The Trouble with Dating Sue (Grover Beach Team #6) (32 page)

Laughter behind me made me aware that someone was coming out of the bar. The woman’s laughter died as she and her companion walked past us, casting Sue an understanding look. They probably thought I’d screwed up my girlfriend’s evening. And they were absolutely right—minus the girlfriend part.

A few seconds after the couple was gone, Susan glanced up at me again. Our gazes locked, I whispered, “I’m sorry.”

Her eyes misted, and she blinked frantically. She was going to cry. Because of me. “I don’t believe you.” Then her hands fisted at her sides, her cell phone still tightly in one of them, and a muscle ticked in her jaw. Wrath swamped her sorrow once more. A slap was in my future. Even though I clearly would have deserved it, I backed a step away.

My hands lifted helplessly, I pleaded, “What can I say to make it up to you?”

“You’ve already said enough. I don’t care for more of your false words or actions.” Not only her cheeks but her entire face turned red with anger. “Go away and leave me alone.”

“Sue—” I expelled a breath. “Me not telling you the truth from the start was a mistake, I realize that now. I was going to tell you before the evening was over, I swear, but first you had to
really
see me. Nothing about this date was fake.”

“Apart from your identity!” she exploded in my face. A tremble of shock zoomed through me. She was like a wildcat ready to pounce. There was no escape for me.

Thank goodness, a car stopped at the curb behind her at that moment. She wouldn’t kill me with witnesses around, right? An instant later, it became clear that I’d reached the empty bottom of my bottle of luck today, because the man behind the wheel got out, leaving the engine running, and stepped up to Susan. “Hey, sweetheart,” he said as he put an arm around her and kissed her forehead. With a wary expression, Susan’s father observed the situation and then held a hand out to me. “Ethan.”

Shit. He’d met my brother before, so it would only be logical for him to assume Ethan would be the one out with his daughter. I shook his hand firmly, but told him, “No. I’m Chris. Hello, sir.”

He scrutinized me with narrowed eyes. “I see.” Then he searched Susan’s face for answers. “I believe you will explain that on the way?”

“Yes. Let’s just leave,” she mumbled. Leaving me behind like an abandoned street dog, she looped an arm through her father’s and dragged him to the car.

“Good night, Chris,” Mr. Miller said to me, friendly but reserved, before he lowered into the driver’s seat. Susan was already inside, fumbling with her seatbelt. She didn’t look up as they drove away.

The taillights of their car disappeared down the road. My throat clogged tight, I ran my hand trough my hair and looked up at the night sky. So many stars up there. And none of them had brought me luck.

It could have been seconds or minutes that I stood there, gazing into nothing. Some people passed and they might have been gaping at me. I didn’t care. My heart felt like it had slipped into a compactor, tight and hurting. Any more pressure, and it might come out a diamond.

I’d messed up
us
. Utterly and completely. Susan would never forgive me.

Since I’d turned off the volume of my phone for the date today, it took a couple of seconds for the vibration in my pocket to register. Hastily, I pulled it out, holding my breath and hoping Susan was coming around from her shock and would let me explain.

My brother’s name flashed on the display. Crappy timing. Disappointment lodged like a fat, tarry lump in my chest.

I answered the call with a quiet “hey.”

“What the fucking hell?” Ethan blurted into the phone, and I swallowed. “Susan sent me a text. I’m in trouble? Chris, dammit, why am
I
in trouble?”

“I-I don’t—” To stop my stuttering, I drew in a mouthful of air. “She found out.”

“She found out? Meaning, you didn’t
tell
her, like you said you’d do. You let her freaking figure it out
herself
?”

Oh man. I was in deep shit. “Listen, I’m sorry. It didn’t go as planned. I really wanted to tell her, but…”

“But
what
, Chris? What’s so hard about saying, ‘I’m not Ethan’? Tell me now, or I swear I’ll come after you with Mom’s power mower.”

Rubbing my eyes with my thumb and forefinger, I pinched the bridge of my nose. “It’s not that easy to explain. One thing led to another, and suddenly we were kissing. I would have told her afterward, really. But she figured it out before.” I trudged to the Mustang and unlocked the door with the key fob. As I sank into the driver seat, my head tipped backward, and I closed my eyes. “Did you call her?”

