The Trouble with Dating Sue (Grover Beach Team #6) (19 page)

Meeting Sue’s uncertain gaze, I placed one finger over my lips to keep her quiet. Then I said out loud, “Yes, Mom!” My mother didn’t need to know we had a guest just yet.

And neither did Ethan.

My mind set, I pulled Susan along with me into my room, pushing the door almost closed but not all the way. We wouldn’t be in here for long—unless she insisted on it. I let go of her hand, which made her stop abruptly in the middle of my room.

In one of the drawers was my dark red bandana, but in which one, I couldn’t recall. Searching the drawer with my socks was a waste of time, but in the one with all the random stuff like biking gloves and sweatbands—there was the bandana I was looking for.

Silent as a mouse, Sue watched me shake the thing out and fold it into a triangle. Only when I walked toward her did she take a hurried step back. Her wariness made me chuckle. “Hold still,” I said as I followed her and carefully tied the bandana around her neck to cover the hickey. Breathing hard, she let me do it, her eyes on mine the whole time.

When the knot was tight enough, I withdrew my hand, skimming my fingers along her soft skin. One last glimpse at my mark on her as I hooked one finger into the bandana and pulled it down a little, then I told her truthfully, “You know, I wouldn’t have done that if—for only one second—I’d had the feeling you weren’t enjoying it.”

Like a stranded fish, Sue gaped at me, no sound coming out of her open mouth. It took her several seconds to close it, and then she swallowed hard. Then she whirled about on the spot, her honey-colored ponytail flying. As if what I’d said had hurt her feelings, she stormed out of my room. Except, I got the impression she wasn’t hurt at all—just realizing that I’d told her the truth.

BEING A NICE brother to Ethan and a decent hopefully-soon-to-be-boyfriend for Sue, I stayed in my room the entire time she was in my house. She shouldn’t feel as if I was stalking her or anything. Accidentally running into her was cool. Sneaking after her and disturbing her time with “Charlie Brown,” her obviously new best friend, was not. It didn’t matter. I intended to talk to her again that night, when she was home and her mind unfettered by Ethan.

To kill that unbearably long time with more than studying for Winter finals, I got Hunter on the phone before dinner and sounded him out about Sue.

“So her best friends are your girlfriend, and Alex’s and Mitchell’s, correct?”

“Include your brother on the list, and you got it, I’d say,” Ryan replied.

“Okay.” I made a mental note of that, then scratched my head. “What’s the name of Mitchell’s girl again?”

“Sam.”

“Right. She’s the tiny one with choppy black hair?” I knew Alex Winter’s hot blond girlfriend, and I’d met Lisa the other day. But Tony hadn’t yet come around to introduce me to the quirky little thing that had been flanking him recently.

“Exactly.” There was a light chuckle through the line. “Why do you need all this information? I thought her ‘charming personality’ wasn’t your type?”

“Could be I changed my mind.”

“Is it about the challenge?”

Fuck, he knew? “Who told you about that?”

“Dude, half of the school is talking about it.”

“Yeah…” Of course they would be, after what Sue and I pulled off in detention. T-Rex and the guys probably weren’t the only ones betting their money these days. “See…” A sigh escaped me. “Things have changed…somehow. I kinda like her.” If only I had never challenged Sue in public. Dammit, I wished I hadn’t challenged her at all. “I’d love to take her out and see where things go.”

Something whizzed on Hunter’s end of the line, and next I heard him gulping, probably from a can of soda. “What’s stopping you?” he wanted to know. “Just ask her on a date.”

“Nah, we’re not really there yet.”

“Rough start, huh?”

“Hit the nail on the head.”

“Okay, anything else you need to know to make the hunt easier for you?”

“Hmm.” I scratched my left eye. “Who was her last boyfriend?” One from the geek squad? Or even someone from the soccer team? It would be helpful to know how he looked and what Sue had liked about him to begin with.

“I don’t think she’s had one yet.”

Stopping before I scratched my eye out, my mouth fell open. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“Nope. As far as I can tell, she’s very selective.”

The fact that she’d had no random hookups made something inside me happy. But no boyfriends? She was too sweet for me to believe that. Then again, maybe all the guys she’d dated in the past were total jerks and not worth anything lasting longer? The thought appealed to me.

After thanking Ryan for the information, I hung up and went to the kitchen for a drink. Ethan’s door was open and his room empty. Too bad. I would have liked to catch another moment with Sue before my brother drove her home.

