Read Online Once Again by Amy Durham - Free Book Online Page B

“I
was.”
    “That’s good.” He squeezed my hand. “So was
I.”
    When we reached the Bronco he proved himself
a gentleman once more and opened my door. He cranked the ignition,
and in minutes we arrived at The Pizza Place.
    We drew looks from the gang when we walked
in, although the looks no longer lingered into stares. I supposed
seeing us together had become common.
    Music blared from overhead speakers while
kids laughed and chattered. The scents of tomato and garlic filled
the room as surely as the exuberance of the crowd.
    Jessie and the girls had secured a table
inside, and Lucas and I joined them there. Soon after, Corey and
Will, Luke’s cross-country teammates took a seat at our table. The
voices inside the restaurant were almost as loud as they were at
the game, a constant stream of talking and laughing that you could
almost feel.
    Words began to form in my mind again, forcing
the buzz from all the talking to the background. They flitted
through my consciousness, seeming random and meaningless at first.
The feeling was as disconcerting as it had been at school that
first day, and though I tried to focus on what I was seeing, I
found it impossible to pinpoint the origin of the thoughts. It was
as if they weren’t mine, as if I were somehow picking up on the
thoughts of another person in the room.
    The idea was so implausible I almost laughed
at myself, but that didn’t stop me from looking around the room.
Aside from the people at our table, I saw various faces I
recognized from school even though I didn’t know their names.
Others I remembered, such as Lance the head-nodder and Miller the
idiot.
    I closed my eyes, and once again the sentence
formed behind my lids.
    It won’t be long now, my love.
    The words might’ve sounded mysteriously
romantic under other circumstances, but as it was all they did was
creep me out. The vibe it gave me felt almost threatening.
    Luke touched my arm, and I opened my eyes.
The haze lifted from my mind, and I rejoined my friends, deciding
the anti-social moment was nothing more than over-excitement.
    The conversation bounced from school romances
to who got caught cheating in Calculus and everything in between. I
discovered that Lucas seemed just as comfortable in a large group
as he was one-on-one. There was no hand holding at the table, but
he was attentive and polite, getting up to refill my drink twice
and discreetly refusing to let me chip in my share on the
pizza.
    It was then I realized that this had turned
into a date.
    Some girls might have been disappointed that
he wasn’t more obvious about it, but for me, the fact that he kept
things just between us made them all the more special.
    I had no choice but to admit to myself that
our friendship was moving in the romantic direction. And all the
caution and self-preservation in the world could not keep me from
being ecstatic about it.
    “Drive you home?” he asked in a soft whisper
at my ear, as things began to wind down. “Or would you rather ride
with Jessie?”
    My heart swelled to the point that I thought
my chest would no longer be able to contain it. I had never known a
more perfect night.
    “I’ll go with you.”
    “Will it be okay with your parents if I drive
you home?”
    “Yes. My mom thinks you hung the moon.”
    “That’s good,” he said. “Though it’s not your
mom I’m most interested in impressing.”
    We said our goodbyes, and no one seemed
surprised when we left together, though Robbie and Lance eyed us a
bit more than everyone else. I couldn’t find it in me to feel
guilty. After all, I hadn’t exactly lied to them. And it wasn’t as
if I’d turned them down and then accepted an invitation from
Lucas.
    I realized then why he’d been so careful to not ask me to be his date. It was so the things I’d told the
other boys when I turned them down would still be true.
    He insisted on walking me to the door when we
arrived at my house, and exchanged polite hellos with my mother,
who had