First and Goal (Moving the Chains #1) (31 page)

“Hmm?”

“I told you I wasn’t giving you up, so you need to think of something else.”

“Oh.” My mind is so fixated on what he’s just revealed to me that I completely forgot our previous discussion, but I force myself to focus and try to come up with another step two. Nope. It’s no good. I got nothin’.

“Can’t come up with anything, huh?” I swear, it’s like he can read my mind sometimes.

“Well, you keep throwing out everything I come up with, so I’m having to think a little harder. And my brain feels kind of foggy right now. Maybe if I knew a little more about her, I could customize this plan, hmm?”

“You said you would give me the perspective of a girl. So what would a guy have to do to win you over? Think about it that way, I guess.” He shrugs his shoulders.

Yeah, like he doesn’t know that he has just expertly side-stepped my line of questioning.

“There’s nothing a guy can do to win me over anymore. I’m done. I try not to make the same mistakes twice. That was a hard lesson to learn, but I’ve learned it. I was working on single, crazy cat lady until your dad ran over the love of my life.”

“Then I’ll buy you a kitten for your birthday, okay? It’s not until May, so your mourning period should be over by then. He can be your crazy cat lady starter package. How’s that?”

I’m surprised he knows when my birthday is. “I can’t take a cat to college next fall anyway, so as sweet as that offer is, that plan is on pause until further notice.”

“That’ll make for a lonely couple of years then,” he says softly.

“No, not really. Being lonely is something people don’t do by choice. What I’m doing is my choice. Better lonely than scared or heartbroken, is the way I see it.”

“That’s not a very convincing argument, Evie. You kind of circumvented your own logic there by saying that being lonely is the lesser of two evils. Which implies that you are actually lonely. You said people aren’t lonely by choice.”

Jesus. Can’t put anything past this guy. His intellect is such a huge turn-on. I wonder if Dream Girl appreciates that about him. Maybe she believes all the rumors too, and doesn’t realize exactly what he’s given up for her.

“You’re still hung up on that guy from ninth grade, aren’t you?”

I refuse to turn my head and look at him though I can feel his eyes on me. “I thought I wasn’t, but old habits are surprisingly hard to break, I guess.”

“Okay, well, there you go then. Give me your twelve step plan for how he could win you over. You’ll help me out, and maybe it’ll be good for you to think about too. Stop trying to pretend you’re done with guys forever. Maybe you just need to think about what it would take for someone to earn your trust again and then stick with that. If he doesn’t give you what you need, then you move on until you find someone who does.”

I turn my head slowly to look over at him. Son of a bitch, he just played me so hard that my head is still vibrating. “You sneaky little bastard. You completely turned this around on me. You did that on purpose just now, didn’t you?”

He shakes his head no as he says, “Absolutely.”

We both laugh. He turns to look at me with a raised eyebrow. “Since you’re clearly not going to drop this even though I keep asking you to, I’d at least feel better about it if you’re going to get something out of it as well.”

“I don’t know if I can.” I turn back to my own window. “I haven’t thought about anything like that since what happened with Eddie.”

His voice takes on a tone that I can’t quite identify. “Well, then imagine what the guy you wanted would have done before Eddie came along. If he had pulled his head out of his ass and approached you first. How would you have wanted it to go down?”

Rob’s probably pissed that I mentioned Eddie’s name after he went to bat for me and potentially ruined his chances with Dream Girl. I guess I owe it to him to do as he asks and pretend. Maybe he can get some use out of it. For his own purposes, anyway.

“I guess I would have been happy if he’d just paid even the slightest bit of attention to me. Just, I dunno. I guess talked to me a little, or something. Made me feel important to him.”

I laugh at my own girlish stupidity. “God, that sounds lame.”

“I dunno, I feel like I should be taking notes,” he replies, a smile in his voice.

“Well, then I guess we better table this discussion until we get to the diner. I need to think about it, anyway.”

