3 (25 page)

I was amazed I looked so
good. I peeled off my robe and started looking in the closet for a
top. I asked Tori what I should wear, my wardrobe was more basic
than hers. I could see I would have to make some improvements. She
pulled out a sweater of hers that I loved and she let me borrow it.
I looked at her and said “I like this much better.”

“Like what better?” she
asked.

“I like it better when we
get along.” She laughed, smiled at me and said “Me too.”

The sweater came just below
the waistband on my jeans I thought it was too short but Tori said
that's how it should be. “But if I lift my arms my stomach will
show.”

“Exactly” she replied. I
didn't like the idea but hoped she was right.

The bottom half of the
sweater and from the elbows down were a deep sky blue and the top a
dark pink. It was hand knit even though we bought it at the
department store, really thick with an elementary house and flowers
stitched on top; it was my favorite sweater of hers. She made me
change my jeans so I had a fresh pair on; she was pulling out a
pair of boots for me when we heard someone knocking on the patio
door. “You go ahead and change and I'll get the
door.” Tori said quickly.

I looked at the clock
and it was 5:50pm, he was early. Don't tell me he was going to be
a
grandpa
like
Cale. I grabbed my coat
and walked into our eating area. There he stood in cowboy boots,
nice jeans, a black thermal shirt with a couple buttons opened and
that reddish brown leather coat. He looked smokin’
hot! I checked him out up and down and turned right back
around and headed straight for my bedroom.

Tori came flying into the
room, I was laughing. She said “What's so funny?
“

“I should have known he
didn't want to go out with me, he is sooo hot!”

We both laughed and she said
“He is... hot, and you totally deserve to go out with him, you look
hot yourself, now go set his ass straight and tell him like it is.”
We hugged.

“Awe...” I said
“We just had a sisterly moment!”

Tori replied “It is better.”
I smiled.

“Now what
do I do?” I asked her.

“Pull your ID out of your
pocket, hold it up when you walk in the room, say you almost forgot
it and then stick it in your pocket.” I did just that and
he wasn't any the wiser, smiled to myself and thought it's nice
having an older sister.

Jett was looking at me,
smiling, full eye contact and didn't look away until my mom and dad
came into the room and started drilling him on the details of our
date. They asked him to have me home by eleven. He looked at
me and I just shrugged and he winked at
me. 
My mom looked out the window and said, “Is that
your big sedan out there? Hope you're picking up friends.”

“Mom! I can't believe you just said that!
Cale picked me up in a van and you didn't say anything to him and
by the way, it was empty!” I took a deep breath and said
“Let's get going.” I smiled; this is how it was supposed to be, not
the other way around with Cale chatting up my parents before each
date and them just trusting him.

We got down to his car
and my mom was right; it was a big stinking sedan and no one else
was in it. I looked at him with a look of
disappointment because I knew where he thought this night
was going. I got in, he started the car slowly. “You look
really nice. You look... different.” I said “Thanks,” really
short, and we were off.

We were silent for what
seemed like forever, but then he looked over at me and tapped my
arm with the back of his hand “What’s up, is something
wrong?” I looked at him and said, “It's just hard being
the crash dummy.” He laughed and said “What's that supposed to
mean? “

“I can’t even believe you
asked me out – so what’s the deal?” Oh my gosh do I ever know when
to shut up? It’s my curse, I speak and then think.

“Excuse me?” he asked, his
voice strained.

I said “The whole school
thinks you asked me out just to sleep with me and if you knew me,
you would know that getting lucky on our first date or at all, is
not part of the deal.” There was silence that was deafening, but
I'll be darned if anyone is going to use me. “Just because I dated
Cale Winters doesn't mean I am any more experienced than I was
before I dated him either, pal.”

I paused momentarily but
started again. “It means I don't know why you picked
me to make your ex-jealous and I'm not sure why you told your
friends you could get lucky with me either, because I have
done nothing to you! I am not a dumb bimbo like your precious
little stuck up ex-girlfriend. Is she even your ex? Or is this just
all a contest or some weird bet?” You know I couldn't
stop me and my mouth. We pulled in front of a fancy restaurant and
he parked the car and we just sat there.

“Sorry” was all he said. “My
intentions may have been different when I asked you out
and I may have shot off my mouth off in front of my
friends but I have never taken advantage of a girl before
and I don't plan on starting now.” There was a pause and then he
continued, “I really am sorry, I never meant to hurt you.” The way
he said sorry was cute it sounded more like “soary.” He cleared his
throat “Do you want to go in? Or do you want me to take you
home?”

I let a long silence linger
“What is this place?” I asked somberly.

“They are supposed to have
great Italian food.”

“Everyone picked this place
to eat?” I asked.

“No, I thought you and I
could have dinner alone. Like I said, I may have asked you for one
reason but then I changed my mind.”

“What changed your
mind?”

“Well, I thought you were
too young for me at first but then my mom pointed out that she is
three years younger than my dad and you're only 2 years younger
than me. And then I saw you swimming this week and I like that
you’re interested in sports. I've never dated a girl into sports
before.”

“So you were the one
standing by the pool when I was swimming?”

“What? No, I saw you from
the top of the bleachers. That was you, right? I'm supposed to run
the pool bleachers to help me make my weight – it’s warmer and more
humid in the pool area making us sweat more and lose weight
faster.”

“Yeah that was me..... I'm
actually really hungry and I bet their plates are small and fancy
here. Can we go somewhere else? Do you want to go to Papa
G’s?” 

He laughed “So you're
hungry. I don't think I've been on a date with a
girl that actually admits she's hungry and eats her
dinner.”