There was a short pause on the line as Ethan heaved a calming sigh, but to me it felt endless. “I tried. She turned off her phone. Voice mail.”

With stiff fingers, I worked the key into the ignition and finally got the car started, after some cursing. “I’m coming home now. Would you try her again in the meantime?”

“Of course I will,” Ethan snarled. “But not for you, dickhead. She’s mad at me, and I’m going to set that right. What she’ll do with
you
? Well, I don’t give a shit.” He hung up.

I’M SORRY, SUE! Please talk to me!
After calling her twice that evening and only reaching her voice mail, I’d decided to text her. Then, staring at the ceiling above my bed, I waited as the minutes slipped by, my heart thumping in my throat.

Why didn’t she reply?

God.
I shut my eyes tight. I knew why. Because I’d screwed up. And not just a little bit, but royally this time.

One more unanswered call and three pleading messages later, I heaved my tired body off the bed and shuffled to Ethan’s room. “E.T.?”

He didn’t answer my knock.

“Please, just tell me if you’ve talked to her.”

A second ticked by, then a grumpy snarl drifted through the door. “No.”

I scratched my head. “No, you didn’t talk to her, or no, you’re not gonna tell me?”

“No, she didn’t answer her phone. Now go away!”

That was clear enough.

My head lowered, I returned to my room. Susan must have thought my brother and I were in cahoots…which we were, somehow. She was going to hate my guts for a long time, that was clear. But it really wasn’t Ethan’s fault, so she should at least forgive
him
.

Slumping on my bed, I looked at my phone for the six-hundredth time. What a surprise, there were no new messages. My frustration barely stifled, I wrote her another one.
Ethan is innocent. I drugged him the other day and forced him with a gun to his head to set up the date for you and me. Please don’t be mad at him.

No. Fricking. Answer.

It was nearing ten o’clock, and I was starting to go insane. Had I known any of her close friends, I’d have called them and begged for help. The only person that came to mind was Hunter. With very few details, I explained to him what had happened and asked him to speak to Susan. Maybe he could get through her wall of anger and put in a good word for me.

Ryan said he would try and that he’d call me as soon as he got her on the phone. When he didn’t call back that night, I knew he’d had no luck either. Tired of staring at a dark screen, beat, and exhausted, I went to sleep.

Friday morning, I ran into Ethan in the kitchen. Pouring a cup of coffee, I shot him a glance, but before I could speak, he snapped, “Don’t talk to me again until you set things right with Susan.” His hard stare on my face, he took a sip of his orange juice. “I don’t care how you do it, but you better hurry up.”

I swallowed. The nod I gave him lacked confidence.

Set things right with Sue.
Dammit, was I giving the impression I wasn’t trying my very best? It wasn’t easy to do when she wouldn’t answer her phone.

I ran up and down the hall at school three times before my first class, but I couldn’t find her anywhere. After history, I dragged my feet to trig. Brady bumped into me. But he wasn’t the one responsible for the small rush of hope in my chest. Behind his shoulder, I caught a glimpse of a short girl with choppy black hair and some sort of army pants paired with black Doc Martens. Unless I was mistaken, she was one of Sue’s best friends. A couple of books clasped under her arm, she shuffled down the hallway. Heck, what was her name again? Something with an S.

“Sabrina?” I called after her, but she didn’t turn around.
Shit.
Was it Sophie? She didn’t react to that name either.

“Who are you calling?” Brady demanded, brows drawn in a deep frown.

I grabbed him by the shoulders. “Tony Mitchell’s girlfriend. What’s her name?”

Confused, he shrugged, shaking his head.

Terrific.
I let go of my friend and whistled with my fingers. The shrill noise made half of the school jerk around. They all stared at me in wonder—the tiny black-haired girl, too. “You,” I said loud enough for everyone to hear as I pointed my finger at her. “Wait up, please.” While the rest resumed walking or doing whatever they were doing before my interruption, she waited, frozen, in the hallway. I told Brady I’d see him later, then strode toward her.
Whoa.
Up close she was even smaller than she looked from a distance. Her brown eyes lifted to mine, and they had to lift a long way.

