Waiting for Perfect (34 page)

“How
did you even find it?”

“I
dropped off my aunt’s dry-cleaning at the place next door one day.
 
I went in for lunch.
 
It’s been love ever since.”

She
laughs, crinkling her cute little nose.
 
“Do you come here a lot?”

“Whenever
my aunt’s working late, and I feel like Nick needs some space.”
 
Saying his name makes me realize we
haven’t talked about Nick since that day in the music room.
 
I don’t know if anything’s been
resolved or if we’ve just been avoiding the topic, but now doesn’t seem like
the time to bring it up.

“Well,
I love it.
 
Thank you for bringing
me to your special place.”

“Of
course.
 
Are you ready for our next
adventure?”

“There’s
more?” she asks.

I
take her hand and help her from the booth.
 
“You didn’t think we’d just be going to dinner on our first
date, did you?”

“This
is
our first date, isn’t it?
 
No wonder you’re going all out.”
 
She leans close to me and kisses my
dimple.

I
turn to the kitchen.
 
“Thanks,
Jaruk!”

He
shouts to me from his stove.
 
“Thank you, Mr. Sebastian.
 
You take care of that pretty girl.
 
You be nice to her, or I won’t serve you no more.”

Kendra
and I both laugh at that.
 
“I will,
Jaruk.
 
See you soon.”

“Bye,
Jaruk!
 
Thank you!” Kendra shouts.

We’re
walking back to the Mustang when I get an idea.
 
“Do you want to drive?”
 
I hold my key out in front of her.

She
looks at me like I’m crazy.
 
“I
know how much you love this car.
 
You’d murder me if I let anything happen to it.”

I
slip the key into her hand.
 
“You’re right.”
 
I
smile.
 
“But you won’t let anything
happen to it.
 
You like me too much
to cause me that kind of pain.”

She
grins.
 
“Actually, I do.
 
Fine.
 
I’ll do it.”
 
She walks over to the driver’s side door and reaches for the handle.

“Ah,
ah, ah.
 
Let me get that for you,
my dear Kendra.”
 
I reach for the
door and open it for her to enter.

“What
a gentleman.
 
Thank you, kind sir.”
 
She mocks an old English accent that
makes me chuckle.

I
slide in the passenger side.
 
I
haven’t sat in this seat since the day I turned sixteen.
 
In all honesty, my heart is beating a
little fast.
 
I’m totally nervous
about her driving my car.
 
I assume
she’s a good driver, but who knows?
 
She could lose it with all this engine power and wreck us.
 
I try to stay calm and trust her.
 
It’s very difficult.

“Where
are we going?” she asks as she fixes the mirror to her liking.

“I’ll
give you directions as we go.”

She
looks at me with a pouty face.
 
“You’re not going to tell me?”

I
fasten my seatbelt as she turns the key in the ignition.
 
“No.
 
I’m not.” I say, smiling.

She
narrows her eyes at me and then breaks out into a grin.
 
Backing up, she says curtly,
“Fine.”
 
She pulls up to the main
street.
 
“Right or left?”

KENDRA

I
know it’s killing him that I’m driving his car.
 
Every time we stop at an intersection, he holds onto the
door handle.
 
Whenever I’m going
over fifty miles per hour, I notice his legs becoming restless under the
dashboard.
 
I try to carry on a
conversation, but it’s all one-sided.
 
I’m sure he wants me just to shut up and focus on not crashing his
car.
 
It’s comical really, and
several times I have to bite my tongue to not make fun of him.

After
he directs me to our next stop, I realize we’re in an older neighborhood in the
city of Mission Viejo.
 
He tells me
to park along the curb, so I do.
 
I
wonder whose house we’re going to.
 
I don’t know anyone who lives in this neighborhood.

I
pull the key out of the ignition, and when I hand it to him, I can actually see
the calm settle over him.
 

I
giggle.
 
“Was it really that bad,
you big baby?”

“No.
 
You’re a good driver.
 
It was fine.
 
I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
 

Yeah
right.
 
He’s a good liar, I’ll give
him that, but I don’t believe any of it.

We
get out of the car and start walking.
 
“So whose house are we at?” I ask.

He
takes my hand and laces his fingers with mine.
 
“We’re not going to anyone’s house.”

“Then
what are we –“ I stop mid-sentence when I see Troy and Lexi walking
toward us on the sidewalk.
 
I run
toward them and throw my arms around Lexi.
 
“What are you guys doing here?”

Lexi’s
arms are full of towels, and she tries awkwardly to hug me back.
 
“Sebastian told us to come.
 
He thought we’d have fun doing this
together.”

