Slammed #4 (The Slammed Romance Series - Book #4) (3 page)

“So you volunteered me for a date with some guy I
don’t know so he’d help you pass Economics?”

Jess shrugged, still smiling. “Look, everyone
benefits; I get help for Economics, Derick gets a date with a girl he’s into,
and you get a chance to get back out there—and a free meal.”

I wanted to be angry
at
her
but I had to laugh.

“You didn’t—I mean he’s not expecting anything other
than the date, right?”

Jess nodded quickly. “Yeah, no, there’s no guarantee
of anything other than you going with him to dinner. He’s on his own if he
wants to get you to make out or sleep with him—I made that completely clear.”

I shook my head, smiling in spite of myself. On the
one hand, it was kind of soothing to my battered ego that someone wanted to
take me on a date. On the other hand, it was a bit irritating that Jess had
volunteered me for a date with a stranger. One of the last things I wanted was
to get involved with a member of the opposite sex; I was only just recovering
from the aftermath of my feelings towards Zack.

“And you specified only one date, right?” I asked
her, wanting to rebel but not quite feeling up to it. If Jess had guaranteed
the guy that I’d go out with him for as long as he wanted, I’d say no flat out.

“One date.
Dinner and a movie.
That’s it. No sleeping with him,
no guarantees for a second date, nothing like that.”

I sighed. “Well, what’s he like?”

Jess shrugged. “He dresses in polo shirts and khakis
most of the time, kind of shy, not a bad guy but not all that interesting. But
he’s got the highest grade in the Econ class and he’s smart.” I popped a few
more cheese crackers in my mouth and chewed them meditatively.

“Fine,” I said, shaking my head again. A date was
the last thing I wanted—but Jess was my friend, and it wouldn’t kill me to get
out for once. “For you, I’ll do it. But next time you decide to barter me for
favors, do me a favor and ask me first.”

Jess grinned. “You’d have just said no.”

“If you do this again I will say no and there will
be nothing for you to do about it but find someone else.”

Jess’ face fell into more serious lines and she
nodded.

“Fair enough.
But we have a deal on this one, right? You won’t decide at the last minute not
to go?”

“If he turns out to be horrible, I will leave him in
the middle of the date if I have to, but I will at least give him a fair shot.”

“That’s all I’m asking. My GPA thanks you.”

CHAPTER
THREE

In the few days leading up to the date, I tried to
prepare myself; apart from the date with Zack, I hadn’t really gone out with a
guy since junior year of high school. In my senior year, I’d been so focused on
getting scholarships, and so wrapped up in my mom’s decline and death that I
hadn’t been able to even consider the possibility of going on a date with
anyone. It just hadn’t even been on my radar. Derick had gotten my number from
Jess and sent me a couple of text messages, confirming that my friend’s offer
was legitimate and that I was willing to go out with him. I said what I was
supposed to—that I was looking forward to it, that I was happy to get to know
him, all of the polite things. But my heart wasn’t really in it. I was still—in
spite of the anger I had felt—more than a little bit turned around and flipped
over in my mind about Zack, still questioning what had happened and whether it
was for the best.

The night of the date, Jess pulled me into my room
and went to work at making sure that I was appropriate for the evening.

“Jess, it’s just dinner and a movie,” I insisted
with a groan. “It’s not even someone I particularly want to impress. I can go as
I am.”

Jess shook her head, going through my wardrobe quickly.
“He’s taking you to a really expensive restaurant; you need to look right for
that. And anyway, you don’t know—maybe he’s just your speed.”

I sighed and rolled my eyes, but I knew that when
Jess was in her educational mood, it was useless to argue with her. She pulled
out one of the few really nice skirts I owned, a button-down silk shirt, and a
blazer that I’d last worn to my college interviews. I raised an eyebrow, but at
least, I thought, I couldn’t be accused of leading anyone on in an outfit like
that. Jess went into her own room while I changed and came back with a pair of
heels that went perfectly with the outfit—taller than I normally wore, but I
could manage them. She pushed me down into my desk chair and quickly did my
hair and makeup; in the end I looked like a sleek, put-together woman—kind of
like my mom. The comparison made me almost want to cry; but I held back my
tears, knowing that I’d just ruin the makeup and start my date off on
completely the wrong foot.

I sat in the common area of the dorm to wait for the
guy to show up. He apparently had quite a nice car, according to Jess; I’d
never seen it myself, and I wondered if he was like the kinds of guys I’d known
in high school who’d had the nicer cars—braggarts who didn’t care about
anything other than their material possessions. One thing I’d always liked
about Zack: he didn’t put that much importance on his possessions. I shied away
from the comparison. I wasn’t going to think about Zack at all. I wasn’t going
to compare him—especially favorably—to the guy that I was
with
.
I would put him completely out of my mind.

Just when I was starting to become really impatient,
there was a knock at the door. I stood quickly and heard Jess’ door slam open.
She was right there at my side. “Remember,” she said quietly. I rolled my eyes
but nodded, and opened the door to let Derick
in
. He
was taller than Zack by maybe an inch or two, but not as muscular; where Zack
had medium-brown hair and dark eyes, Derick had sandy blond hair, pale blue
eyes, and slightly
freckled
pale skin that had an
almost-translucent look to it. He smiled at me as he stepped over the
threshold, dressed in a pair of slacks and a button-down shirt that was just
slightly too big for him, though the deep maroon color of it complemented his
skin and hair.

“It’s good to meet you, Evelyn,” Derick said,
extending his hand. I shook it quickly, feeling awkward and uncertain. He
seemed like a perfectly nice guy and Jess had said more than once that he was,
but there was something stilted, something just a little bit off-putting about
his excitement. “You look lovely.”