Licking my lips, I raked a hand through my hair. “Hi. I’m Chris. I’m…er…a friend of Susan’s.”

Her puzzled expression turned wary. “I know who you are.”

Of course she did. She was one of Sue’s best friends. Feeling a little embarrassed that I still didn’t know her name, I cleared my throat. “Do you know where I can find her?”

“I’m wondering that myself.” Arms wrapped around her books, she pressed them to her chest. “She didn’t come to school, and her phone is off, too. It’s a little strange.”

Maybe she wouldn’t think it so strange if she heard the whole story of yesterday. Then again, it was weird that Susan was missing school. Had she caught a cold while waiting outside the bar last night, or was she really trying
that
hard to avoid me?

My heart sank as the chance to meet Susan and talk to her between classes, or even at lunch, slipped away. “Uh, okay.” It felt like my facial features had been derailed. “If you hear from her, could you tell her that…” Well, what would be a good thing to have this girl pass on to Sue?

She lifted her chin with a curious tilt of her head. “That what?”

“That I’m sorry and I really,
really
need to talk to her.”

“You’re sorry?” Her jaw dropped in proportion to her eyes widening. “Oh my God, what did you do, Chris Donovan?”

Mute, I sucked my bottom lip between my teeth, holding her inquisitive gaze.

“That bad?” Her face paled as if I’d told her I’d driven over the Easter Bunny on the way to school this morning…which probably wouldn’t have been much worse than what I
had
done.

Taking a deep breath through my nose, I nodded.

She blinked her brown eyes a couple of times, never breaking eye contact. When she seemed to have processed the gravity of the situation, she said with a stern look, “Spill.”

“Uh, you might want to hear it from Susan herself. I guess she’ll tell you as soon as—”

“
Spill!
” she repeated, taking a small but very intimidating step toward me.

Whoa.
Cornered by a black-haired kitten. I backed away and crashed into the lockers behind me. Holding her books tight, she waited. We both glanced at the clock in the hallway at the same time. The eight minutes before next period were obviously enough for her to hear the full story. In the end, there was no good reason why she shouldn’t hear my version first, so I heaved a tiny sigh and began, “I guess Sue’s been telling you everything that’s been going on between her and me, right?”

“You bet.”

“Okay. So there were some…um…really stupid misunderstandings last week—”

“When you stopped speaking to her after you kissed her,” she cut my stammering short. “And then you taunted her with another girl.”

I gritted my teeth. “Yes, that.” Dammit, Susan had been thorough with her explanations. “Anyway, when we got a chance to sort things out, she kind of told me that she didn’t want someone like me as her boyfriend. She wanted a guy more like my brother.”

As if she was already guessing part of my silly plan, she pursed her lips. “O…kay?”

“Yeah. And you see, I had this idea to set up a date with her, letting her—”

“Oh my God!” She made a face like that kid in
Home Alone
, when he slapped some of his dad’s aftershave on his sensitive skin and then screamed. Only, her scream wasn’t one of pain and shock, but of sheer delight. “You went out with her yesterday, didn’t you? Not Ethan. That was you!”

Utterly confused as to why she found this so awesome, I nodded. “It wasn’t to fool her or make fun of her, I swear. I only wanted to—”

“Get a real second chance and make her see that you’re still the man she actually wants.” A dreamy sigh escaped her as a smile stretched her heart-shaped lips. “That’s so romantic.”

“Romantic?” I laughed. “Sue wouldn’t agree.”

Her smile disappeared. “When did you tell her it was you?”

“I didn’t exactly tell her.”

“But how…?” Her dark brows formed a small V.

Dragging in a lungful of air, I told her the rest of the story. After that, her expression wasn’t one of delight any longer. “Oh, that’s bad,” she said. “
Really
bad. You shouldn’t have waited until after the kiss. I mean, seriously, Chris, are you a beginner?”

“Sorry, what?”

