“I’ll bring you flowers. What’s your favorite?”
No answer.
“What time should I pick you up? Is seven okay?”
“I’m not going out with you.”
“Why? What’s wrong with me? I brush my teeth, use mouthwash, and I wear oodles of deodorant.” I placed my hand on the locker next to hers and leaned in really close behind her. “My aftershave is really nice too. Can you smell it?”
She paused in the middle of sliding her books onto the shelf and turned to look at me. “It does smell good, but I’m still not going out with you.”
“Ah ha! A compliment! I knew it was in there somewhere.” I smiled widely. “I guess I’ll cut my losses for today and run with my compliment. But don’t worry, Nikki,” I whispered into her ear. “I’ll ask you out again tomorrow.”
She gave an exasperated sigh, and I laughed as I walked away.
“You’re a sucker for punishment, you know that right?” Brett said from where he was standing against the wall watching me.
“Are you saying you doubt my skills?” I asked, stopping at my own locker to drop my books off.
“Yes,” he said bluntly.
“Ouch. I’m wounded. Guess I’ll just have to prove it to you.”
“Why do you have to get her? Practically every other girl in the school is throwing herself at you, much to the dismay of the rest of us guys I might add.”
“I don’t want every other girl.” I smiled and glanced down the hall catching Nikki staring at me with a perplexed look on her face. “I want that one.” I flashed a wink in her direction and she quickly turned to hurry off with her friend. “You should go for the BFF. We could double date.”
Brett shook his head. “Well, you’re nothing if not persistent.”
“I’m serious. Her friend is cute too. She’ll go out with me easier if you’re dating her best friend.”
“Tana and I are old news, buddy. Sorry. That was over in like sixth grade.”
“Really? How long were you with her?” I asked.
“A while.”
“Was she any good? As a girlfriend, I mean.”
He looked at me like I was crazy. “Yeah, she was the best hand holder in the world.”
I chuckled. “No kissing yet, huh?”
“Nope. I had to save something for seventh grade.” He actually rolled his eyes at me.
“Why’d you break up?” I asked.
“I don’t know. It was sixth grade.”
“I was just worried that hanging out with you might be hurting my chances with Nikki if her gal pal is mad at you.”
“Thanks for your concern,” he said, dropping his head.
“Kidding, dude. Kidding.” I laughed, punching him in the arm. “Let’s go get some lunch!”
“Sounds good. I told Wes and Chad we’d meet them at Pizza Palace.”
“Okay. Hey, what are you doing tonight? Do you have a date or anything?”
“No. Why?”
“You should come over and play video games or something. It looks like I’m not going to have a date this week either.”
He grinned. “You aren’t ever gonna have a date unless you start barking up a different tree.”
“We’ll see about that,” I replied.
Chapter Four
“What are you doing?” Brittney asked me in a whisper as she followed my gaze. I was surprised to see her without Matt attached to her hip. I’d come to discover the guy was seriously one jealous dude.
“Shhh. I’m spying,” I replied, as I hid in the alcove by the water fountain, giving myself a clear view of Nikki’s locker, but staying enough out of the way she wouldn’t see me. “You better get out of here before Matt sees you talking to me. I swear he looks like he wants to beat the crap out of me every time I look at you. He doesn’t like that I hang around with you and your brother. I thought he was going to croak when I showed up at your house last night to pick up Brett. He thought I was there to see you.” I grinned at the memory.
She shrugged. “He’ll get over it. I told him you were totally into Nikki. He says you don’t stand a chance with her.”
“Listen, I know he’s all chummy with her ex, so he feels loyal to him, but I never back down from something I want.”
She laughed. “I kind of got that after Brett told me about the little adventure you took him on last night.”
I chuckled. “Brett’s a whiner.”
“Yes, he is, but don’t tell him I said that.” She tossed her long, blonde hair over her shoulder and smiled. “Well, good luck with your spying. I’ve got to get to class.”