I
pull back from her.
 
“Doing what
exactly?”

“He
hasn’t told you?” she asks, grinning.

I
look at Sebastian, who is taking something very heavy from Troy.

“No,
he hasn’t told me.
 
And what are those?”
I’m eyeing the huge bags in the boys’ arms.
 
“Sebastian?
 
What
is this?”

He
holds up one of the plastic bags, and water drips from it and onto the
street.
 
“Ice-blocking.”
 
He lowers the bag again, and I can see
his hard bicep muscles flexing under his shirt.
 
I love the way those arms hold me.
 
I was hoping we’d be doing a little more of that
tonight.
 
But ice-blocking?
 
I’m not so sure.

Lexi
laughs.
 
“Oh, come on, Kendra!
 
We haven’t done this since we were,
like, twelve.
 
It will be fun.”
 
She starts walking toward a big hill at
the end of the street.
 
Troy runs
to her side, and Sebastian and I follow behind them.

Troy
says over his shoulder, “Sebastian had me pick up the ice blocks while you were
at dinner.
 
Did you two enjoy your
Thai food?”

I
look to Sebastian.
 
“They knew
about the whole date?”

He
smiles.
 
“Yeah.
 
I called Troy after we texted
earlier.
 
He said Lexi hates Thai
food, so they didn’t want to join us for dinner.”

“Yes!”
Lexi says.
 
“Hate it.
 
But I’m glad you two both have that in common.
 
Now Kendra has someone to eat it with,
and she won’t be asking me all the time.”

Sebastian
gawks.
 
“Wait, you eat Thai food a
lot?
 
You’ve eaten at that place
before, haven’t you?”

“No,
I haven’t,” I say quickly.
 
“I
always go to the place by the lake.
 
But I like your place better.”
 
He evaluates my face to see if I’m telling the truth.
 
I am.
 
His place is way better.

He
seems to believe me.
 
“Good.
 
I’m glad you liked it.”

Troy
and Lexi lead us up a huge, grassy hill at the end of the street.
 
Lexi looks around at the neighborhood
below us. “Sebastian, are you sure no one’s going to see us?
 
We’re kind of out in the open here.”

Troy
unwraps one of the ice block and takes a towel from Lexi.
 
He lays the ice on the grass and sets
the folded towel on top of it.
 
“Don’t be so worried, Lex.
 
It’s not against the law to go ice-blocking.
 
We’ll be fine.”
 
He sets down the other ice block and grabs another towel, laying it on
top of the ice.
 
He pats it, and
she sits.

“Come
on, you guys!” she says to Sebastian and me.
 
A second later, they’re both flying down the hill on top of
their ice blocks.

Sebastian
holds up the ice and, without his usual tone of confidence, says, “Is this
okay?”

I
pick up the other towels from the grass and walk over to where he’s standing.
 
“This is perfect.”
 
I kiss him softly on the lips.
 
He wants to deepen the kiss, but I move
back from him instead.
 
I know once
we start kissing each other, neither of us will want to go ice-blocking.
 
“Let’s do this, Veneto.
 
I’ll race you.”

“Seriously?”
he says, surprised.
 
I try to show
my sternest expression to let him know just how serious I am.

He
unwraps the ice blocks and sets them down.
 
I lay a towel on each of them.
 
We sit down at the same time and line up so that we’re
starting at the same spot.
 
“Okay,
angel.”
 
He points to a divot in
the grass near the end of the hill.
 
“See that spot on the grass?”

I
nod, sliding the ice back and forth beneath me to melt the bottom, so I can be
a second faster.

“The
first one to pass it wins, okay?”

“Okay,”
I agree.
 
“Ready?”

Lexi
and Troy are laughing, watching us from the bottom of the hill.
 
Troy yells, “Go!”

The
second he says it, Sebastian takes off.

“Hey!
 
Cheater!” I yell, pushing myself off
our starting point and flying down the hill after him.

We’re
laughing the whole way down.
 
He
beats me past the divot and slows to a stop.
 
I’m coming too fast and try to slow down by dragging my
shoes on the grass.
 
It’s no use,
however, and a second later, I’m crashing into him at the bottom of the hill.
 
Both of us go flying off our ice blocks
and land on the grass.
 
I land on
top of him, and we laugh uncontrollably.

Then,
his dimple diminishes, and his expression becomes serious.
 
His dark eyes stare into mine.
 
My grin fades to match his change in
mood.
 
He reaches up to my face and
fixes back the loose hair hanging in my eyes.
 
It feels good to be this close to him.
 
