with it still—but I feel better
about it now knowing that I will be with you.”
He
was so protective. I had never known a guy that was so protective of me other
than my dad. It was nice and made me feel safe. I wanted to give him a big bear
hug, but I refrained. I figured he might think it was weird.
In
third hour, Bailey seemed even more full of energy than usual. I could tell she
couldn’t wait to tell me the news.
“Eli
asked me out!” she squealed in my ear as I walked in the room.
“I
heard! That’s awesome!” I responded, relishing her excitement.
“I
can’t believe Eli asked me out!” she gushed.
Eli
went to talk to Mr. Lang before class, and I could only assume it was to give
us the opportunity to talk about it. I was sure he knew how much girls liked to
gossip about guys. That was half of the fun, chatting about it with your best
friends.
“I
know, isn’t it great? You guys are going to double-date with me and Pete!”
“It’s
even better that you will be there too. I have never been on a date before,”
she confessed.
I
wondered if she truly liked Eli. If they were dating, then it would make things
easier if Pete wanted to continue to date me. We would always have double-date
partners. Now I knew I was getting ahead of myself. We hadn’t even had our
first date yet—but it couldn’t hurt to dream, could it?
I
couldn’t wait to tell Pete the good news. Ironically, the one thing I did
forget was to actually talk to my mom. She was going to think it was a group
outing, and it wasn’t completely a lie. I was being extra cautious about her
knowing all of the details on Pete. The last thing I wanted was for her to get
invested into someone I wasn’t.
Bailey,
Eli and I walked to the cafeteria. Pete, looking amazing as usual, stood there
waiting for us. His face lit up when he saw us coming. He seemed to be out of
the funk he was in earlier in the day. Gosh, he seemed to be moody earlier.
“I
have good news!” I said to Pete as I walked up to him.
“She
said yes?” he asked.
“Yep!”
“Great.”
“I
had an idea,” I whispered as I pulled him aside from Eli and Bailey. He towered
over me, and I had to stand on my tip-toes to be as quiet as I could. “What do
you think about making it a double-date?”
“A
double-date? With who?”
“Eli
and Bailey.”
“I
didn't even know they were dating,” he said.
“They
aren’t, yet. Eli just asked her out today.”
“Oh I see. Sure, why not,” he
replied with a shrug.
“Great!”
I said, reaching up to give him a big hug. I wasn’t sure what came over me to be
so bold, but I went with it and it made Pete chuckle.
During
lunch nobody paid much attention to Pete and I, which gave us ample time to
chat amongst ourselves.
“So
what time do you want me to pick you up Saturday?” Pete asked.
“Well,
I was going to ask Bailey to come over Saturday and there is no reason you guys
would need to come pick us both up. You and Eli could come over and we can all
drive together. What do you think?”
“Sure,
I suppose we can drive together, it’s good for the environment to car pool,
don't you know?” he said sarcastically and laughed.
As
far as I could tell, he was so easy-going when it came to just about anything.
That fact made it even harder to grasp the thought that he might be trouble. He
didn’t even seem like he had an angry bone in his body.
“Great!
I am really looking forward to it,” I blurted out. As soon as I said it, I was
questioning whether I had said too much, and I blushed and refused to make eye
contact. I didn’t want to sound desperate or too eager. Pete could easily have
any girl in the room, so I didn't want to scare him off.
He
reached over and squeezed my hand. “Me too,” he said, giving me a flirty smile.
Pete
and Eli walked me to fourth hour in silence. It was beginning to feel
comfortable that way, but I chose to break the quiet.
“Eli,
we’re all going to meet up at my house before the
Rosalind Laker
Catherine Coulter
Carol Shields
Peter Brown Hoffmeister
Peter Ackroyd
Meg Perry
Rick Chesler
Lawrence Sanders, Vincent Lardo
K Larsen
Graham Norton