He started the car, backed
up, and said “We can't go to Papa G’s, that's where the rest of the
gang is.” Cars were going by us flashing lights into his eyes
illuminating the copper flecks in his irises.

“We can sit at a separate
table.” I'm not sure why I pushed it but I did, I think I figured
that I may as well meet everyone now and get it over
with.

He looked at me, pursed his
lips, and said “Okay, I could go for some pepperoni
pizza.” 

I looked at him with
wild eyes and said “Pepperoni
PAN
pizza!” excitedly.

And he said “That's right
baby, nothing but! “ We both laughed.

I said “Awesome! But
were getting a large, I'm starving.”

“Me too.” he replied. “Did
you really call me pal?” he glanced at me and we both
chuckled.

We talked the rest of the
ride, telling each other what classes we had. I told him all
the sports I was in and I even mentioned golf, he thought
it was cool and wanted to learn. We laughed a little about this and
that and to my surprise he was very easy to talk to.

We got to the parking
lot and didn't say another word until he parked. The parking
lot was a little icy in spots, he came around my side and
gave me his arm until we reached the restaurant door, when he
opened it for me I let go. I was really nervous and I must have
looked it. The hostess came up asked us how many, when his
friend came up and said “I thought you were going to Luigi's? Our
table is over here, come on.”

Jett looked at me, slid his
hand into mine and said “No thanks, we'll get our own table.” His
friend knocked him in his shoulder and said “Whatever.”

Jett gave our hands a little
jiggle, leaned over and whispered, “Is this okay?” I nodded with a
half-smile, his warm, strong hand felt really good in
mine.

“You okay? You look mad.” he
said to me.

I smiled a cheesy smile and
said “No, I'm fine. Sorry, I was just trying to spot your ex
and see who's here.” He pointed slightly to the right. “She's the
one with too much make-up on and too much hairspray, in the black
sweater.” he whispered in my ear.

“I have makeup and hairspray
on too, so does that mean you think I look like a hooker too?”
I asked sarcastically. He kept holding my hand and led me
through the crowd after the hostess. She sat us at a booth. I took
off my jacket and threw it to the end of the booth. He did the same
with his on the opposite bench and I scooted in on my side, mid
table. I could see the big table where everyone was, I had the good
seat.

Jett came over pushed
himself in with me, he hip checked me and said “Scoot over fat
ass!” - - he totally froze and said “Ooo, I'm so sorry. I
didn't mean it, it's a term me and my brothers use, a good term,
like a term of endearment....I didn't mean it.” He looked really
concerned. “I… I think I just said it because I am so comfortable
around you…please I didn’t mean it.” I started to laugh and said
“No way am I fat or sensitive. You're lucky I could care less what
you think.”

He laughed a little and said
“You don't look like a hooker either.”

“You mean a fat ass hooker.”
We both started laughing so hard my eyes started to tear. I noticed
his friends at the big table taking glances at us. We settled down
a bit and he said “I think you look beautiful tonight and you look
good with or without make-up. You don't have two tons on like most
girls wear either.”

“Thanks, my sister did
it for me. She wanted me to look good for when I turned you
down and told you off tonight.”

“Oh really….” He said and we
both laughed over it. 

He started pointing out all
his friends when Declan and his girlfriend came over and sat across
from us and introduced Rae to me. She started right in the
conversation with “How come we have to sit with the bitch when
you two are having all the fun over here?”

“I like her already.” I
said.

Jett leaned into me and said
“Rae has always hated Lisa.” Declan chimed in and said “I second
that.”

Jett looked at me. “I think
I was the only one that liked her and now that I think
about it, I'm not sure what I liked about her either.”
Everyone laughed louder than it was funny and I caught a glimpse of
Lisa looking over.

The waitress came over and
Jett ordered our pepperoni pan pizza and then ordered two sodas and
he asked me “Do you want anything else? Soup or salad?”

“No thanks, but make it a
pitcher of pop, probably cheaper right? I'm thirsty from our
workout in the car.” Declan's eyes popped open. They were so wide I
thought they'd pop out of his head. Rae just said excitedly “What?”
Jett and I just laughed again and they joined in. “She's just
kidding.” Jett said, and everyone laughed more and I said “Not
really.”

After everyone’s laughter
subsided I told them “You guys don't have to try and make me feel
better, it's fine. I'd rather eat over here because I’m sure to get
my equivalent in pizza, I'm hungry.” Everyone chuckled a little,
and Declan said “So you're an eater huh? I didn’t know that. Good
match for Jett, but you could never out eat him.”

“Maybe not, but I could give
him a run for his money.”

“So little girl, you think
you could eat a large pepperoni pan pizza all by yourself?” Declan
said.

“Sure I could, but not
tonight.”

“Oh, I see how you are,
copping out all ready.”

“No, that's not why.” I said
giving ’em a nervous laugh.

“Really, then why?” Declan
said.

“If I tell you I'll probably
put Jett off.”

“Not much will put this kid
off; now tell us why you can't eat a whole pie tonight.”

I looked at Jett and he made
an upside down smile and shrugged, like who cares, tell your story.
So I went on “First off is because I ate before I came......” with
a little unsurety of what they would think of that, I continued “I
ate because I thought we were eating in a big group and sometimes
you just don't get enough to eat. Since I'm the new girl I wasn't
going to say anything if I didn't. You know, just like eating
before you go to a wedding.” No one said anything.

Then Declan chimed in
“...and the second reason.”

“Oh, well my jeans are tight
now, if I stuff myself they'll be even tighter and I'll want to pop
my button. I don't think that is good first date stuff.” They all
chuckled.