“Like a date?” she asked with a small smile.
Shit. I hadn’t intended for her to think of it like that. Then again, I guessed it could be considered a date. Since when did I date?
“Uh, I guess you could call it a date if you wanted to. If not, you could think of it as the poor kid trying to break even with the rich princess.”
I realized my slipup as soon as the word princess was out of my mouth. I’d been referring to her making her princess castle in the sand the first time I’d ever met her. I was praying that she still didn’t know that I was that little boy. Hopefully, she assumed that I was just being an asshole by calling her princess.
“First of all, I am not a rich princess. My parents have money, not me. When I graduate, I plan on running as far away from my mom and her money as I can. And second, we won’t call it a date. We’ll call it two friends getting something to eat.”
“Sorry, princess. Do you want to do it tonight?” I asked.
When her face turned red, I realized how that sounded. “I mean, do you want to grab something to eat tonight?”
She snickered. “I’d love to do it tonight. Want to meet here after I finish my cheer practice?”
“Works for me,” I replied.
She started walking up the steps to the school. “Great. It’s a date.”
––––––––
My legs couldn’t carry me fast enough to get to Lucy to tell her about my not-a-date plans for this evening. I wanted to jump up and down and scream like a girl right there in the middle of the hallway, but I didn’t want to take the chance that Jesse might see me. There was no need for him to realize how excited I was. He had seemed less than enthused when I asked if it was a date, but I was going to ignore that and focus on the fact that I was going out with him tonight. This day is going to drag by.
I hurried to Lucy’s locker, but she wasn’t there, so I made a beeline for class. Luckily, she was sitting in her seat, and Jesse was nowhere to be seen.
“Guess what?” I whisper-shouted.
“What?” she asked as she eyed me curiously.
“I’m going out with Jesse tonight.” “What?” she shouted.
“Shh!” I glanced around the room to make sure that no one was listening. “He just asked me to go get something to eat after school.”
“Like a date?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“That’s great, but I thought you weren’t interested in him.”
That stopped me in my tracks. I wasn’t supposed to be interested in him. I was supposed to be ignoring him and focusing my attention on Todd. Todd and I had gone out last night, and it had been fun, but it didn’t make me nearly as excited as going out with Jesse. I must be losing my mind. I’d ogled Todd for two years, and when he finally paid attention to me, I didn’t even care.
“I, uh...” I stammered, trying to think of a way to cover myself.
“Emma, chill. It’s okay to like him. Honest.”
“No, it’s not. My mom will freak if she finds out.”
“Who cares? He seems like an okay guy, and he’s smokin’ hot. Just go with it,” Lucy replied as she grinned at me.
“I care. I don’t want to have to deal with her.”
“She won’t find out. Didn’t you say she left this morning and won’t be back until tomorrow?”
“Well, yeah...”
“Okay, so then you’re safe. She never has to know.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“I am right. You always worry about what your mom will think. Well, I say, fuck her. She’s nothing but a stuck-up bitch.” My mouth dropped open. “Lucy!”
“Sorry, but it’s true, and we both know it. If you like this guy, go for it.
She can go suck a fat one.”
“What are you sucking?” Jesse asked as he settled into the chair next to me.
“Uh, nothing,” I muttered, praying he hadn’t heard anything else from our conversation.
“A big fat dick,” Lucy said matter-of-factly.
I dropped my head to my desk and prayed that the ground would swallow me whole. I couldn’t believe she’d just said that to him.
Jesse snickered. “Well, if you insist...”
I raised my head from my desk and glared at him. “Don’t even finish that sentence.”
Lucy and Jesse both laughed at my embarrassment.
“What? We’ve all done it...well, everyone, except you,” Lucy said as she stuck out her tongue.
I didn’t think I’d ever hated my best friend, but in that moment, I did.
“Will you shut up already?”
“Sorry.” She snickered as Mr. Kester walked in.
“Sure you are,” I grumbled as I glanced at Jesse.
He was smiling, and I felt my heart melt a little. Why does he have to be so damn gorgeous? His personality sucked most of the time, so if he were ugly, I could ignore him. No, that’s a lie. There was just something about the guy that made me want to get to know him, regardless of what he looked or acted like.