His body beneath mine induces all kinds
of dirty thoughts, and I quickly have to remind myself that we’re lying on cold
grass with Lexi and Troy nearby.

Sebastian
moves the back of his hand along my cheek and then secures it behind my
neck.
 
“I won,” he says.

I
break into a grin again.
 
“Technically, yes.
 
But I’m
the one who got to take you to the ground and be on top of you.
 
I think I won too.”

That
makes him smile, and his dimple is on full display.
 
I sweep my thumb across it.
 
Then I reach up and pull a piece of grass out of his hair.

His
smile fades again.
 
His eyes are
busy studying me.
 
I don’t feel
uneasy beneath his gaze.
 
I like when
he looks at me like this.
 
He makes
me feel sexy, strong, like I can accomplish anything.

“You
are so beautiful, Kendra.”
 
His
words melt me.
 
I’ve never felt
beautiful, but he makes me believe it.
 
He pulls my head down to his.
 
I see his eyes flicker to my lips, and I lick them on instinct.
 
Just as we’re about to kiss, Lexi yells
to us.

“Okay,
lovebirds.
 
Are we ice-blocking or
what?”

I
pull back.
 
We both smile,
appreciating each other.
 
“Ready
for a rematch?” he says.

“Absolutely.”

We
ride down the grassy hill until our blocks are too melted to hold us any longer
and our pants are soaked through to the skin.
 
I peek at my cell phone for the first time tonight.
 

“Sebastian,
I have to be home in fifteen minutes.
 
We should get going.”
 
I
don’t want the night to end, but I also don’t want either of us to get in
trouble right before homecoming.

He’s
talking to Troy about something but checks his phone for the time.
 
“Okay.
 
Let’s go.”
 
He
bumps fists with Troy, while I hug Lexi.
 
“Thanks for getting the ice.”

Troy
puts an arm around Lexi and says to Sebastian, “You just didn’t want that shit
melting in your Mustang.”

“You’re
right,” he replies with a bold grin.

We
start walking to our cars when Lexi says, “Hey, you guys should come with us to
the Montage for dinner before the dance.”

I
think that would be awesome, but I wait for Sebastian to respond first.
 
I’m not sure if he already has
something planned.
 
He looks
slightly uncomfortable with the question.
 
I don’t know why.
 
We’ve had
a good night with Lexi and Troy.
 
I
know the boys get along great, and it would be awesome for Lexi and I to share
our special night together.

Finally,
Sebastian says, “Uh, I already made reservations somewhere.”

“Cancel
them,” Troy says.
 
“Dude, you
should come with us.”

I
study Sebastian, who looks like he’s struggling for some kind of response.
 
Then I suddenly understand what his
problem is.
 
The Montage is a
totally outrageous resort overlooking the ocean in Laguna Beach.
 
It’s going to cost a lot of money to
eat dinner there – a lot of money that Sebastian doesn’t have.
 
I wait for Sebastian to say something,
but he doesn’t.

“It’s
okay, guys,” I say.
 
“Thanks for
the invite, but we kind of wanted to spend some time alone before the
dance.
 
Whatever he has planned
will be amazing, I’m sure.”
 
I
squeeze his hand in mine, and he returns it.
 
“We’ll just see you guys at the dance.”

Lexi
pouts.
 
“Okay, if you’re sure.”

“I
am.”

We
say goodbye to Lexi and Troy and walk to the Mustang.
 
Sebastian is quiet, and I wonder if he’s embarrassed about
not being able to take me to the Montage.
 
It’s the first time I think about how much my mom will hate the fact
that I’m dating Sebastian Veneto, a man without money, without family, without
influence.
 
But I don’t care what
she thinks.
 
I think I’m falling in
love with him.

He
opens my door for me to get in, but I don’t.
 
Instead, I put my arms around him and lean up on my tiptoes
to kiss him.
 
He lowers his head
and kisses me back.
 
I feel
something change in him suddenly.
 
Maybe he’s grateful to me for saving him back there.
 
Maybe he’s just pumped up on adrenaline
from ice-blocking.
 
But something
in him turns on like a switch.
 
He
pulls me into him hard, crushing our bodies together.
 
He holds my face in both his hands, and his tongue dives
deep into my mouth.

He
pushes me back, so I’m leaning up against the car.
 
I part my legs to allow him to get closer.
 
His hands run down my shoulders and
then around my waist.
 
He breaks
the kiss and sweeps his head down to reach my neck, planting soft kisses up to
my ear.
 
I gasp when he pinches my
earlobe between his teeth.
 
My
fists clench at his back, gripping his shirt in my hands.
 
I can’t pull him close enough.
 
I want to feel him everywhere.