie pointed out.
Bubba didn’t deny it, he just grinned as he straddled his bike. “Like you don’t, Mr. Friday Night?”
