True Love and Magic Tricks (9 page)

“
What?” I’m laughing now.
Nate shifts in his seat and pulls his phone out. Gar.

Ryan takes the lid off of his shake.
“Meat is greasy and chewy and I’m just… not a fan.”

“
Cheese is also greasy and
chewy.” I eye the melted stuff all over his side of
fries.

“
That’s what I keep telling
him!” Lexie shouts to the skies. We all laugh into our food… well,
except for Nate, who’s tapping his phone like he’s waiting for
something.

Okay… it’s settled. The moment we’re
alone, I’m opening my mouth.

***

Nate doesn’t say a word
when I tell him I think he’s acting weird. He just stares out the
windshield and drives in silence to the movies. I try to sing along
to the music, keep things light so he knows I’m so totally into him
still… when he’s
him
.

He reaches for my hand when we get to
the theater, and I take it, grateful he’s not mad at me. The warmth
rushes through my palm and up my arm, and I pull on him enough to
bend so I can kiss his cheek.

Ryan and Lexie meet us in the lobby.
We’re all stuffed so we forgo popcorn and just head to the theater
after we buy tickets. Ryan sits on Nate’s right, while I plop on
his left. Lexie sits next to me, totally sandwiching us in. Nate
squirms in his way-too-tight shirt, pulling at the collar and
accidentally elbowing me in the cheek.

“
Oh shit, I’m sorry,” he
babbles, and red spreads over the tops of his ears. “Man oh man oh
man, I’m
sorry
.”
He pushes the heels of his hands to his eyes and rests his elbows
on his knees.
Finally.
There is the Nate I’m totally crushing on. I flip the armrest
up and squeeze into his side before he changes back.

He gives me this weird look, like he
has no idea why I want to cuddle, but he moves his arm so I can get
closer. I don’t think he knows what to do with it though. It keeps
hovering over my shoulder, then he’ll move it to my hip, then he
shakes his hand out and leaves it suspended in the air over my
waist. Giggles burst through my lips, and I grab at his palm and
push it to my ribs. His heart jackhammers against mine.

“
Second base is right
there,” I tease in his ear. “You know, for when the movie gets
boring.”

He snorts out a giant, nervous,
finally-sounding-like-Nate laugh and bumps his nose into mine. “Do
you have change hidden in there, too?” He keeps one arm wrapped
around me as his other pulls a penny from my ear. Oh, there is no
way we’re watching this movie if he keeps that adorable stuff
up.

“
Nice to see
you
again.” I take the
penny from his fingers. “For a while there I thought I was going
out with your evil doppelganger.”

He pinches his eyes shut and drops his
forehead to mine. “I was… nervous.”

“
So you acted like a
douchebag?” I chuckle so he knows I’m not trying to insult him, but
well… he
was
.

He cracks a smile and opens
his eyes. “I’m not good at this stuff. Taking girls out and well, I
don’t know,
dating
. And I really like you and didn’t want to mess this up. So I
asked my brother for a few tips, I guess.” His hand flies up to
cover his face. “Damn, that makes it sound so lame. Forget
it.”

I pull his hand down and kiss his
cheek. “That is the sexiest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“
Huh?”

The lights dim, and the Dolby Digital
logo pops on the screen. I lean in close to his ear so he hears me
over the previews.

“
When you worry so much
about this.” I wiggle my finger between us. “Sexy…level
ten.”

“
Really?” his warm breath
tickles the loose hair by my ear. I suddenly have to breathe
through my mouth. Lexie shifts on my other side, reminding me we’re
totally not alone. Ryan clears his throat, and when I peek at him
over Nate’s shoulder, he’s pushed so far to his side of the seat
you’d think he was ready to bolt to the bathroom.

My eyes drift to our bodies, pressed
close together, faces centimeters away, and flames licking up and
down my skin. It’s gotta be bad if Ryan and Lexie can feel it, too.
But instead of embarrassing me, it makes me giggle so hard I have
to bite into Nate’s shirt to stifle it.

“
What are you laughing at?”
he asks, laughing with me.

“
Sorry. Be right back.” I
unwind myself from his hold, tap Lexie’s knee so I can squeeze by,
and let the attack of the giggles pass in the lobby.

A light tap on my shoulder has me
spinning. Nate pulls at his shirt again, which almost sets off
another attack. He takes his phone out, and my smile fades until he
spins it around to show me all his texts to some guy named
Nick.

“
He hasn’t been very
helpful,” he says, tapping the message that gave the “order her
food” suggestion. I bite back a grin and snatch the phone from his
fingers.

“
How about we put this in
here”—I tuck the cell in his back pocket, giving his butt a tiny
squeeze in the process—“and let you do this on your
own.”

He gives me a shy smile, the real
Nate-like smile that I’ve missed this whole night. “I really just
feel like kissing you right now,” he says. “But I don’t know if… I
mean, is that okay?”

I look around us, wind my fingers
through his, and pull him to a less crowded hallway. Leaning my
upper back against the wall, I trail my nail up his arm. He leans
in, but I put a finger over his lips.

“
You can… but you have to
promise something first.”

“
Okay.”

I shake my head, flicking my eyes to
his torso. “Never ever wear this shirt again.”

He laughs, tugging at the bottom.
“It’s my brother’s.”

“
Is your brother
five?”

“
I’m beginning to think he
is up here.” He taps his head then brings his arm up to rest over
my head. Baby hummingbirds take flight in my stomach.