“Okay,” he agrees quietly.

The next five minutes of the ride are spent in comfortable silence. My eyelids grow heavier by the second. Nothing like picking up garbage for two miles in the blazing sun to wear a girl out.

The next thing I know, something tickles my cheek.

I try to blink open my heavy eyes, but it’s not going well. Memories dance and fade in my mind. Dreams are funny that way. The first thing I notice as I fight my way to alertness is a familiar smell permeating everything around me. The second thing is the unmistakable feel of something stroking my cheek gently. The third thing I register is a soft voice, coaxing me awake. There’s almost a musical lilt to it as if someone is singing to me. When I finally pry my eyelids open, I find myself in the passenger seat of Rob’s car.

“Evie, you want me to just take you home?” I finally register his words, and the fact that his hands are on his lap.

I look around, trying to regain my bearings. We’re sitting in the parking lot of the diner. Everything is fuzzy. Sleep hasn’t fully relinquished its clutches on me.

“Sweetheart, you okay?”

I turn to look at him, unconvinced that I’m not still dreaming after all. Did he just call me sweetheart?

“I’m okay. I’m hungry. Let’s go in.” My voice sounds strange. Forced. Unnatural.

“We don’t have to. I don’t doubt you’re exhausted. I can just take you home, no problem.” He’s angled towards me in his seat, making no move to exit the car. He’s waiting on my word, even though I remember him telling me before we left that he was starving.

“No, I’m good.” I take a deep breath. “I guess I just needed a catnap. Let’s go stuff our faces and get some calc done.”

I turn to grab my backpack out of the backseat. “And work on your twelve-step program.” I flash him my best fake grin before opening my own door and climbing out.

We’re seated in the diner at his usual booth, and I’m thankful Gena’s section is on the other side of the room tonight. I don’t need more classmates getting the wrong idea. Rob sits beside me on the bench seat while we work on the calculus assignment for tomorrow.

I complete my last problem and back myself up against the wall, facing him.

“You’re done already?” He mumbles, still bent over the table finishing the homework.

“Yep. Can you check it for me?” I take a sip of my iced tea as I watch him work.

Rob asked me to think of what I would have wanted from a guy before last year, but it’s difficult to recall what was going through my naïve, sixteen-year-old, pre-Eddie head. All I remember is my own sheer, immature stupidity. So I try to go back further. Back to when everything was less complicated and more innocent, albeit stupid, puppy love. The requirements were simpler back then.

Rob takes a deep breath, sets down his pencil, and picks up my paper. “Jeez, you’re getting faster than me. Pretty soon you’re not gonna need me anymore at all.”

I study him as he checks my homework. He’s seemed distracted and quite frankly sad since we sat down. Buyer’s remorse, I guess. It’s finally sinking in what will be going around school tomorrow. What Dream Girl will definitely be hearing at school tomorrow. A fresh wave of guilt washes over me. I should never have selfishly asked for his help today.

He hands me back my notebook with a small smile. “Got ‘em all right. Guess I better have that chocolate ready.”

“Ohhhh, yeah,” I smirk at him. “Are you done?”

“Yep,” he shoves his materials back in his bag, then gets up and moves to the other side of the booth.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” I ask as I continue to watch him carefully. He looks like he’s just lost the biggest game of the season which only makes me feel guiltier.

“I’m sitting over here and waiting for our food. I wasn’t gonna bail on you.”

I set down my iced tea and flip to an empty page in my notebook, then pat the recently vacated seat beside me. “Come back here. We have work to do.”

He raises his eyebrow at me, but returns to his seat as bidden.

I title the top of the page.

Rob’s 12-Step Program for Getting Dream Girl

“Dream Girl?” He looks at me with clear amusement in his eyes.

“Yeah, that’s what I call her in my head since you won’t tell me her name.”

He shakes his head and looks away. “You are putting way too much thought into this, Evie.”

