A Proscriptive Relationship (48 page)

Now his jaw did drop, but he quickly closed it again and turned his face away from me. Which was good, because a blush appeared at my face from my bold use of his name. While his head was turned I used the opportunity to check him out.

To my pleasant surprise, he was wearing a tuxedo. It was black and he was wearing a white shirt underneath the jacket and a red tie that was the same shade as my dress. I smiled at the coincidence. When Mr. Heywood turned back to me I realized just how handsome he looked in the tux. I almost forgot how to breathe.

“
You look . . .” he began. “You look . . .”

“
Gorgeous!” Jeremy cried, gathering me up in a bear hug. “Damn Holly, I could have mistaken you for Miss America.”

I blushed as Jeremy crushed me to death. “Don’t exaggerate,” I managed to choke out.

“
Ow!” Jeremy cried, suddenly pulling away from me. “What was that for, Chris?”

“
Couldn’t you tell you were killing her?” Mr. Heywood responded, frowning at him.

Jeremy smirked smugly. “You’re just jealous that I thought of the best compliment.”

I blushed, looking away from the pair of men. “Just forget it . . .”

“
Let’s go find your mom now,” Jeremy suggested. “I want to meet my future mother-in-law.”

“
Don’t get your hopes too high,” I heard Mr. Heywood mutter to Jeremy.

I started walking back towards the reservation area and I could hear Jeremy and Mr. Heywood follow me. My face was still hot from Jeremy’s comment and my palms were sweaty. As much as Jeremy’s opinion mattered to me, Mr. Heywood’s was more important.

“
So Holly, do you think I look good?”

I glanced at Jeremy. He too was dressed in a tuxedo like Mr. Heywood’s. Except Jeremy had a deep blue tie. I smiled at him, nodding my head. “I’m not going to lie, Jeremy. You look pretty sexy.”

“
Thank you,” Jeremy responded with a grin. “I bet if we pretended we were a couple, we’d be the sexiest thing in the world.”

I heard Mr. Heywood snort behind us. I glanced at Jeremy, who winked at me. My eyes widened slightly as I understood what Jeremy was doing. Making Mr. Heywood jealous. He inconspicuously nodded his head as he noticed I had figured out what he was attempting to do. I responded with his nod just as secretly.

“
What about Topher?”

I glanced back at Mr. Heywood, who was glaring at Jeremy. “He looks nice.”

Mr. Heywood’s head turned towards me but I quickly faced the front again, not wanting to see his expression. I was torn between amusement and guilt. Part of me said Mr. Heywood should be the one being teased tonight, but I also felt bad for him. However, Jeremy’s plans never failed to work . . .

My mom stood with a waiter by the front of the restaurant. When she noticed us a bright smile spread across her lips. Jeremy stepped forward, holding out his hand.

“
You must be Holly’s mom,” Jeremy greeted her as she placed her hand into his. “Nice to meet you, I’m Jeremy.”

“
It’s a pleasure to meet you, Jeremy,” my mom responded, sending me an impressed look. “You can call me Lynn.”

“
Sure thing!”

“
Shall I take you to your table?” the waiter asked my mom, his eyes glancing over our group. His eyes lingered on me and I felt self-conscious, quickly averting my gaze.

“
Sure!” my mom chirped, smiling at him.

We started following the waiter through the restaurant to the back. My mom struck up a conversation with Jeremy and I played with my fingers to distract myself. Mr. Heywood was walking beside me and it took all of my willpower to not look at him. Suddenly my shoe caught on something and I fell forwards. Before I could hit the ground, I felt an arm around my waist.

“
Careful,” Mr. Heywood breathed in my ear as he set me up straight. “That’s twice tonight you’ve almost fallen.”

“
Thank you,” I muttered, red-faced.

“
You look beautiful tonight, Holly,” Mr. Heywood suddenly commented in a quiet voice, his mouth still by my ear.

Immediately I blushed, swallowing nervously. Tonight was going to be a lot harder than I expected.

LESSON Thirty-three

The waiter led us to a table that seemed to be the furthest one from the entrance. When we arrived, I was slightly disappointed. I wanted to eat at the hibachi. Jeremy sat down and gestured for me to take the chair next to him, but before I could, my mom sat down, leaving me to sit next to Mr. Heywood. My mom smiled pleasantly at me while Jeremy frowned.

