Without You: Book 1 of the Changing Hearts Series (6 page)

BOOK: Without You: Book 1 of the Changing Hearts Series
7.95Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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They smiled at each other. “No. I don’t work, remember? You think I’m made of money or something?”

Lucas laughed and pushed his hip into her.
 

“You’re funny,” he said. Mayra winked at her. She tried not to smile so hard, but it was close to impossible. Lucas fell in behind her as they got their food and paid. They grabbed napkins and utensils and walked over to their table.
 

As she ate and everyone talked, Lucas’s leg kept brushing hers. He never apologized for it or acknowledged it, but it kept happening. She didn’t have a problem with it. Meanwhile, she tried to talk with Mayra, and they’d join the conversation with the others too. They were talking about their plans after school was over.

“Anyone at this table not going to college here?” a guy asked. He was the same one who had fallen asleep.

Lucas spoke up. “Ariana is going to UGA.” Everyone stared at her, impressed.
 

“Nice,” someone said.
 

She blushed and smiled. “If I get in.” Ariana kept eating her lunch after someone else spoke up about moving to California.

She nudged Lucas with her body, and he nudged back, looking down at her and smiling.
 

After lunch, they headed back to class and sat through the rest of the presentations.

When the last one was over, Mayra leaned towards her, “Ours was probably the best one, right?” Ariana nodded. Some groups had obviously not put that much effort into it.

At the end of class, Mrs. Randolph handed out their rubrics with their grades. Theirs landed on Lucas’s desk.

“Ninety-four!” he said, turning around and giving Ariana a high five. He gave the sheet to her, and she leaned towards Mayra so she could see it.
 

They had just gotten points off for going over the time limit, but the teacher had commented on their creativity, especially the fake mustaches.

“Am I a genius or what?” Lucas said. The fake mustaches had been his idea, and obviously, it had paid off. “This calls for a celebration.”

“What are you suggesting?” she asked. She crossed her arms and waited for him to talk.

“Let’s go out to eat or watch a movie or something. Mayra, you in?”
 

Mayra looked up from the rubric. “Huh?”

“Lucas says we should celebrate by going to a movie or dinner or something.”

“When?” She folded the paper and handed it back to Ariana.

Lucas shrugged. “This Friday?” He looked at each of them.

“Oh, I can’t. I have to do this thing with my mom. I already told her like a month ago I would.” Then she lit up. “But you two should go. Have fun for me.”

“You sure?” Lucas asked. “We can go next week if you want.”

“Nah. You guys go.”

“Okay.” He looked at Ariana. “I’ll text you?”
 

What else could she say? “Uh, yeah. Text me.”

The bell rang, and everyone filed out, including Lucas. He gave a wave before leaving.

Ariana and Mayra got up too but fell behind.

“What the hell was that?” she asked Mayra.

“That was me getting you a date with Lucas.” She smiled as she said it, like it was brilliant. And she tapped Ariana’s nose too.

“It was so obvious you were lying! Your mom works Friday nights. Besides, my parents make Jimmy tag along, remember?”

“Let me take care of that,” she said with a wink as they walked to their next class.

###

“So according to your parents you, Jimmy, and I are going to a movie. Come to my house like you always do, and we’ll figure it out from there,” Mayra explained.

“Ugh. It’s like last year all over again,” Ariana replied, frowning. She did not want a repeat.

“No, it’s not. You’re going to a movie with a really nice guy. He’s not your boyfriend, although that could change by the end of the night.”

Ariana smiled. Good thing they were on the phone so her friend couldn’t see. She sighed. “I’ll be at your house in an hour.”

“Don’t worry. I already talked to Jimmy. He knows what’s going on.”

“Okay.” They hung up, and Ariana began getting ready, although she wondered if Jimmy would have a problem with her going out with Lucas without her parents knowing. They had already asked permission for all three of them to go out together, but that wasn’t what was gonna happen, and it made Ariana nervous.

Twenty minutes later, she got a text from Lucas.

We still on for tonight? :)

She replied.