Ethan came back minutes later. He was silent through dinner, didn’t even respond to one of Mom’s happy beams when she asked him about Sue. But he threw me a glance once or twice, lifting his brows in an odd manner. Like he was trying to communicate the silent word
sorry
. For what? Because Mom still wanted to see him in a relationship with the girl I now wanted? It wasn’t his fault—not entirely, anyway.

Still a little irritated, I started tidying my room after dinner. So many things stood between me and Sue, and now my Mom did, too. As if winning Susan Miller’s heart wasn’t hard enough already.

Funnily enough, it only took my brother sticking his head through my door and delivering a short message later that evening for my mood to brighten. “Greetings from Susan. She wants me to tell you she likes cake with cream and fruit.”

Cracking a major grin, I stopped sorting through my CDs and faced him. “She called you and told you to tell me that?”

“Nah. Text.”

Same difference. And that sneaky little brat. There had to be a reason she’d sent the message to Ethan and not me. Was she avoiding a confrontation after the hickey incident? My smile widened at the thought.

I walked to Ethan and handed him Sue’s Volbeat CD, which had lain on my desk all this time. Nobody had asked for it, so the thing had fallen into oblivion under a pile of school books.

Ethan looked at the cover and laughed. “Finally.” Then he left and slammed the door shut. Seconds later, the rock music drifted through the walls.

In the glorious mess that was my desk, I hunted for my cell and wrote a message for Sue.
LOL. Why didn’t you tell me that yourself?

In the middle of stacking the rest of my CDs and DVDs, her reply arrived.
I didn’t know if I’d reach you at an inappropriate moment. What if you were with another girl right now? For all it’s worth, you’re
dream guy material
.

All thoughts of cleaning abandoned, I parked my backside against the edge of my desk and punched in another text.
I’m glad you finally realized that ;-) But I’m grounded, sweetness. And you’re the only girl coming to our house these days. No need to worry.

I was hoping for another fast response, but minutes passed and Sue let me down. That hindered my plan to keep her talking for a while longer, so I quickly came up with a change of topic and typed:
What’s your favorite?

My favorite what?
she wanted to know.

Fruit. For the cake.
If I was going to make one for her, it had to be perfect.

My cell dinged, and I bit my lip, smiling, while I read:
I like kiwi.
She’d also added a smiley face sticking its tongue out. Aiming to taunt me? She’d succeeded. Ah, what a delicious memory…

Flopping on my bed, I went to YouTube and searched for a special song. If she remembered the kiwi moment, she probably wouldn’t have forgotten about Sam Smith, either. To sweeten her night, I pasted the link to the song in the message and wrote
Sleep tight, sweetness
underneath.

*

Wednesday morning, after first period, the need to relieve myself had me rushing to the boys’ restroom. As I exited, I heard Hunter’s voice. Pivoting, I realized he wasn’t alone.

Tony Mitchell’s quirky little girlfriend was with him, and so was Susan Miller.

Ryan had his arm around Sue’s shoulders, as if he was steering her right in my direction. A smirk stretched my lips. He let go of her as soon as they’d caught up with me. Leaning closer to Sue so that only she could hear my taunting voice, I said, “Sleep well last night?”

Her cheeks flushed a soft pink, and she lowered her gaze briefly as she smiled. “With a catchy song in my ears, actually.”

“Oh, I bet it was,” I wanted to answer—but didn’t get a chance to. An all-too-familiar voice interrupted me from behind.

“Good morning, Chris.”

A quick shiver zoomed down my spine.
Not the best moment, Parker.
Clearing my throat, I took a step away from Sue and put on a nonchalant expression. “Hey, Lauren, what’s up?”

Her eyes fixed on me, she did that thing with her hair—brushing it over her shoulder with the back of her hand. It was a clear sign of her hunting for attention, and it usually wreaked havoc with me, because it tilted her head in a way that presented her kissable neck. Only today, I wished she’d left her raven mane where it was. With Sue next to me, it made me quite uncomfortable.

“You said you’d call me about tutoring you in Spanish again,” she reminded me, her eyes warm and alluring.

Spanish!
I scrunched my face. “Ah, right. I totally forgot about that.”

Lauren laughed. “Yeah, I noticed.”

