How to Hook a Bookworm (12 page)

A dramatic sigh flits from my mouth, and I push his glasses back on his face. “I suppose. Even though you don’t do
anything
for me.”

He drops his mouth in a “no-you-didn’t” way and tips the rolly chair back. My stomach whirls for a slight second, and when I regain my balance, Adam’s laughing, so I tackle him to the floor. Once I have him pinned, I can’t help but notice the strong scent of roasted almonds on his shirt.

“Don’t make me use my mad skills,” he threatens, pushing up with his hips, trying to wiggle out of my grasp. I set a knee on his arm and push back.

“Give up, old man.” Not once has Adam had the upper hand when we wrestle… which hasn’t happened in a long time, I realize. Suddenly my palms feel sweaty.

He relaxes under me, and I flash him a grin. Before I can claim victory, though, he swipes a leg out. I fall flat against him, then he rolls and pins my arms down, trapping my legs with his.

“You were saying?”

Giggles barrel through me as I push against his grasp, but he doesn’t budge. Not even a little. I try sliding out, but that doesn’t work either. My brow furrows and my body shakes with shocked laughter as I let my gaze run over his arms. Tendons flex, veins protrude, his hair even looks like it’s standing on end.

Arm hair. He has arm hair. There’s a part of my brain that says “of course he has arm hair, you idiot.” But that’s not it. There’s something about Adam’s arms looking extremely manly that sucks my laughter away. It fuzzes my brain. I don’t know what to do now but lie here and wait for him to get off me.

But I kinda hope he stays.

My eyes meet his, and his smile is there, but he’s not laughing either. His fingers loosen, and for some dumb reason my hips move up.

“What’s a prokaryotic cell?” he says.

“Huh?”

He raises his eyebrow, doesn’t move, doesn’t talk. I try to think then realize I don’t have to. I know the answer.

“Um, a simple cell?”

“Give an example.”

Simple cells. Simple cells. They don’t have a nucleus… what was it that Mr. Brock said last lesson?

“Bacteria?”

His palms slip a little on my wrists. “You sure?”

Pretty sure. Bacteria… no nucleus. “Yes?”

He tilts his head. “Brea.”

“Yes,” I say with a firm nod even though he totally has me second guessing myself.

“Yes.” He smiles and instead of sliding back, he flops next to me on the floor. The gap between us leaves my body shivering. My mind races, my skin tingles, and I have to get a grip on myself because he’s saying something.

“Sorry what?” I ask.

He fixes his glasses and stares at the ceiling. “Name three accessory organs.”

Chapter 15

Who cares what the root of a word is anyway?

Mr. Silver drops the entire egg carton on the floor, shaking a storm as he bustles around the kitchen. A slew of swears tumbles from his lips, and I have to force back my laughter. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the man drop an effer.

“Dad, relax,” Adam says, pulling out another carton of eggs. The entire fridge is stocked from top to bottom shelf with omelet necessities. Looks like Mr. Silver over-prepared again.

The doorbell rings, and Adam’s dad’s face goes completely ghost white as he straightens his tie. But his fingers can’t get a grip on it. I chuckle as I bat his hands out of the way and tighten and smooth it all for him. He gives me a grateful—and sort of nauseous looking—grin before bolting to the front door.

Adam mouths a “thank you” and starts melting butter in the pan on the stove.

A sweet, womanly voice filters into the kitchen. Adam’s face mimics his dad’s as he keeps his eyes trained on the butter. I reach out and squeeze his hand.

“Uh,” Mr. Silver stutters. Both mine and Adam’s gaze move to the short, black-haired woman with a wide smile. She’s wearing jeans and a t-shirt, completely casual and awesome… and totally unlike the security uniform she usually wears because is that…?

“Ms. Gibbons?” Adam says, and she lets out a strong laugh.

“Terri,” she says, and Adam’s mouth won’t close as he reaches out to shake her hand. She moves to me next and a light clicks on behind her eyes. “Oh! You’re Levi’s sister.”

“You know Brea?” Mr. Silver asks, and I’m thinking he’s the only one here who doesn’t see the connection.

“Her brother is my son’s best man.”

Mr. Silver connects the dots from Zak Gibbons all the way to me, pointing his finger at all of us, when Terri smiles and pulls his arm down.

“Can I help with anything?” she asks. Mr. Silver quickly shakes his head.

“Just tell me what you want in your omelet.” He grins wide and opens the fridge, gesturing to all the different fillings he bought. Terri laughs and lightly pinches his upper arm.

“Someone’s prepared.”

“Always,” I say, then kick Adam’s shoe. “I think it runs in the family.”

