True Love and Magic Tricks (6 page)

She wants this. Oh. My. God. She wants
this.

“
That
is what I’m talking about.” Ava trots over to us and claps
her hands. “The chemistry.” She kisses her finger tips. “Mwah.
Perfection. You can’t create this chemistry. You either have it, or
you don’t. And these two definitely have it.”

I’m about to pull a disappearing act.
I was seconds away from kissing the girl of my dreams, and now Ava
is telling the class about our amazing chemistry. She’s so
over-the-moon excited you would think we just engaged in a
pornographic act or something.

Not that I’ve ever seen one. Okay,
maybe one. Ryan made me do it. Okay he didn’t physically force me
or anything, but when something like that pops up on your computer
screen you don’t exactly shield your eyes.

Ava steps in between me and Kaylee,
throwing her arms around us. I shake any inappropriate thoughts
from my head and focus on the dust bunny in the corner of the
room.

“
You guys just made my
night. I know you were just doing this as a surprise for Kaylee’s
dad, but you two have natural skills and amazing chemistry. A few
more classes and you can be ready to compete. Would you be
interested in something like that?”

“
Yes!”

“
Huh?” I say when Kaylee’s
word registers in my mind. “Compete?”

Ava squeezes my shoulder. “You don’t
have to decide now. Just something to think about.” She gives us a
smile and skips over to Mark, who just went right when he was
supposed to go left.

Kaylee takes my hand. A blond strand
falls loose from her braid and sticks to the glimmer of moisture on
her forehead. I want to reach out and push it off, but I can’t get
my other hand to move. “I think we should do it.”

“
Competition is like
big.”

“
I know!” Her face lights
up like the Vegas strip. So how the heck am I supposed to deny her
this?

“
We’ll have to practice
more. Which means we’ll have to spend more time together. A lot
more time together. Is that what you really want?”

She glances up at me and slides her
teeth over her lip before saying, “That’s exactly what I
want.”

Chapter 7

I just found out there are
over 750 guys in this school. And 90% are straight. Which means
I’ve got competition where you’re concerned. So yeah, I’ve stepped
up my game and I’m including a present. I know, I know. No need to
thank me.

I reach into my locker and wrap my
fingers around a button pin that says “Life is better when you’re
laughing.” A big smile forms on my lips as I tack it onto my
backpack strap.

“
Finally,” Marcus says,
jamming his saxophone into his locker. “He’s upgraded to cheesy
gifts. It’s about time.”

“
You’re just jealous.” I
flip my braid off my shoulder. “Any luck on discovering who he
is?”

“
He is insanely sneaky,” he
says with a tilt of his head. “I never catch
anyone
over here in BF Egypt. The
man has got some mad skills.”

A double pump goes through my heart. A
cute butt and a master at disappearing acts. Sounds like someone I
know!

“
If he ever makes an
appearance, I want details,” I tell him, slamming my locker door
shut and walking backward down the hall.

“
Likewise,” he calls as I
turn around and head to the gym locker room.

After I got home last night
I talked Mr. Pippi’s ear off about Nate’s dancing, and his lips,
and his eyes, and that freaking adorable hat he wears
all the time
now, and I
love my gerbil. I do. But he is so not enthusiastic. And my whole
body is on a buzz so much that I don’t care if I don’t really know
Lexie that well, I need girl talk. So I got up early in hopes that
I can catch her before class.

The locker room smells like hairspray
and lilac deodorant as I barrel through the doors, breath rushing
out in relief when I spot Lexie already decked out in her gym
attire.

I plop my tooshie right next to her.
“Does Nate kiss girls?”

“
Excuse me, what?” she
says, blinking a few times before bending over to lace her
shoe.

“
Does he kiss girls?
Inquiring minds want to know.”

“
He’s straight, if that’s
what you mean.”

I wave my hand at her. “I know that.
I’m just wondering if he kisses a lot of girls. Does he pass them
out like his deck of cards? Or is he pretty stingy with
them?”

“
What makes you think I
know?” She sits back, fluffing her hair into a ponytail.

“
You’ve been friends with
him forever.” I blink my wide eyes and thrust my clasped hands out
at her. “Please, Lexie. I need a girl to talk to about
this.”

“
Did Nate… did he kiss
you?” She looks shocked from her open mouth to her knees. It makes
me pout. Would that be totally unbelievable?

“
No. Not technically. We
had an almost kiss.”

“
An almost
kiss.”

“
You know, the inches away
from each other’s lips kind of kiss. The ones that make the
audience go, ‘do it, do it, do it!’ during the movies. And the darn
dance teacher interrupted us! But it was possibly the best freaking
moment of my life, and I just want to make sure that it’s not just
something Nate is used to—that he does this with a lot of girls, or
if I’m special, you know? Don’t want to get in too deep when he’s
not feeling it.”

Lexie’s lips turn up, and she swivels
on the locker bench to face me head on. “Um, okay. Nate isn’t
exactly the ‘player’ type. If he kisses you, it probably means he’s
feeling it.”

“
Really?” My voice pitches
up an octave. “Oh my gosh, thank you, Bestie.”

“
Don’t call me that,” she
says as I swing my arms around her. She lets out an “oof,” and pats
my back. I don’t care what she says, she loves the
nickname.

