Chapter Six

Nate

Okay, I might have pushed things a little too far. Asking Elle out on a date had not been in the plans. Well, not exactly. Not yet. But the words had sort of tumbled out before I could stop them. The shocked look on her face had been more than worth it.

Her saying, “okay,” had been a jolt. I hadn’t expected that. Not that easily. I thought I’d have to spend the next three days convincing her that it was the best thing for making the plan work. But she’d understood right away. Like her brother, Miss Watson was not an idiot.

Oh well, I thought, as I waved at Jake and headed out the door. Sometimes, the best things happened when we didn’t plan for them. Of course, that was the philosophy that had gotten me into trouble more times than I wanted to count.

Swallowing hard as I pulled up in front of her house, I went over things again. Keep it simple, I told myself. We’re doing this to keep Jimmy clueless. She doesn’t really like you. Do not forget that. No need to be nervous, this was all fake, remember?

By the time I got to the front door, I almost believed it myself.

When the door opened, I was a little surprised to see who I assumed was Elle’s mother. My first thought was that I could see where Elle got her good looks. The woman was dressed in mom jeans and a red top, but she still looked like she could hold her own.

“Hello Mrs. Watson. I’m here to pick up Elle,” I said. The first rule of dating, I reminded myself. ‘Do not piss off the mother’.

Elle’s mother stared at me for a long moment as she evaluated her daughter’s date. I swear she was considering slamming the door in my face. But at last, she relented and motioned me inside.

“It is ‘Ms.’ Watson,” the woman said with a tone that let me know it was not up for discussion.

“Yes, Ma’am,” I replied, fighting to keep the sarcastic tone out of my voice. She winced just a little. I think the Ma’am word was even worse to her than the Mrs.

“I’ve got it,” Elle yelled from upstairs.

“Elle,” Ms. Watson yelled back, “Your date is here.”

Jimmy came around the corner, his nose buried in a book. “Hey Nate, what are you doing here?” he asked with a frown.

“I’m taking Elle to the movies,” I answered. Keep it simple, I reminded myself.

He paused for a second then smiled. “That explains why she’s been acting all weird for the last four hours.”

“Jimmy!” Elle barked as she hurried down the stairs.

I had to bite the inside of my mouth to stop from smiling. Then I caught sight of her and froze for just a second. She was wearing girl jeans, the good kind. The kind that reminded a guy why it was great to be a guy. Also, a flowing blouse and just a little makeup. It looked like she’d decided to go for the beautiful look vice the normal cute look.

The girl was gorgeous. Long silky brown hair held back in a barrette, melted milk chocolate eyes that looked like they could trap a man for a week. Smooth, flawless skin, and long legs in tight jeans. Yes, it was good to be me.

“Hi Elle,” I said, “You ready?”

She didn’t smile, in fact, she barely looked at me.

“Yes,” she said, “just let me get my purse.”

“Elle, you have your phone?” her mother asked.

“Yes, Mother,” she responded as she grabbed a purse off a side table.

“I’m just checking,” her mother said defensively. “This is the first time you’ve done this and I …”

“Mother,” Elle snapped before she could stop herself. Her cheeks jumped to that pretty shade of red she got when she was embarrassed. I swear, if there had been a way, Elle would have dug a hole and pulled the dirt in over herself.

My first thought was to wonder if I would spend the next hour teasing her about this or show some mercy. Then I saw the look of pure pain in her eyes and relented. I’d let it go for now. But keep it in my back pocket if I ever needed it in the future.

Weaving around her mother, Elle pushed me towards the door. “Let’s go,” she said. The girl couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

“Nice to meet you, Ms. Watson,” I said as I followed Elle out the door.

“Don’t forget curfew,” her mother yelled as I held the passenger door open for Elle.

She ignored her mother and shot me a look that just dared me to say a thing. Anything about her family and I’d live to regret it.

I pushed back a laugh and hurried around to the other side.

“Your mom seems nice,” I said as I started the truck. Okay, maybe I was a little sarcastic.

Elle shot me that murderous scowl of hers, making me laugh. For some reason, all of the nervousness I had felt before was gone. This was Elle, I reminded myself. It wasn’t real.

“So, any ideas on what you want to see?” I asked.

She shook her head and continued to look out the passenger window.

“Well, what do you like, I’ll give you a choice, aliens, war movie, or if we have to, Super-Hero end of the world thriller.”

She turned in her seat to look at me with a strange expression.

“We don’t have to do this,” she said, “Jimmy just has to think we are going to the movie. You don’t actually have to go.”

Okay, where was that coming from? “What? Let me guess, you don’t want to be seen in public with me.”

Her brow creased into a deep frown for a second. “No,” she said. “That’s not it. It’s just that you don’t have to keep pretending. Jimmy’s not here.”

Now it was my turn to frown. “Okay,” I said. “But remember, the other part of this was to make me irresistible. Make it so girls would be interested in me.”

Elle scoffed and shook her head.

“What?” I asked.

“Like you’d have a problem getting girls. If you crooked your finger and gave them that famous smirk of yours, half of them would claw each other’s eyes out to be your girlfriend.”

Where was this coming from? I wondered again as I tried to figure out why she was so upset. What had I done? I hadn’t teased her. Not really, I’d tried to make a good impression with her mother. I’d even taken a shower and put on clean clothes. So why was she mad at me?

“I was only teasing about the movies, if you want to see a chick flick, we can. First date rules and all.”

She glanced over at me, I swear her anger had just gone up a notch and still I couldn’t figure out why.

“Just because this is my first date, doesn’t mean I’ve never had a boy find me interesting,” She said.

Wow, someone was on edge.

“Listen, Elle, of course you’ve had boys interested in you. A girl as beautiful as you is going to have dozens of boys interested. Believe me, I’ve seen the way that they look at you when you’re walking down the hall. But that wasn’t what I was talking about. First date rules are like not talking about ex’s, or marriage or kids. You know, the rule that says that the girl gets to pick the movie. It is a way for the guy to pretend he’s nice. Really it wasn’t that big a deal, just a lame attempt at a joke.”

“Oh,” she responded. “I thought you were teasing me.”

“I probably do that too much,” I said as a wave of guilt washed through me.

“You think?” she said sarcastically.

“Okay, okay,” I said. “You’re probably right. Listen, I will try to tone it down.”

She gave me a quick glance that let me know she was rather positive that would never happen.

We continued on for a few minutes in complete silence. Suddenly, that easy, tension free atmosphere, had been replaced by a wall of pure angst. It only began to ease off as I pulled into the theatre parking lot and I threw the truck into park.

“So, we’re really going to see a movie?” she asked.

“Sure, unless you don’t want to. We could go to dinner, or I could take us up to the park, find a secluded spot, and we could just make-out all night. Your call.”

Her eyes narrowed as she focused like a laser. “Funny,” she said.

All I could do was shrug my shoulders and wait.

She looked down at her hands for a moment then said. “Can we just go to dinner. Not too expensive, McDonald's would be fine. When I checked earlier, I couldn’t find anything I wanted to see. I mean, it’s not like this is a real date or anything.”

I studied her for a moment and slowly shook my head.

“Oh, it’s a real date,” I said. “We might be doing it for strange reasons, but it counts as a real date. One more item you can cross off your bucket list.”

She smiled at me, then reached out and slapped my arm for absolutely no reason.

“Do you like Italian?” I asked.

“Who doesn’t?” she asked as if I’d wondered who preferred breathing.

I smiled back at her, then dropped the truck into gear. I knew just the place.

.o0o.