He pulled me closer by the hand, giving me a quick
hug. I could smell his green, reedy-smelling cologne, with the sweat-smell
underneath that told me he was nervous.

“Have a great night, you two,” Jess said, beaming at
us both. Derick turned to lead me out through the door and she shot me one last
cautioning look, mouthing “be nice,” as I let myself be pulled out of the
comfort of my dorm.

Derick’s car was nice—it was a relatively recent
model BMW, which was the first real topic of conversation that I could actually
feel comfortable discussing; the ride down on the elevator had been awkwardly
silent, and the walk to the parking lot wasn’t much better. “Nice Beemer,” I said,
smiling politely.

“My
parents got it for me as a
graduation present; not new, but with a car like this new isn’t
really
needed.”

He opened the door for me on the passenger side and
I reached over to unlock the driver’s side as he walked around the front of the
car. When he started up the car, his stereo came on, not quite blasting Hot
Hot
Heat over the speakers. I gave him at least a few
points for having decent taste in music and tried to relax against the lush
seat as Derick pulled out of the parking spot.

He let me pick the movie and I tried to choose
something that neither of us would hate. It was easy for me to see that Derick
was trying to impress me; there was
an intensity
to
his gaze on me, something in the way that he kept checking to see if I was
comfortable, if I was happy. It wasn’t like with Zack—and I stopped myself hard
and fast in the midst of that thought. Derick was a different person from the
guy I had dated before. He was a little shy, he was a little awkward. The movie
I picked was sold out for the closest showing, so we had twenty minutes in the
lobby to stand and talk.

“Jess says you’re the best one in the Econ class,” I
said, trying not to fidget or pick at my clothes.

“Oh yes,” Derick said, smiling quickly. “Economics
is really fascinating if you can get into it and understand it.”

I was relieved and bored at the same time as he
launched into an explanation of his theories as to how economics could explain
anything and everything in the world, even how he’d been thrilled to have a chance
to put his economic understanding to use in bargaining his help in exchange for
a chance to impress me on a date.

When it was time to start heading in for the movie—a
comedy that I’d seen trailers for on TV that at least cut the difference
between the romantic dramas and action flicks that were the theater’s other
offerings—Derick asked me if I wanted anything at the concession stand. Since
we were going to dinner afterward, I settled for a soda; Derick bought some
candy that he offered to share, and I found myself then agreeing to make sure I
ate some of it. I checked the time on the big wall clock on our way into the
theater and told myself that at least during the movie we wouldn’t have to talk
much.

I wasn’t being totally fair to Derick and I knew it.
He wasn’t a bad guy—he was nice and polite, holding the door for an older
couple who came behind us, saying “please” and “thank you” to the ticket booth
person and the concession stand person alike, and looking after my comfort
constantly. But I couldn’t really see anything obvious that we had in common.
He asked what I was studying and listened patiently as I explained why I went
into Journalism, why I wanted to go on to work in that field.

“Your position at the campus newspaper will probably
put you really ahead of your peers—and it’ll give you a head start on getting
internships, too,” he told me, beaming at me proudly as if he was thrilled that
I was thinking so far ahead.

I had already thought of it, of course; for news
writing, a portfolio and experience counted almost as much as the degree did.
But I also knew that if it came down to quitting the newspaper or preserving my
GPA, I would pick my classes in a heartbeat—whereas I’m sure Derick would have
found a way, in his smartest-guy-in-the-room way, to cut back on his sleep but
still manage to do both. We struggled to find something that we had in common,
comparing our interests in books, music, movies, and even—as a last resort—art.
There was something about Derick that made me think he was subtly checking off
a list in his head of expectations he had for
me, that
he was comparing me to some image he had in his mind of the perfect,
economically sound girlfriend. There were some bands that we both liked, but
our tastes were mostly different; in the back of my mind, I thought to
myself
that Derick was probably only agreeing on the few
bands we did both like just to have something in common. He liked nonfiction
books while I was a fan of fiction; he preferred documentaries and realistic
art while I was more into light entertainment and the modern art movement, even
post-modern, from an art appreciation class I had taken in high school.

The movie started and we both went quiet. I wondered
if Derick felt as much relief as I did. I ate some of his candy at his
behest—though sour gummies are not my favorite—and sipped at my soda as I got
more and more into the movie. The most convenient thing about the kind of date
that he had chosen to take me on was that there was the entire span of the
three-hour movie where we didn’t, and couldn’t, speak.

My mind wandered a little bit as I watched the
movie; the plot wasn’t very demanding. I thought about Zack, wondering in the
back of my brain what he was doing while I was on this almost-disaster of a
date. I shouldn’t have, but I pictured him in my mind at a party hosted by his
frat—or maybe
a sorority party down
the block. He
would be grinding on some girl, telling her all the sweet, sexy things he had
said to me, conning another woman into sleeping with him. In spite of the fact
that I knew I should just drop the question in my mind, I dwelled on it,
getting more than a little irritated at him. If it weren’t for the fact that I
knew full well that Derick had done nothing wrong in our date, and that Jess
needed me to come through for her to get help in her class, I would have just
left.

After the movie, Derick managed to finagle his way
into holding my hand while we walked out to his car, talking about the funnier
aspects of the story. It was nothing incredibly original, but I was at least
more comfortable talking about that than I would have been talking about
myself, or hearing about Derick. I already knew that there would be no second
date; I just couldn’t make myself interested in him, in spite of the obvious
evidence that he came from a well-to-do family and seemed perfectly nice. But I
wasn’t about to demonstrate to him that I had already given up hope of finding
any kind of spark between the two of us. It wouldn’t be fair or nice to him,
and on top of it, I wasn’t sure that he would honor his agreement with Jess if
I didn’t manage to make it all the way through the date. I was absolutely
starving by the time we got into his car, and I was more than happy with the
fact that we were going to dinner next.