I nudge him with my elbow as he picks up his water and starts chewing on his straw which is weirdly cute. “Hey, are we friends or not?”

He turns to me. The sadness is back in his eyes.

“Yes,” he whispers, then looks away again. “I have actually dreamt about her many, many times, so I guess that’s as appropriate a code name as you could pick.”

“Ooh. Operation Dream Girl. I like it. Were they naughty dreams?” I nudge him again, trying to cheer him up.

He still won’t look at me, but I’m rewarded for my efforts with a small laugh. “You do not want to know the answer to that question.”

“And that’s a yes!” I tap my pen against the notebook and watch as he continues to gnaw on his straw. This conversation clearly makes him nervous.

“Okay, so number one. Talk to her.”

I write it down. He watches, finally curious.

1. Talk to her.

“I thought number one was stop calling you my girl?”

“Well, you told me to think about what I would have wanted my long-time crush to do, so that’s what I’m giving you. It’s the least I can do for you for giving up your afternoon with Dream Girl by helping me out today.”

Our food arrives. I leave the notebook and pen between us, hoping the conversation won’t be forgotten. Rob digs in like he hasn’t eaten in days as usual.

“Are you anti-cow?” He asks me, his mouth full of cheeseburger.

I look down at my plate of chicken fingers and French fries. “No. Why?”

“You always eat chicken. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you eat beef before. Ever.”

What an odd thing to notice about a person. He does pay attention to detail, I’ll give him that. Skills like that will come in handy for Operation Dream Girl. I decide to cheer him up further and reach over to grab his hand, guiding his burger right into my mouth. I bite a huge chunk out of it.

“There,” I say around a mouthful of food. Just like he does. “Now you’ve seen me eat cow.”

He gapes at me, forgetting to chew the food in his own mouth. After a few awkward beats, he swallows. “You just ate half of my cheeseburger.”

“I did not! I took a bite!”

“Don’t do that again.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you mad.”

He still stares at me with wide eyes and shakes his head slowly. “No, I want to be able to leave before the diner closes, and that was the hottest thing I have ever seen.”

I roll my eyes and try to stifle the laugh threatening to spill out of my mouth. “You have a food fetish, I swear. Cupcakes, chocolate, burgers. What’s next?”

“Steak.”

“Oh my God, you’re insane.” Laughing, I pick up a chicken finger and try to ignore his leer.

He takes another bite. “Put that on the list for sure. Buy her food.”

“I’m not putting that on the list. You’re not taking this seriously at all.”

“Hey, I’m not the one who wanted to do it. This is all you, Evie.”

“Okay then,” I pick up the pen and write the next one down.

2. Pay her compliments.

“Hey, I didn’t agree to that,” he says, shoving a French fry into his mouth.

I sigh and tap the pen against the paper, weighing my words carefully. “I’m writing down what you asked, remember? What I would have wanted before?”

“Oh. Right. Sorry.” He shoves another fry into his mouth and looks at me with a raised eyebrow. “Still not gonna tell me who he was?”

“Still not gonna tell me Dream Girl’s secret identity?”

He thinks about it, clearly weighing his options. He must want to know who my crush was really badly. “Tell you what? You already have a bunch of hints on me. I heard Jeremy tell you she’s in band and Honor Society, so if you agree to tell me two things about your crush then I’ll give you another hint about mine. Deal?”

I think about it, trying to decide what I can reveal without actually saying anything. I’m definitely not going to remind him that Jeremy told me more than those two things. My curiosity over who she is wins out. “Deal.”

“Okay…” he trails off. “So? Give me two things.”

He pops another fry in his mouth and angles his body towards me, practically drooling. Oh, yeah. He wants to know bad.

“Give me another hint as a gesture of good faith.” I need to buy more time.

“Nuh-uh, my girl.” He smirks at me. I slap him playfully, both of us laughing. “You owe me two. Go.”