After Terri tells Mr. Silver everything she wants in her omelet, we’re forced to sit at the bar and watch Mr. Silver and Adam wow us with their cooking skills. Adam drops three eggs trying to juggle them. Mr. Silver slices his knuckles with the cheese grater. They run into each other about twenty times just maneuvering around the kitchen. And Terri and I have a great laugh watching them fumble all over themselves, and she makes jokes about how her stomach may eat itself.

We finally get to the table, my cheeks already sore from smiling so much. I’m a lot like Terri, I think. She talks about how birthday wishes always come true, and how she took down a guy who was stealing a pair of jeans when she was on duty, and the biggest thing… how it took her forever to find the job she has because it took her so long to pass the tests. I’m so enthralled by her I don’t even notice Adam’s lack of enthusiasm until he accidentally bumps me under the table.

I lightly tap him with my foot. “You okay?” I mouth. He nods, but his lips are pursed.

“So, Adam,” Terri says, bringing her cherry red omelet to her lips. When she saw Adam dripping food coloring in mine, she begged to have hers look the same. “Your dad said you’re pretty tech savvy.”

He shrugs and picks at his food. “I’m okay, I guess. Depends on the program.”

“Well, Zak and Levi were working on a light show for the wedding.” She pauses to share a look with Mr. Silver. They both laugh with their eyes, and I think it’s pretty awesome they have that sort of connection already. But Adam shifts in his chair, so I give him an encouraging smile.

“They couldn’t quite get it to work,” Terri continues. “I thought maybe you might have some ideas?”

Adam leans forward, completely ignoring his food now. “Isn’t Zak really good with that stuff?”

“He is… depending on the program.” Her eyes twinkle as she puts another bite to her mouth. “But he works well in a team too.”

Adam’s mouth relaxes. I decide to stroke his ego.

“And you know Levi will be absolutely no help.” I take a bite of my red-colored omelet. “I bet you could get it running two seconds after looking at the thing.”

Adam shakes his head at me, but he’s smiling as his gaze flicks to Terri. “Yeah, I guess I could take a look.”

“Great. I’ll let him know.”

The rest of the dinner conversation is swamped by Terri and me as we talk about classic horror movies. Add another thing onto the list of things we have in common. We help clean up, even though Mr. Silver doesn’t want us to. And when they sneak a kiss by the sink, I pull Adam into the hallway and ask if he’s okay.

“Yeah.”

I give him a look, because he’s so not being honest.

He smiles a real smile this time. “I’m okay, Brea. Just… weirded out I guess.”

“She’s really nice, you know. Could’ve been a total disaster.”

“Yeah. I know.” He runs a hand over his head. “I don’t know why I feel like this. She
is
nice. She’s funny, and she’s almost the total opposite of my dad, which I think is good for him. Like, I get it. But I still… shit. I shouldn’t feel…”

“You can feel however you want.” I slug him in the upper arm. “But you have to be nicer, or she’s going to think you don’t like her, then she’ll tell your dad, and he’ll ask you, and then it’ll be this big huge drama you don’t want to deal with, right?”

He chuckles. “Right.”

“And you know, I have a lot in common with Terri. So if you don’t like her, I’m going to get a complex.”

He throws an arm around me, and we go back to help clean. I wasn’t sure if he’d listen, but he’s a lot more vocal the rest of the night. Even returns Terri’s hug when she gets ready to leave.

Mr. Silver leads her to the porch, and peeks from behind the door, giving a hopeful look at his son. Adam’s lips tilt slightly, and he nods like it’s okay. And Mr. Silver lets out a breath of air like he’s been waiting for that response all night and shuts the door.

Adam’s smile falls, and he starts clicking the pen hooked on his right pocket.

“Come on,” I say, pulling on one of his belt loops. He trips a little as I tug him out back to our place in the yard. When it’s cold, we camp out in Adam’s room, but on warm nights like this, we always sit in the overgrown grass, and I make wishes on stars. They aren’t as effective as birthday candles though.

The crisp air feels good after being in the steamed kitchen, and I sink to the grass and stretch out on my stomach.

“Ready for a hypothetical conversation?” I ask, picking a dandelion from the ground. Adam lies down next to me on his back. I stick a yellow petal on his nose. “Zoe is marrying Zak—”

“That’s not hypothetical.”

I ignore his attitude since tonight wasn’t super easy for him.

“Then Levi marries Sierra.”

He turns his head, the petal falling from his face. “And what? My dad marries Ms. Gibbons?”

I nod. “So like, you would be step-brothers with Zak, and in turn, step slash in-law with Zoe, then another step-in-law with Sierra, then
another
step-in-law with Levi… then me.” I give him a grin and flip on my back too. “So, we’re practically related in this hypothetical situation.”

His lips look like they really don’t want to smile at that, but they do anyway. He stares back up at the sky and starts ripping the grass out by our hips. “You better show up to all our family reunions.”