Yep :)

She had been texting Lucas for a couple of days. Before, their texts had always been about the project they were working on. Now they talked about other stuff. She liked talking to him. He was funny and kind. And kind of hot. She had made up her mind yesterday that if she had another boyfriend in high school, she wanted him to be like Lucas.

She finished getting her hair done and changed into something nicer than what she wore to school, but not too flashy either. She finally settled on blue skinny jeans with a black v-neck top and nice sandals. She straightened her hair and put a few pins in it and then put on some makeup, a bit more than usual. When she looked in the mirror, she felt like a million dollars.
 

There was a knock at her door, and Jimmy came in.

“You look nice.”

“Thanks.” She turned towards him.

“You ready?” He hung out by the door.

“Yep. So what did Mayra tell you?”

“That you’re going out with a friend.” He sat down on her bed. He was a bit dressed up himself. She wondered where he was going.

“And where are you going to be, and why aren’t you complaining?” she wondered out loud.

“Because let’s say I’ll be on a date of my own.” He winked.

“Who?” she pressed.
 

“You don’t know her,” Jimmy said as he lay back.

“Well, I want to know her if you’ve suddenly fallen out of love with Mayra and in love with this girl. Does Mayra know?”

He nodded. “Don’t worry.” He put his arm around her, and they went to living room, where her parents were watching TV after having had dinner together. She took her purse from Jimmy and slung it on her shoulder.

“We’re leaving. We’ll be back later.” They gave each of their parents a hug and kiss.
 

“Call me when you get there,” her mom said. “Remember to be back by eleven. Are you picking up Ryan and Mayra?”

“Ryan couldn’t come today, but we’re getting Mayra right now.” Jimmy answered, a little too quickly.

Ariana wondered what he and Mayra were up to.

They said bye one last time and shut the front door behind them. Less than a minute later, they were in Mayra’s driveway.

“Mayra told me she wasn’t coming today,” she said, looking at Jimmy.

“She’s not,” he said.
 

“Then why are we here?”

“For my date.” He unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car. She rolled down the window. “I’m not going either.”

“What is this?” She stared at Jimmy.

“You remember last year when I got Mom and Dad to let us go to that party?”

She nodded.
 

“Remember what our deal was in exchange for that?

She tried to remember. Then it clicked. She gasped. “You? Mayra?”

He nodded with the biggest smile on his face she had ever seen.

“Have a good time, sis.” He began to walk away.
 

“Jimmy!”
 

He came back and shrugged. “What?”

“Are you guys going to…”

“No. It’s a date! And I’m a gentleman.” He looked at her like she was crazy. “We’re hanging out and watching a movie. Ordering in.” He winked.

She couldn’t believe what was happening. She looked at her phone. It was too late to cancel with Lucas. She would look like a jerk. Besides, she didn’t want to cancel on Lucas.

“Have fun, sis. But not too much.” Jimmy walked up Mayra’s porch and knocked on the door. She had no choice but to leave and drive to the movies.
 

But not before texting Mayra.

WHAT THE HELL???

###

By the time Ariana arrived at the movies, Mayra had answered her text.

:)

She couldn’t believe that Mayra and Jimmy had tricked her. She sat in her car, wondering what they were up to. She shook her head to get rid of the image that had just invaded her mind. Surely they were just watching a movie, not even touching, much less kissing or who knows what?
 

Her phone buzzed again. It was Lucas. He was inside waiting for her. As she had gotten closer and closer to the mall, where the movies were, a knot in her stomach kept growing from the nerves.
 

She didn’t think this was a date, but it kind of felt like it.
 

As she got out of her car and locked it, she wondered what the night would bring.
 

She checked herself in the car window. There was nothing obvious like something in her teeth, so she went inside to meet Lucas.

She saw him right when she opened the door to the mall. He was near the ticket booth with his hands in his pockets. He looked just as nervous as her.
 

She walked up to him, not knowing whether to just say hi or give him a hug or shake hands…

“Hey,” she said. She settled for keeping her arms at her sides.

