said.
His eyebrows rose. “Yeah?”
“The answer to your question is yes,” I said.
His grin lit the entire room. He took a sliding, sideways step toward me. “Yeah?”
I grinned back. “Yeah.”
David slipped one arm around my back. “Cool.”
Then he leaned in and kissed me, his lips warm and soft, his eyelashes tickling my cheek. When he pulled away, I smiled. There may not have been fireworks, but it was nice. Part of me had to wonder if Jake had seen that , too, but I forced myself not to look over at him. From now on, I only had eyes for David Drake. I was a Norm, I was going to date a Norm, and I was going to forget all about the lame-ass Cresties and their evil pranks.
“Come on,” David said, taking my hand. “Let’s catch up with them before Logan eats his dad’s car.”
I laughed as he held the door open for me and I slipped out into the cool night. At that moment, there was no doubt in my mind that I had just made the right decision.
ally
Twenty-three down . . . formerly trendy berry. Formerly trendy berry ending with an i. What kind of berry ended with an i ? Why could I not get this?
“Done!”
Annie smacked the “ring for service” bell atop the CVS counter and threw her hands up.
“You are not done.” I lifted my head. My neck hurt from straining over Ultimate Crosswords for the past half hour. Annie turned her book around and showed me her puzzle. Every single box was filled in. I looked down at my pathetic excuse for a crossword board. It was maybe half done. If I was being nice to myself.
“What’s twenty-three down?” I whined.
She looked over her board. “Acai! That’s the easiest one.”
“I suck at this,” I said, throwing my pencil down. Why had I even spent a dollar ninety-nine (minus discount) of my hard-earned money on that crappy book if she was going to beat me every time we challenged? I checked my watch and sighed. Ten minutes and I would be able to clock out. “Why is this place so dead?”
“Football game,” Annie said, jumping up and coming down with her butt on the counter. She swung her legs over, grabbed a Reese’s from the display underneath, and tore it open. “This side of town goes dead on game night. Now, if you were working at the Apothecary ,” she said, putting on a snotty tone and lifting her nose, “you’d be seriously busy.”
The Apothecary was an old-school pharmacy and makeup outlet on the Crestie side of town. I used to accompany my mother there once a week to pick up “essentials” like La Mer skin cream, Estée Lauder eye gel, and cooling pedicure socks shipped in from Italy. None of which could be afforded now. I wondered what my former friends would think if they saw the current state of my mom’s makeup bag. These days it was Avon and Olay all the way.
“Right. Norms play football, Cresties play soccer,” I said, rolling my eyes. I walked around the counter and joined her, eyeing the candy selection. “Speaking of Cresties, you’ll never believe what happened this morning.”
“Wait!” Annie ran around the counter again, shoving an entire peanut butter cup in her mouth, and extracted her notebook from her bag. She poised her pencil over it and looked up at me like an expectant cub reporter out of a Superman cartoon. “Okay, go!”
I casually picked up a tube of Mentos and put it down. “When I went outside for my morning bike ride, the lawn jockey was gone.”
“ Real ly?” she said, in a leading way that made my heart pound. She bent and scribbled vehemently in her book.
“What’re you writing?” I asked, standing on my toes to try to see. She shielded the page with her hand like a little kid who didn’t want her test paper copied.
“Just that maybe Jake Graydon is human after all,” she said.
I blushed and looked away, setting about reorganizing the battery carousel, which did not need reorganizing. I had figured it was him. Of course it was him. But it was nice to have someone else confirm
His eyebrows rose. “Yeah?”
“The answer to your question is yes,” I said.
His grin lit the entire room. He took a sliding, sideways step toward me. “Yeah?”
I grinned back. “Yeah.”
David slipped one arm around my back. “Cool.”
Then he leaned in and kissed me, his lips warm and soft, his eyelashes tickling my cheek. When he pulled away, I smiled. There may not have been fireworks, but it was nice. Part of me had to wonder if Jake had seen that , too, but I forced myself not to look over at him. From now on, I only had eyes for David Drake. I was a Norm, I was going to date a Norm, and I was going to forget all about the lame-ass Cresties and their evil pranks.
“Come on,” David said, taking my hand. “Let’s catch up with them before Logan eats his dad’s car.”
I laughed as he held the door open for me and I slipped out into the cool night. At that moment, there was no doubt in my mind that I had just made the right decision.
ally
Twenty-three down . . . formerly trendy berry. Formerly trendy berry ending with an i. What kind of berry ended with an i ? Why could I not get this?
“Done!”
Annie smacked the “ring for service” bell atop the CVS counter and threw her hands up.
“You are not done.” I lifted my head. My neck hurt from straining over Ultimate Crosswords for the past half hour. Annie turned her book around and showed me her puzzle. Every single box was filled in. I looked down at my pathetic excuse for a crossword board. It was maybe half done. If I was being nice to myself.
“What’s twenty-three down?” I whined.
She looked over her board. “Acai! That’s the easiest one.”
“I suck at this,” I said, throwing my pencil down. Why had I even spent a dollar ninety-nine (minus discount) of my hard-earned money on that crappy book if she was going to beat me every time we challenged? I checked my watch and sighed. Ten minutes and I would be able to clock out. “Why is this place so dead?”
“Football game,” Annie said, jumping up and coming down with her butt on the counter. She swung her legs over, grabbed a Reese’s from the display underneath, and tore it open. “This side of town goes dead on game night. Now, if you were working at the Apothecary ,” she said, putting on a snotty tone and lifting her nose, “you’d be seriously busy.”
The Apothecary was an old-school pharmacy and makeup outlet on the Crestie side of town. I used to accompany my mother there once a week to pick up “essentials” like La Mer skin cream, Estée Lauder eye gel, and cooling pedicure socks shipped in from Italy. None of which could be afforded now. I wondered what my former friends would think if they saw the current state of my mom’s makeup bag. These days it was Avon and Olay all the way.
“Right. Norms play football, Cresties play soccer,” I said, rolling my eyes. I walked around the counter and joined her, eyeing the candy selection. “Speaking of Cresties, you’ll never believe what happened this morning.”
“Wait!” Annie ran around the counter again, shoving an entire peanut butter cup in her mouth, and extracted her notebook from her bag. She poised her pencil over it and looked up at me like an expectant cub reporter out of a Superman cartoon. “Okay, go!”
I casually picked up a tube of Mentos and put it down. “When I went outside for my morning bike ride, the lawn jockey was gone.”
“ Real ly?” she said, in a leading way that made my heart pound. She bent and scribbled vehemently in her book.
“What’re you writing?” I asked, standing on my toes to try to see. She shielded the page with her hand like a little kid who didn’t want her test paper copied.
“Just that maybe Jake Graydon is human after all,” she said.
I blushed and looked away, setting about reorganizing the battery carousel, which did not need reorganizing. I had figured it was him. Of course it was him. But it was nice to have someone else confirm
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