And if this is all true, an almost
kiss could mean he’s almost feeling it with me. I can work with
that.

***

I adjust my braids and fix
my camisole before knocking
tap tappa tap
tap
on Nate’s door. He hurls the thing
open like he’d been standing there at the peephole, and without
even thinking about it, I throw my arms around him for a quick
hug.

“
Hey,” I say, quickly
retreating in case that was too close too soon. His face is red,
but otherwise, he looks like he doesn’t mind my physical version of
“hello.”

“
Hey.”

“
Put me to work, Magic
Man.”

He chuckles, tips his fedora, and a
bubbly sensation rises up my chest into my brain. He leads me
through his living room, down a hallway, past a bathroom, and to
the top of the basement stairs.

“
Uh… I want to work on the
zig-zag box. I-it’s in my room.”

“
Sounds good.” Sounds
nerve-wracking. His room. Nate’s room.
No
big deal, Kaylee. No big deal. Calm your toes.

As we get farther down the
steps, the smell of paint and wood filters through my nose. Along
with Fierce by Abercrombie and Fitch. That’s totally Nate’s
cologne. When I took a whiff of it in the last
Cosmo
it automatically brought
visions of grey eyes, dark hair, and suspenders.

He opens the door at the bottom of the
stairs. I slide past him into the room, which is jam-packed. It’s
not a huge room, so I can’t believe how much stuff he’s been able
to get in here. His bed’s a twin, covered in simple black and white
sheets. There’s a 3000 piece or more puzzle he’s done of the Las
Vegas strip, glued together and framed along the far wall. There’s
a dresser that looks stuffed full, bits of clothes sticking from
the drawers. He has a three-shelf bookcase with one shelf dedicated
to card decks. A small card table folded up and stuffed by the head
of the bed. And the big six-foot vertical box, painted black with a
woman figure on the front. There are two holes for hands and a hole
for a face.

“
Wow,” I say, running a
finger over the edge. “It’s like you’re that guy from Pitch
Perfect.”

“
Haven’t seen that
one.”

“
You should. It’s
hilarious.”

He clears his throat and plays with
the rim of his hat. “Maybe after we practice we could see if it’s
on Netflix. If you wanna stay, I mean.”

Did he just ask me out? Holy wow, I’m
counting it.

“
I’ll text my dad and ask.”
I whip my phone out and shoot the text off, then circle around the
box to examine it—and hide my blush.

“
Is this like a totally
legit zig-zag box?”

He shakes his head and takes a step
toward it, leaning on the opposite side. “Those are pricey, so I…
well, I made this one.”

“
Really?”

“
Yeah, it’s uh…”

“
It looks
awesome.”

His lip twitches. “Well, Ryan and
Pop-pop—that’s Ryan’s grandpa—they did most of the handiwork. And
Lexie painted it.”

“
She’s good.”

“
Must be all that nail
polish painting she does.”

I snort. Lexie’s nail color changes
daily. It’s one of those things that make me think she’s not
totally tomboyish. She just hangs out with the guys. “It’s cool
that they help you out with this stuff.”

“
They’re my best
friends.”

His eyes drift over the front of the
box, and my heart pounds thick and heavy.

“
I’m jealous. I wish I had
friends I’d known since like, preschool.”

“
Yeah, but sometimes the
ones you meet in high school get to see the real you, you know? So
maybe they last longer.”

Butterflies are having a war in my
stomach as he looks over at me. For once in my whole life, I’m
totally tongue tied.

He lets out a breath and shakes his
head again. His fingers wrap around the door on the box, and he
pulls it open. “Let’s see if you fit.”

I settle my hand in his briefly as he
helps me in. Tingles zip through my fingertips, and they stay there
even after he lets go.

“
Okay, so you’re gonna want
to squeeze tight to the side of the box.”

“
Which side?”

“
The left side.”

“
My left? Or your
left?”

“
Mine. No wait. Yours. No…
mine.”

“
What
?”

We both laugh, and he taps the right
side of the box. “Here.”

“
Okay.”

“
When I close it, suck in
your stomach as much as you can. Rotate your hips so the blades
don’t get you.”

My eyebrows shoot straight
to the roof of this thing. “Um,
blades
?”

“
It’s okay. You’re
flexible. I won’t get you.”

I shake my head, ready to hop out of
the torture box. “No, no. I thought I was just going to be holding
scarves and handkerchiefs or something. Not get sliced to
death!”

He smiles wide. “You
won’t.”

“
I can barely fit in here
as it is.”

“
Oh come on, there’s plenty
of room.”

“
No way.”

He pushes out a breath, and next thing
I know he’s stepping into the box with me. I shove against the
right side, pressing as much as I can next to it. But his legs hit
my legs. His face aligns with mine. Warm breath washes over me,
making me shiver, and that makes no sense because it’s blazing hot
all of a sudden.

Nate gulps, like he just realized how
close we are. But he sticks his hand in the face hole in the door
and swings it shut, locking us in the semi-dark.

“
See. Plenty of
room.”

My heart is pounding, and that’s so
not smooth because he can probably feel it punching him in the
chest. He rests an arm over my head, flattening his palm against
the box. He smiles, and I smile, then we let out this really
bizarre laugh and knock heads.