“You had this wonderful plan, and then you messed it all up because you couldn’t wait just a couple of minutes to kiss her. This is bull! No girl wants to be kissed if she doesn’t know who’s bestowing it! I can totally understand why Susan’s peeved at you now.”

Ah, she hadn’t condemned the entire idea—only the bad timing. Maybe I had found an ally in her after all. “Do you think there’s a chance I can make this right with Sue?”

“Well, I can try to talk to her, if you want me to. On second thought, I’ll talk to her anyway, even if you say no. This is, after all”—she heaved another moony sigh, clutching her book to her chest a little tighter and smiling at the ceiling—“the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard.”

The bell broke up our little chat, wiping the dreamy expression off her face. “Dang, I’ve gotta go. See you later!” She flittered away before I could ask her to keep me posted—or even for her name.

When Hunter told me in trig that it was
Sam
, I slapped my forehead. “I knew it was something starting with an S.” Unfortunately, he didn’t have any other news for me. Susan hadn’t answered his or his girlfriend’s calls yet. “Thanks for trying,” I told him as he slipped into his chair and Coach Swanson entered the classroom.

Maybe relying on others wasn’t the right way to go about this anyway. I had screwed up, so I had to sort this out. Sitting through the rest of the school day was annoying as hell. A thought came to me during lunch break and grew until the final bell. Instead of going home, I would drive to her house. She couldn’t send me away if I stood on her doorstep.

Except, when I parked across the street and stared at the door, a small voice in my mind told me that she could very well do just that. Chances were she’d slam the door right in my face. Or shout at me. Or she could simply refuse to open up when she figured out it was me.

A deep sigh slipped out of me. Maybe it was too early to confront her yet. All this shit happened only yesterday. Since she hadn’t come to school, maybe she needed a little more time. Maybe after the weekend. She would probably be back on Monday, and we could talk on neutral ground. No doors to smack my face and, if she intended to run from me, I would find a way to make her stay and listen.

Feeling a little encouraged, I started the engine again, eased into the light traffic, and drove home.

With not much homework to do and my activity barometer down below zero, it was a quiet weekend. Ethan was still evading any contact with me, and from Susan’s end, there was only silence. If I spent much longer dragging myself through the house like a retired ghost, my mother was going to make me swallow some happy pills. All things considered, I was glad to get back to school on Monday.

Over the weekend, I’d envisioned—a hundred times—the moment Sue and I would meet today. I knew exactly what I was going to say. Every single line of my speech was carefully put together and waiting to be delivered. She had no choice but to listen to me, and once she did, she would understand my reasons.

The crowd of students in the hallway was thicker than ever this morning. Or did it only seem like it because I was trying spot Susan somewhere in the mass? She had her first lesson somewhere in this section of the building, but her honey ponytail was nowhere to be seen.

Rounding the corner, a group of people forced me to a halt. My breath caught in my throat as it became clear that this wasn’t just any bunch of students, but ones I knew. Alex Winter’s blond girlfriend was there, Nick Frederickson, a girl with long, dark hair and doe eyes, and in the middle of them all, Susan Miller.

A shooting star of excitement hit me as she, too, stopped in her tracks and looked at me. “Hey, Sue,” I said in a low, croaky voice, realizing this was my chance. But those two words were the farthest I got. In the blink of an eye, my mind had gone blank as a sheet of printer paper, ruining the moment. Shit, where was that speech?
WHERE WAS THAT SPEECH?

Her green eyes blazed with a carefully contained fury. “Excuse me. I have to get to my class.” Her voice was so arctic it could have snowed right here in the hall. Sidestepping me, she hurried on without giving me a second glance.

The blonde and dark-haired girls followed her quickly. Only Nick stepped up to me and slapped a hand on my shoulder. “Girls, huh?” he said, rolling his eyes in sympathy. “Who can understand them?”

Staring sadly after Sue, I couldn’t agree more. And now that she was gone, the speech resurfaced in my mind to mock me.

The problem had been bumping into her like that. My plan had been to find her first and then walk up. Not the other way round. Lunch break would be a better opportunity. I knew exactly where and when we were going to see each other then, and this time, I’d be prepared.