Chapter Three
Nina
“You’re going to the dance with West?” Cole said like he didn’t quite believe it.
If I wasn’t before, I sure as hell was now, if for no other reason than to wipe the smug smile off West’s obnoxiously handsome face. “Yes. Yes, I am. He just asked me. Isn’t that the funniest thing?”
Cole looked around at all of us like he wasn’t sure if we were telling the truth or lying through our teeth. Vicky cleared her throat and smiled at him.
He shrugged. “Okay then. Vicky, do you want to go to the dance?”
“I’d love to,” she said. “Why don’t we go grab a hot chocolate somewhere so we can talk.”
“Sure.” He followed her out to their cars.
Jason looked at me and then at West like he was trying to figure something out. After a minute, he shrugged like he didn’t understand and didn’t really care. “Food’s getting cold.” He headed back to our house.
“He’s right.” Plus I was freezing, since I hadn’t stopped to grab my coat. “Let’s go talk about the dance over fried rice.”
“We’re not actually going to the dance,” West said.
Oh, how wrong he was. “Nope. You said it. You put it out into the universe that we were going to the dance, so we’re going.”
“Now you sound like Luna Lovegood.”
I laughed and ran back over to my house. The fact that West was fluent in Harry Potter made him even more attractive than he’d been before.
He didn’t follow immediately, but something told me he would, just to argue his case. I’d been keeping an eye on West since we moved in, spinning fantasies in my head about the hot, brooding son of the landlord falling for the hippy-chick bookworm renting the house next door to him. Not that I thought it would ever happen, but hey, a girl can dream.
Back in the kitchen, I grabbed a carton of fried rice and ate straight from the box.
My mom pointed at the dishes she’d set on the table. “Use a plate.”
Jason had ditched the plate he’d used earlier and was eating straight from a box, as he sat on the couch watching television. I’m not sure why I had to use a plate. It wasn’t worth arguing about, so I did as she asked. “Surprise plot twist in my life,” I told my mom. “West asked me to the Valentine’s Dance.”
“That sounds like fun,” she said. “Do we need to go shopping for a dress?”
I loathed shopping. Normally, I felt pretty good about myself. But nothing made me feel chunky and pale like trying on clothes under fluorescent lights in front of full-length mirrors. “No. I’m sure I have something I can wear.”
“Come in,” I heard Jason shout from the other room.
West came walking into the kitchen, his fabulous blue eyes laser focused on me. “We should talk.”
“You should eat,” my mom said, shoving a carton at him. She stood and wiped her hands with a napkin. “I have a hot date with a book. I’ll see you two later.”
“So reading runs in the family,” West said.
“Yes. Except for my brother. I’m 60 percent sure he’s adopted.”
“So, this whole dance thing?” West picked up a fork, took a bite of rice, and stared at me like he was waiting for me to give him an easy out. Not going to happen. Mess with a smart girl and suffer the consequences.
“You started it,” was the most amusing response I could come up with.
“No.” He shook his head as if trying to emphasize his response. “You started it when you invited me in for dinner.”
“Why? Because I knew you’d rather eat dirt than join us for rice? That’s your fault for being a suck-up and carrying my mom’s food.”
“I was being nice,” he shot back.
“No good deed goes unpunished.” I batted my eyelashes at him. “Besides, I was going to help her before you rushed over.”
He looked at me like I was crazy. “So I shouldn’t have helped your mom, but it’s okay for you to shove Cole off on Vicky.”
“Please. He’s a nice guy. She’ll fall for him…maybe because he’s the total opposite of you.”
He pointed his fork at me. “Where do you get off judging me?”
“I’m not judging you. I meant you’re all black-leather-jacket-brooding loner guy, and he’s Mr.-Happy-Sunshine-everyone-is-my-friend.”
“Fine. Mr. Sunshine is out of the way now, so there’s no need for us to go to the dance.”
“Nice try,” I said. “We’re going to the dance.”
“Why?”
“Because you said we were,” I said. “And lying is never acceptable. Don’t stress about this. I’m not proposing we run off to Mexico and get matching his-and-her tattoos. We’ll just go to the dance together. No big deal.”
“Right. Nothing is ever that simple.”
I walked over to the cabinet and pulled out two mini Hershey bars. I held one out to him. “While I am enjoying this argument, I have to cut it short.”
He looked at the chocolate bar and then back at my face. “What?”
“Oh dear.” I smiled. “I’ve confused you. Allow me to recap. I like debating. The chocolate is for you because all meals should end in chocolate, and I have to go because I’m going to the bookstore.”
He made no move to accept the chocolate, so I placed it in his shirt pocket and patted his chest…because why not. “There you go.”
“You’re insane.”
“My brother has tried that argument. He always loses. Quick question. Do you read mostly paper or ebook?”
“Do you try to give people conversational whiplash? Or are you incapable of maintaining a topic?”
Be still my heart, he’s playing my game. “If a person can’t keep up, they should consider upping their caffeine consumption.” I smiled at him. “Now back to my question. Paper or digital?”
“I read almost everything on my Kindle or my cell.”
“I love my Kindle, but I like paper books, too. Sometimes, I buy the paper books to keep on my shelf and read the ebook instead.”
“Why?”
“What if there’s an EMP blast that destroys all digital content? You’d have nothing to read. And that would be a true apocalypse scenario. Plus, I like the way books smell.”
“Right. I’m going to take my rice and go. Have fun buying things that will collect dust on your shelves.”
“So negative. You should try to relax.”