“Hey.” Lucas came towards her, and they had an awkward hug. She smelled his cologne and closed her eyes for the briefest of seconds before pulling back.

“You look nice,” he said.
 

She tried not to blush. “Thanks. You too.”
 

He really did. He looked like he had stepped out a fashion magazine, especially with his always-smiling eyes and perfectly white smile. Working at that clothing store obviously had its advantages.

“Are you hungry?” He looked down at her and indicated the concession stand.

“Not yet. I thought we were going to watch the movie first, so I had a snack.”

“Oh. Yeah.” They began walking towards the ticket booth. “What movie do you want to see?”

“Doesn’t matter.” They looked at the movie posters on the wall and the electronic sign above their heads with movie titles and start times.

“What do you like to watch?”

“Anything really? I like action, thriller, romantic comedies.”

“Have you seen that new car racing movie?” He pointed at a movie poster with two racing cars on it.

She shook her head. “Mayra, Jimmy, and I were going to watch it last time, but we ended up watching something else. I hear it’s good.”

“Me too. Should we see that one?” They looked at each other.

“Sure.” They got in line.

A few silent minutes later, it was their turn. Ariana quickly got out some cash from her pocketbook, but Lucas handed over a twenty to the lady before she could even complain.

“Lucas!”

“What?”

“I was going to pay for my ticket.” She grimaced at the fact that her comment came out kind of whiny, but she didn’t want Lucas spending all his money on her.
 

“I got it.”
 

The lady handed them their two tickets, and they began walking upstairs towards the movie theaters.

“But you help out your family and stuff. You don’t have to buy me anything. We’re just friends.”

As soon as the words came out of her mouth, she wished she hadn’t said them. They felt wrong. But it was too late. They stayed quiet for a minute after that. Once they got to the top of the stairs, they looked for their theater and headed that way.
 

“I think it’s this way,” he said. She followed him down a hallway to the left, and sure enough, a sign above the theater on the right indicated their movie. They went in and climbed the stairs to the top. It was dark and empty except for a couple of people towards the bottom. She almost tripped, and Lucas grabbed her hand.
 

“You okay?”
 

“Yeah.” Except for her dignity.

He held her hand the rest of the way up. By the time they got to the top row, their hands were sweaty. They sat down, and their hands fell apart. Ariana caught herself wishing they hadn’t and wondered if Lucas was thinking the same thing.
 

More people began coming in until the theater was almost full, and the previews began playing. She looked at Lucas, and he smiled at her. They laughed at some of the previews together. Lucas leaned over to say something in her ear.

“You sure you don’t want something to eat or drink?”

She turned towards his face, and he didn’t back away. His face was just a couple of inches away, and she tried not to look at his lips, but it was too late.
 

“I’m good,” she whispered.

For a split second, she thought he was going to kiss her, but before that thought had even fully entered her mind, he was facing forward again and resting back in his seat. She turned back to the screen and tried to focus on the movie.

###

When the movie was over, Lucas held Ariana’s hand again as they maneuvered through the crowd to leave the theater. People were buzzing and laughing about the movie. They stepped out into the hallway and began walking towards the exit. He let go of her hand again.
 

“What’d you think? Pretty good, right?” He glanced at her and kept walking

“Yeah, it was pretty awesome.”
 

They walked out of the mall and into the parking lot.
 

“You hungry?” he asked. They stopped on the sidewalk.

“Yeah. You?” She adjusted her purse on her shoulder. The movie had been almost three hours. Way longer than she’d thought.

He smiled. “Starving. You want to go get something to eat? We can go in my car if you want.”

“Sure.” She nodded and followed him to his car.
 

“Right over here,” he said, and they walked in between some cars. They got to his car, and he opened the door for her.
 

She couldn’t meet his eyes. “Thanks.” She got in, and he walked to the driver’s side.
 

He got in and turned on the car.

“So where we going?” he asked.

BOOK: Without You: Book 1 of the Changing Hearts Series
7.95Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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