Dammit, couldn’t this conversation have waited until fourth period? I was in the middle of something here. And dealing with Lauren’s seductive gaze wouldn’t help me with Sue. Was she doing that on purpose? I rubbed my neck. “You see, it’s a little difficult right now…because…”
Dammit, find an excuse, idiot! Fast!
“I’m grounded,” I blurted out.

“I don’t mind if we study at your place,” she replied with that typical I’m-up-for-some-afternoon-fun smile of hers.

Man, had I really thought we could study without sex involved? Strike that. “Ah, no. That’s not a good idea right now,” I told her, cutting an uneasy glance at Sue, who seemed to hang on every word we said. Did she realize what Lauren really wanted from me right now? God, I hoped not. But then again, she couldn’t be that blind.

Swallowing, I shifted my weight from one foot to the other and adjusted my backpack on my shoulder, focusing on Lauren again. “In fact, I don’t think I’ll need extra Spanish lessons for a while.”

Lauren blinked her dark eyes a couple of times in disbelief. “Are you sure?”

Of course, or I wouldn’t have said so. Restraining myself from tossing that in her face, I averted my eyes and nodded. An instant later, Sue dragged my attention back to her as she coughed loudly. Her shy gaze darted around when everyone looked at her. Eventually, it came to rest on me, and she mumbled, “Excuse me,” like she’d disturbed an extremely important meeting.

I raised a curious eyebrow at her, but Lauren dragged my gaze away again when she brushed my forearm with her fingers and whispered, “So, nothing has changed, huh?”

A sigh expanded my chest. How could I possibly answer that?

Back in a normal voice, she said, “See you in Spanish.” Then she gave the rest of the group a quick smile and headed on to her next lesson.

Ryan left us, too, so only the two girls and I were still standing by the lockers in the hallway. Sue scrutinized me with sharp eyes. All kinds of thoughts must have been running through her head then, but the one most apparent was total confusion. Knowing her well enough by now, I guessed she was probably surprised I’d sent Lauren away.

I lifted my hands, palms up in surrender, and said, “Your rules.”

With that reminder, I left the girls before Sue could come up with another argument as to why we wouldn’t work. I swear she had one ready at the tip of her tongue.

*

Since I was bored as hell all day, not allowed to leave the house per my mom’s restrictions, I was almost happy when it started to get dark outside. The past few evenings, it had sort of become a habit to tell Susan good night through a message. A little fun right now was just what I needed, so I typed a line for her.
What are you doing?

Susan answered without delay.
Just moved in with my grandfather.

What in the world did
that
mean? Stripping off my clothes, I settled on my bed and wrote:
Want to explain?

Long story.

She didn’t know this about me yet, but I liked long stories.
You have three and a half hours. If I get less than six hours of sleep, I’m grumpy in the morning
.

By the time her next text arrived, I was pretty sure I had her undivided attention, because mere seconds passed between each of my messages and hers.
Ha ha, so we better make sure you go to bed early.

I’m in bed now. I always am when I text you. Why aren’t you?

My parents are having a rather noisy argument. My grandpa lives next door, and I came here to sleep on the couch.

Jeez, that didn’t sound like fun.
Wow. You do that often?
After I sent the text off, I leaned over the edge of my bed and fetched a pack of Skittles from my nightstand. Picking out all the green ones from the pack, I slipped a handful in my mouth while waiting for her answer.

My phone dinged again.
Sometimes. I’m used to it. So you go to bed this early every day, so you can text me?

Ah, I would text her all day, if that were possible.
Yeah. I don’t like being disturbed when I talk to you. ;-) How’s the hickey doing?
Just as I was about to hit send, my phone suddenly went black. WTF? Eyes narrowed, I turned it around, examining it, but of course, there was nothing to be seen. And for good reason. The battery had died was all. Had to be that, considering I hadn’t charged it since last weekend.

The cable was on my desk. Fortunately, it was long enough to plug in and reach my bed. Sitting on my mattress once more, legs under the covers, I retyped the message, then finally sent it off.

Sue replied fast once again.
Turning violet. How’s your black eye doing?
I could so visualize her taunting grin with that answer.

Actually, I had no idea how my black eye looked, so I sat up and stared at my image reflected off the dark window from the light in my room. Aha. Ugly-as-hell yellow. Settling back, I wrote:
Turning yellow-ish. Makes me a whole lot more attractive, doesn’t it? ^^