“
Can I start you off with something to drink?” our waiter asked.

“
Coke,” Mr. Heywood and I responded at the same time. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye and saw him smirking at me. Immediately I looked away, at Jeremy.

“
I’ll have a Sprite,” he told the waiter.

“
And a black tea for me,” my mom added when the waiter turned to her.

He nodded, scribbling down our drinks. “I’ll be back in a few minutes with your drinks.”

“
Why aren’t we eating at the hibachi?” I asked my mom when the waiter was gone.

“
Too much commotion,” my mom responded with a shrug. “Next time we’ll eat there.”

“
I want to come next time too,” Jeremy added. “I’ve never eaten at a hibachi before.”

I looked at him in surprise. “Really?”

Jeremy nodded. “This is my first time coming to Osaka too.”

“
You’ll love it.”

“
I hope so.”

“
What about you, Mr. Heywood? Have you been here before?” my mom asked, turning to face him. I kept my head straight, focusing on Jeremy so I wouldn’t look at Mr. Heywood.

“
It’s my favorite restaurant,” Mr. Heywood told her, emphasizing the word “favorite.”

“
Holly’s too!”

“
What a coincidence,” Mr. Heywood responded in an amused tone.

Suddenly I felt Mr. Heywood’s leg press against mine and I nearly jumped. I broke my focus on Jeremy and turned to Mr. Heywood, who didn’t seem to notice our contact. He was smiling politely at my mom, oblivious to my questioning gaze and our touching legs. Surprisingly, I felt a bit disappointed that our contact was accidental. I didn’t move my leg away either.

“
Holly,” Jeremy started, gaining my attention again. “I can’t get over how mature you look tonight. “You look so . . . ravishing,” he said with a grin.

A blush made its way onto my face at his words, even though I knew he was just saying it to tease Mr. Heywood. “Thank you, Jeremy.”

“
Pretty words for the pretty lady.”

“
Does someone have a crush?” my mom hinted, nudging Jeremy in the shoulder.

Jeremy gave her a cheeky grin. “Maybe.”

I almost laughed at my mom’s surprised expression. She glanced at me with wide eyes, inconspicuously nodding her head towards Jeremy. I shrugged my shoulders at her, stealing a quick, amused look at Jeremy. He looked like he was about to laugh. I couldn’t help but crack a smile at him, making my mom give me an even more bewildered look. I probably should have told her about Jeremy’s antics.

Mr. Heywood cleared his throat and I suddenly felt him pull his leg away from mine. Immediately where our legs had been touching felt cold. Without realizing it, I turned to frown at him for pulling away. He looked annoyed.

“
You know what?” Mr. Heywood started, turning to look at my mom. “We don’t have menus. I think they might have forgotten we need some. Jeremy, could you go ask?”

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t know where to go. It’s my first time here, remember?” He threw me a meaningful look.

“
I’ll—”

“
I’ll come with you,” my mom told Jeremy, smiling at him. “I have to use the bathroom anyway, so if you don’t mind waiting . . .”

A flicker of disappointment passed across Jeremy’s face but he quickly regained his cheerful look and nodded at my mom. “I don’t mind at all! Let’s go.”

“
We’ll be right back,” Mom said to Mr. Heywood and me, pushing herself off her chair.

Mr. Heywood raised a hand. “Take your time.”

My mom smiled at him before gesturing for Jeremy to follow her out of our room and into the hall. Jeremy threw me a sheepish look before disappearing completely. I didn’t have time to return it with my panicked one. Now nervous, I began to drum my fingers on the table to distract myself. Something told me Mr. Heywood was staring at me, but I did my best to ignore him.

However I couldn’t ignore him when I suddenly felt his hand over mine.

“
That drumming is irritating,” he told me, closing his hand on mine so that I couldn’t tap anymore.

“
Sorry,” I murmured, trying to pull my hand away from his. He didn’t let go.

“
Look at me, Holly.”

I kept my head straightforward, doing my best to ignore how much I did want to look at him. After a moment I heard him sigh in irritation and he let go of my hand.