“
I was hoping you’d wear
your suspenders,” I say, dragging my hands across his ribs where
the suspenders would rest if he was wearing them.

The side of his lip quirks up. “You
like those?”

“
Heck yes. I keep picturing
curling my hands around them while we make out.”

He laughs then playfully nips at my
bottom lip. An unexpected gasp flies from my mouth. His eyebrows
are sky high as if he didn’t expect to bite me either, and it just
happened. And then it happens again, only this time I capture his
mouth too. His body goes flush against mine, and hummingbird chaos
travels under every inch of my skin.

“
Ahem.”

Nate pauses against my mouth, and we
both crank our necks to see who’s interrupting. An usher with dark
hair and squinty eyes points toward the exit sign, holding back her
amusement. I can’t help but laugh as Nate untangles from me and
shifts to the side to adjust himself.

“
We’ll go back to our
movie,” I tell the usher, pulling at Nate’s belt loop.

“
Same rules apply in
there.” She winks then goes back to sweeping the floor. Once Nate’s
all fine down under, he takes my hand and pulls me into the dark
theater.

“
Okay,” he says, “the date
officially starts now.”

Chapter 10

I know I told Kaylee that our first
date officially started when I knocked off the ridiculous act I put
on thanks to my idiot brother and his god awful advice, but I don’t
want her to remember any of that.

She deserves a perfect first date, and
that’s exactly what she’s going to get.

“
I’m calling a redo,” I
explain to Ryan and Lexie.

“
What are you talking
about?” Lexie asks then pokes Ryan in his side and jumps away when
he goes to grab her finger.

“
I’m talking about me and
Kaylee’s first date.”

“
You were a total douche.”
Leave it to Lexie to be brutally honest.

I hang my head because really all I
feel is shame. “I know.” I look back up and adjust my fedora.
“Which is why I’m calling a redo. A total do over.”

“
What do you have in mind?”
Ryan asks.

“
The night we should have
had. So you two, Skippy Lee’s, and a movie. Also reintroducing
myself to her dad. I can’t believe I fist bumped him. What was I
thinking?” I pull my fedora over my face and hide.

“
Not one of your finer
moments,” Ryan says.

Lexie pulls my hat away
from my face. “Kaylee likes you, Nate. She likes your card tricks,
the passion you have for all magic.” Lexie pulls my suspender and
lets it snap against my chest. “She loves your suspenders and the
way you get nervous around her. Trust me on this. The girl likes to
talk, and she holds nothing back. The point is she likes
you.”

“
I know that
now.”

“
Good. Now as far as the
do-over. I can’t. Mom flaked on the rent this month. All my money
is going toward that. My extra shifts aren’t even going to leave me
with a dime this month.”

“
I’ll pay,” Ryan says, and
Lexie shakes her head.

“
No. Absolutely not. I
already had to borrow lunch money from you. I couldn’t…”

Ryan grabs Lexie’s hand, cutting off
her words. She looks into his eyes, and I swear I don’t understand
why these two don’t do it already. “It’s no big deal,
Lex.”

Oh Ryan. Big mistake. Even I, the
clueless guy with no game, know that.

“
It is a big deal!” Lexie
yells and I step in between them before World War III breaks out in
the halls.

“
I want the do-over. I’m
paying.” Before Lexie or Ryan can argue, I hold up my finger and
act as stern as possible. “No questions asked.”

Lexie and Ryan look at each other, and
after what feels like an eternity, smile at me. “It’s the least you
could do. I mean after making me stare at your nipples all night,”
Lexie says.

“
Please tell me you burned
that shirt?” Ryan asks.

“
And tossed the ashes into
the trash.”

“
Thank the lord!” Lexie
shouts.

“
For what?” Kaylee’s voice
floats across the halls and into my ears, warming everything from
my cheeks to my insides.

I narrow my eyes at Lexie. I hadn’t
had a chance to tell them the do-over is a surprise.

I’m now thanking the lord for having
friends that can read my facial expressions as if they are words on
a prompter because Lexie waves her hand in the air. “Ryan is going
to get a pedicure with me.”

“
I am
?” Ryan exclaims and Lexie gives him the evil eye. “I mean. I
am.” He keeps a smile on his face until Kaylee turns her attention
to me then his eyes narrow, lips purse and all but silently stomps
his foot at Lexie to show his displeasure.

Kaylee bounces over to me, wrapping me
in her cucumber melon scent. She kisses my cheek shooting instant
heat through my body. “What else have I missed? Mr. Pippi knocked
his water bottle off the cage again, and it made a mess. I couldn’t
leave the poor thing in there like that all day. Totally put me
behind schedule. I hate being late.” Words fly out of her mouth a
mile a minute, but I’m still stuck on Mr. Pippi.

I scratch my chin. “What’s a Mr.
Pippi?”

“
My gerbil.” I don’t know
what’s cuter. The fact she has a gerbil or the way her voice
squeaks when she says it.

“
Mr. Pippi is my buddy. We
go way back.”

“
How far is way
back?”

“
Freshman year. Right after
my mom left.” Sadness fills her tone, and I’m now certain of one
thing. She deserves to be happy all the time. So I snake my arm
around her and pull her tight against me.

“
I’d love to meet him,” I
say against her ear and the sadness gives way to a huge
smile.

She bites her lip, and gives her best
attempt at a serious face. “Well you know. Mr. Pippi doesn’t just
meet anyone. He’s royalty after all.”