“What about you?” Holly touched her cheek, which was at least five degrees warmer than her hands right now. “What makes you angry?”
Danny leaned back in his chair, surveying his handiwork. His basketball court was definitely coming along. It was super detailed and about the size of large microwave. His idea to shellac the floor with some kind of sugar/gelatin concoction was genius. “You want to know what really gets my goat? Christian Laettner hate.”
“What?” Holly laughed. “And also, who?”
Danny gawked at her and dropped one of his jelly-bean spectators to the floor. “You don’t know who Christian Laettner is?”
Holly shook her head. “Should I?”
“He’s, like, one of the best college basketball players of all time. Full stop.”
“Cool. Where does he go to school?”
“Oh my God.” Danny buried his face in his hands.
“What?” Holly shrugged.
He looked up. His hands had messed up his usually perfect hair, which was definitely adorable, no matter how hard Holly tried not to notice. “He was in college, like thirty years ago. He played for Duke. Everybody thought he was this rich kid, spoiled baby, but it was all based on assumptions, because, well, he looked like a rich kid, spoiled baby.” He pointed a candy cane at Holly. “Before you leave town, we’re watching the ‘I Hate Christian Laettner’ 30 for 30.”
“You just said a bunch of words that make no sense.” Though she definitely heard the part where he mentioned wanting to watch something together.
“Trust me.”
“Okay.” Grinning like a dork, she focused again on her gingerbread concoction.
“You’re seriously not bad.” Danny nodded toward her replica of Grandma’s house. “I know Elda’s the brains behind the operation, but you’ve got skills, too.”
Holly had been avoiding saying Elda’s name all day, but now it was out in the open. “She taught me everything I know.”
“Well, then you’re a fast learner.” Danny pulled himself up from his chair and hopped over to the table where they kept all the extra candy. He was quiet over there, and it took all her will power to keep from looking at him. Holly pulled a bit of marzipan off a block and started molding it into a soft, sticky sphere. This would be her dad’s head. She had only four family members to go. “I’d better be careful making my Aunt Vixi,” she said. “I’ll be in for a world of hurt if my sculpture of her ends up unflattering.”
She glanced up, because Danny didn’t say anything. He was no longer hunting for the perfect piece of candy. Now he was flipping through a book—Holly’s sketch pad.
Shit. She couldn’t let him see her most recent sketches.
Her legs immediately tried to push her up, but she stopped herself. He didn’t know the book was hers. He’d think it was Elda’s, and it would continue the narrative that Elda was the perfect girl for him. If he saw the pictures and knew Holly had made them, he’d book it out of here faster than Elda had ditched them at Santabucks that morning.
“Did you see these drawings?”
Holly shook her head. A ball had formed in her throat, blocking her ability to form words.
Danny tucked the book under one armpit and jumped over to her. He dropped the book in front of Holly and rested his hands on the table next to her.
She kept rolling little marzipan balls. It was all she could do.
Resting one hand on the table for balance, he flipped through the pages. There was a sketch of young Danny at one of the gingerbread contests. And a few more of Danny now. He stopped on one Holly’d made a few days ago, one of him working hard piping icing on his gingerbread figures.
“Wow,” Holly said, “so she’s been drawing pictures of you. Is that…creepy?” She couldn’t read Danny’s expression, but of course he wouldn’t think it was creepy. He liked Elda. They’d been on a date, and Elda thinking about him like that was totally legit.
“Maybe I’ve been making something out of nothing,” Danny said.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve been worried that Elda doesn’t like me, but this kind of proves she does, doesn’t it?”
It proved nothing, because those were Holly’s sketches, not Elda’s. “It’s like I told you. She’s just awkward around the guys she likes.”
“Yeah.” Danny flipped through the book one more time, then shut it. “It’s just we have so much chemistry when we’re—”
“Texting.” She looked him straight in the eye.
Danny frowned as he held her gaze. Holly was tempted to look away, but she held on. God, was she really about to do this? She had done such a good job of avoiding embarrassment and hiding her feelings, and now here she was about to ruin it all by letting him see that maybe she enjoyed his company a little bit.
“Are you going to the skating thing later tonight?” she asked.
“The figure skating competition?” he asked. “Planning on it.”
“Well, so are we. I mean, so am I. I have to. It’s in my grandma’s day planner.” She played with another ball of marzipan, kneading it to temper her anxiety. “I don’t know. Maybe we can hang out.”
“You and me?”
“Yeah.”
Danny raised his eyebrows.
Holly squeezed the marzipan ball so hard, she squished it like a grape. “I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe you’re not so bad.”
Chapter Fifteen
Danny’s stomach was in knots, and he wasn’t sure why. He and Holly had made plans to meet here at the indoor ice rink for the amateur skating competition tonight. As friends. At least he thought they were meeting as friends. She’d basically only just admitted to him that she didn’t think he was abjectly terrible, so Danny was pretty sure she hadn’t jumped straight from disgust to desire. Still, he was excited to see her. He’d actually put on some of Brian’s cologne, which he was regretting.
Way to be obvious, Garland.
He rubbed his scarf against his neck, trying to wipe off some of the telltale scent.
Danny, sitting in the first row of the bleachers, watched as person after person flew by him on the ice—Dinesh, Sam, Tinka, Marcus, Kevin. Phil Waterston was skating hand in hand with some sophomore girl from the JV basketball team, while Star stayed near her girlfriends, talking a mile a minute and shooting dirty looks at Phil every chance she got.
Danny waved to Dinesh as he exited the rink and barreled toward the lobby, wobbling on his skates as he made his way across the padded floor. Danny glanced at the clock. It was already a quarter to eight. Holly should’ve been here by now. He was even more nervous about her whereabouts than he had been when Elda was late this morning. He would’ve been sad if Elda hadn’t shown up at Santabucks, but he’d be devastated if Holly blew him off tonight.
Someone held a hot cup of cocoa in front of his face. Danny spun around. Holly stood there, grinning down at him. He smiled back automatically, without even thinking about it, and the fog in his mind lifted. His entire body flooded with relief. “Hey.” He took the cup from her.