“If you bring red velvet cake.”

“Topped with red M&Ms.”

“And strawberry frosting,” we say at the same time. His smile turns into full out laughter, and I find myself scooting closer to him. The night air rushes over me, and I have the inexplicable urge to move Adam’s arm, use it as a pillow, and fold into his side. But I stay put. I have a boyfriend, and maybe cuddling is not okay. Especially since that image sends a flurry of fireflies in my stomach, and I start thinking about what it was like to kiss Adam.

I scoot back to my original position.

“Thanks for staying,” he says, breaking into my thoughts.

“Yep,” I squeak, then quickly shoot out another topic to take my mind off how freaking close he is. He’s
always
close. This should not be any different. “So, you’re going to be my date for the wedding, right?”

“Huh?”

“Terri asked you and your dad to go to the wedding. I’m being forced into it, too. By both Sierra and Levi.” I knock his elbow with mine.
Friendly
-like. “Save me from absolute boredom and be my date.”

He gulps, scratches his head, and picks at the grass again. “Aren’t you going to ask Jay?”

“No,” I tell him honestly. “Jay doesn’t know anybody there. And I kinda want to be with a friend so we can make fun of our other friends in their Star Wars getups.”

“I thought it was just me you guys were avoiding.” He yanks up more grass. “Sierra and Jolie haven’t hung out with you and Jay either?”

“No.” Is that weird? “He’s not really… I don’t know. We’re just not friends yet, I guess.”

“
You
and Jay…?” His eyebrows knit together. “Or everyone and Jay?”

“Both?”

Adam’s mouth pops open slightly. He keeps staring at me like I have a zit on my face or something. I know that look. It’s the look he gets when he has an opinion about something that’s going to piss me off.

I sigh, and cock my head a little. “What?”

“What, what? I didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t have to.” I tug at the pen in his pocket. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“Don’t get mad.”

“I make no promises.”

“Brea…”

I laugh and turn back to the blackening sky. It’s overcast, so no stars tonight. “As long as you don’t call me stupid, I won’t get mad.”

“I’d never call you stupid.” He chucks a piece of grass into the air. “Jay’s your boyfriend.”

“Yeah…”

He yanks more grass from the ground, his knuckles hitting my hip. “Boy…
friend
.”

I raise my eyebrows. “O…
kay
?”

“Friend is the root of that word, Brea.” His fingers run over one of the blades in his hand. “So why isn’t Jay your friend?”

I open my mouth. Close it. Open again. Then stare off into the sky searching every recess of my brain for the answer. But I can’t find one.

Adam pinches his eyes shut. “Sorry. I should mind my own shit.”

I nod, but I don’t agree with him. He makes sense. Like total, complete, holy crap he’s one-hundred percent right on this,
sense
.

“So, when you ask someone out,” I ask, my voice suddenly soft as a whisper, “you look for a friend first? Girlfriend second?”

“Someone who can be both.”

Something buzzes down the street. A piece of air dust tickles my nose. I scratch it. His arm brushes mine. Tingles rush through my skin. I sneeze. He says, “Bless you.” And my stomach becomes a hive of bees making honey. Warm, busy, much too confusing.

“That hasn’t exactly worked out for me though,” he says through a garbled laugh. “Maybe I shouldn’t be so high maintenance.”

“What do you mean ‘hasn’t worked out?’” I know Adam hasn’t been in any serious relationships. But there was that one girl… crap, what was her name?

“When I fell for my friend,” he says. “You know the one who drugged Sierra.”

“Yeah, I remember.” I can’t stop from scooting closer this time. He doesn’t need to retell that whole story since it took a lot out of him the first time around. And honestly, it almost made me kick that girl in the lady junk the next time I saw her at school. Who drugs their friend at a party—especially since the drugged girls were taken advantage of shortly after? Thank the best friend gods Adam was there to pull Sierra out, but I know it wrecked him far more than he lets on.

The air tickles around us, and I feel bad for this coming up when he was already feeling like shit. And I think, so what that I have a boyfriend? This is my
best friend
. So I twine my fingers with his, ignoring the pings and pops I get from the small touch, and rest my head on his shoulder. He squeezes my palm, wrist making contact with my hip and staying there.

“Maybe I’ve got it all wrong,” he says to the sky. I close my eyes and focus on his voice, on his breathing. “Maybe it’s just a bad idea to be friends first.”

“You can’t base it off of one girl.”

“She was, like, my best friend. Before you.”

My tummy jumps. “She was certifiable.”

He laughs, making my head bob a bit. “Good point. Still, it kind of… broke me.”

My heart races through my chest, warmth pulsing through my entire body. I want to bitch slap that girl. I want to pull every hair from her head. How dare someone hurt Adam to the point where he thinks he’s broken.