AllFreeNovel
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I’ve had it.
I grab my purse and stand up. Ignoring the pressure of Lucas’s stare on my face, I tell Chris, “This isn’t going to work out. Sorry for wasting your time.”
I march out of the restaurant and make it half a block before hearing, “Peapod, wait!”
A tiny part of me thrills over the fact he followed me, but I dropkick that impulse. Lifting a middle finger over my head, I pick up my pace. It’s a mile and a half to my parents’ house, and I’m not dressed for the evening chill, but I’ll walk fast. Hopefully by the time I get to my parents, I won’t feel so stabby.
Lucas catches up, easily matching my furious pace. “Was that a date?” His tone makes me want to slap him.
“Do you have to sound so shocked?” I snap.
“I thought you said you don’t have time for boyfriends?”
“It was a date, not a marriage proposal,” I retort, then flap my hands. “Never mind. Go away.”
We stop at a crosswalk. I gauge the traffic, considering making a run for it, but there are too many cars. I jab the metal button a handful of times, knowing full well it’s pointless, and subsequently hear my dad’s voice in my head telling me about deck chairs on the Titanic.
“Are you seriously walking all the way to your parents right now? In that short dress and little sweater?”
“I’ll be fine,” I say through gritted teeth.
“I can’t believe you passed on family dinner for that guy. But more importantly, did you really let him pick you up?”
I glance sharply at him. “We’ve known Chris since middle school. He’s not a serial killer.”
Lucas frowns. “Yeah, and like I told you back then, he only wants one thing from you.”
I blink. “Huh?”
He rolls his eyes. “Sometimes I wonder if you would have survived high school without me.”
The crosswalk turns green, but I don’t move. “What are you talking about?”
He sighs. “Forget it.”
I jab him in the chest, ignoring the hard pec under my fingertips. “Spit it out, Adler.”
“All the jocks wanted in your pants,” he says tightly. “I had to bat them off every other day. Chris snuck around me and asked you out, anyway.”
A vague memory surfaces, then bursts open like a water balloon, flooding me with the hazy light in the Wild Lake Art Barn, the smell of freshly shaved wood mixing with turpentine and paint. Telling Lucas about Chris asking me out, his reaction, and our impulsive pact.
Flushing, I look down the street. “I remember. I turned him down because of you.”
He grunts, a masculine sound of satisfaction that sets off a flare of heat in my body.
“It’s a good thing Mom requested Twilly’s for dinner so I could save you again. Otherwise, you’d still be listening to him talk about the length of his golf clubs. After dinner, he might have asked if he could show you his balls.”
I bite my lip. Hard.
He leans toward me, close enough that I can feel his body heat. “You’re welcome.”
The crosswalk is back to red. Sighing, I turn to face him. “Fine, you win. Where’s your car?”
Lucas is uncharacteristically quiet during the short drive to my parents’ house. His fingers tap the wheel spastically, and his shoulders are tense.
“What’s wrong with you?”
He glances at me before making the last turn. “I’m sorry for ruining your date. I’m a dick.”