“
Fine. Do what you want.”

Now I felt guilty. I finally turned to look at him and caught him frowning at me. His smoldering, gray eyes pierced into mine and for a second I forgot how to breathe. Were his eyes always this beautiful? Or was it because I had been refusing to look into them all this time and had forgotten?

“
Tell me, Holly,” Mr. Heywood started quietly, his eyes narrowing slightly. “Was the whole reason of inviting me here to make me witness you and Jeremy’s flirting all night?”

I shook my head immediately. “No. It was a than- you—”

“
A card would have worked just as well. Or some baked goods,” Mr. Heywood snapped. “Tell me what I did.”

I looked at him in surprised. “What?”

“
Tell me what I did to make you upset with me, and I’ll apologize,” Mr. Heywood insisted, his expression turning imploring.

“
You didn’t do anything!”

“
Then why are you . . .?” Mr. Heywood trailed off, looking irritated.

“
Why am I what?” I responded, raising an eyebrow. “I didn’t realize I was doing anything to annoy you.”

Mr. Heywood sighed, running a hand through his untidy hair. “Never mind. You’re not doing anything.”

Now I was really confused. “Then why . . .?”

Oh. A small smirk spread onto my lips as I realized what was making him irritated. So Jeremy’s plan was working.

Mr. Heywood caught my expression and he looked at me warily. “What are you thinking?”

“
Oh, nothing. Just . . . ‘If you’re jealous, just say it,’” I quoted him, my smirk growing a little wider.

Mr. Heywood didn’t look the least bit fazed by my comment. In fact, he looked amused. My smirk slowly faded and was replaced by a frown. I had expected at least some sort of reaction from him. Some denial, or something. Mr. Heywood then smirked at my reaction.

“
Why do you look so disappointed?” he asked.

“
I’m not,” I lied.

“
You can’t lie to me.”

“
I’m not,” I stated stubbornly.

Mr. Heywood laughed. “I can honestly say I’m not jealous of Jeremy right now.”

“
Then why do you look so annoyed?”

“
Because, as I just said, he’s complementing you to make me jealous,” Mr. Heywood repeated, furrowing his eyebrows. “I’m annoyed because I think you truly deserve every compliment he’s giving you.”

My eyes widened slightly as my face immediately grew hot. I turned away from Mr. Heywood, unable to look him properly in the eye. I didn’t know how to react when he complimented me so directly like that. It was so out of character and it always caught me off-guard.

“
Do you remember what I said the other night?”

At once my attention snapped back to Mr. Heywood. He was staring at me with a serious expression. I opened my mouth to answer honestly, but Jeremy’s face popped into my head and I stopped myself. Mr. Heywood was going to try and get me to re-confess, I could tell. And I knew I probably would if I couldn’t get it out of him first soon. I eventually shook my head. “No, what night?”

“
The other night,” Mr. Heywood responded. “When you accidentally told me something you shouldn’t have?”

The night when I’d accidentally confessed to him. My blush gave me away and I knew I couldn’t deny it now. “Oh, yeah . . .”

“
And do you remember what I said?”

To re-confess when I was older. “Yes.”

“
And do you know what day it is?” he continued, a smirk growing on his face.

“
Yeah,” I murmured, my eyes now downcast so I wouldn’t see his face.

“
Well, I’ve got something to say,” he told me in a rather alluring tone, and I wondered briefly if he had meant to say it like that.

“
Is, is that so?” I stuttered, trying to keep my voice steady. He had something to say? Was he serious? Was Jeremy’s plan working? I had to remember to give him the biggest thank-you hug known to man.

“
Yeah, want to hear it?”

My mouth was dry now, and took me a few seconds to be able to respond. “Yes.”

Mr. Heywood chuckled slightly and I realized how close he was to me. My breath caught when I felt his breath against my ear for the second time this evening. For a full minute I sat completely still, feeling Mr. Heywood’s breathing against my ear. It took all of my willpower not to turn my head and kiss him. Finally, he spoke.

“
Happy birthday.”

Now I turned to face him. Our noses touched due to our proximity, and I quickly jerked back from the contact. Mr. Heywood chuckle once again and leaned back in his seat as I blushed anew.