The fact that he wasn’t intimidated as a kid or turned off by my take-charge attitude as we’d gotten older—that was part of the reason I’d developed a crush on him. And right now, it seemed crucial that I know what made him different.
Once upon a time I’d thought he’d liked me too, that he liked me the way I was.
I was wrong, of course, but that didn’t change the fact that my relationship with him was different. It had always been different than my friendships or family relationships.
With him I was just me. I didn’t feel the need to dampen my fire or soften my edges.
Maybe because he was right and we were similar, or maybe because I just knew he wasn’t afraid or—
“What is it?” he asked. A rueful amusement tinged his voice.
“What?” My head snapped up.
“What is it you want to ask me?” He shook his head slowly. “I know you, Edie, and you’re lost in thought. There’s something you want to say or…” He swallowed and shifted in his seat, his gaze growing more intense by the second. “I want to know what you’re thinking.”
It was a command. And for some reason it almost worked. If I were any other girl, I probably would have spilled the beans on whatever I was thinking.
But I wasn’t any other girl. I was Edie Zindell and I gave as good as I got. “Why aren’t you intimidated by me?”
He frowned, his gaze suspicious. “Why do you want to know?”
I played with my straw. This was embarrassing. But, if I ever stood a chance of getting a date—not to mention a new name when I hit refresh on the Love Quiz app—I needed to get to the heart of the matter. I needed to figure out what made Dane different.
“Why are you asking these questions, Edie?”
This was embarrassing. It was too stinking embarrassing. But since when had I let a little embarrassment keep me from anything?
I squared my shoulders.
“Edie, what is this—”
“I want a freakin’ date.” It came out too loud and I glanced around to see people staring. I leaned over and lowered my voice as Dane leaned back, a stricken look on his face.
“I got you, okay?” I hissed.
He stared at me and a big part of me wanted to crawl under the table and hide until the world stopped spinning. But I was Edie Zindell and I did not hide. “I got you as my result in the Love Quiz.”
His brows shot up, and a little smile hovered over his lips. “You did?”
I drew in a deep breath and clenched my hands into fists. “If you even think about making fun of me—”
“Why would I make fun of you?”
“It doesn’t mean anything,” I said.
“That still doesn’t explain why you think I’d—”
“It’s probably because we’re working on this project together,” I interrupted. “And because we have the same friends. You said it yourself—”
“Edie!” His loud voice startled me and I blinked at him.
“What?”
“I’m not laughing at you.”
“Oh.” I drew in a deep breath to slow my pounding heart. I hated when he looked at me like this. Like I was on display and ready to be dissected.
“I just don’t understand what your results have to do with why you’re asking me these questions.”
I took a moment to clasp my hands together and stop fidgeting. This was beyond embarrassing, but I wasn’t one to let embarrassment stop me from my plans. “I’ve never had a boyfriend.”
He didn’t laugh. Probably because he knew I hadn’t. He had known me forever—he would have known if I’d started dating someone. Still, a little part of me softened with relief at his silence. “Okay,” he finally said.
“I’ve never even had a date.”
“I see.” He shifted and I had to wonder if he was just as embarrassed on my behalf as I was. “I still don’t see why—”
“I like who I am.”
His lips twitched and amusement flashed in his eyes but he didn’t laugh. “I like who you are, too.”
“I don’t want to change that, but…”
The amusement dimmed. “But you want to have a boyfriend.”
“Exactly,” I said, relieved that he’d said it for me. “I want to figure out how to get close to a guy without…” I waved my hands uselessly as I searched for words. “Without scaring him off.”
Dane’s eyes narrowed. “The right guy won’t be scared off.”
I scoffed. I couldn’t help it. My mind had gone back to that fateful night when I’d realized how wrong I was about Dane’s feelings for me. He might not have been scared off, but that didn’t mean he was the right guy.
“You don’t believe me?” he said.
I shrugged. “I think I need to figure out how to make my particular brand of crazy more appealing to the male half of the population if I ever stand a chance of getting a date.”
“You’re not crazy.”
“I’m not normal.”
His lips quirked up. “Normal is overrated.”
I held back a sigh. If things were different… If he wasn’t two-faced with his compliments… If he actually liked me as more than a frenemy…
But he didn’t. End of story.
“Says you,” I mumbled.
“Yeah,” he said with a little laugh. “Says me. A guy. A guy who thinks you’re beautiful and smart and—”
“Dane!” I groaned and shut my eyes. “I know what you’re doing.”
I know what you’re doing and I need you to stop! Hearing those nice words was messing with my head again. If I wasn’t careful, that old crush would find a way to resurface and that would spell disaster. It had taken ages for those old wounds to heal.
When I opened my eyes, he was eyeing me oddly. “I get it. You don’t want to hear it from me.”
I sat up a little straighter, an unexpected sensation making me tense. Guilt was not something I was used to dealing with.
I didn’t like it.
“I didn’t mean—”
He waved my explanation away. “I get it. I guess the question is…who do you want to be your match on the Love Quiz?”
I stared at him blankly. My mind was totally empty as I tried to summon up a single name from our class. I couldn’t think of any guys, not when this guy was staring at me like that.
“Derek?” he suggested.
“Um…” The fact that it took a full second to remember who Derek was did not speak well of my feelings for him.
Dane’s jaw grew tight. His expression determined as he leaned over the table. “Is Derek who you really want to go to the dance with?”
“Uh…” I couldn’t bring myself to lie. No. Not really. But I needed someone else in my life. Anyone else to replace the stupid match I kept getting on the app. I knew as well as anyone how ridiculous this app was, but that didn’t help the fact that every time I saw Dane’s name as my one and only match, it made me panic.
I mean, how pathetic was I if the only person the app could even imagine me dating thought I was unbearably annoying?
It made me seem hopeless. Like I’d met the one person who might possibly be a match for me, and he didn’t want me.
How sad was that?
“Hey.” Dane’s voice had me looking up again to meet his eyes. “Maybe Mr. Portman was right. Maybe we shouldn’t sit on the sidelines. Maybe we should be a part of the experiment.”
I frowned. That was…not where my head had been going. “What do you suggest?”
“I suggest I play matchmaker for you.”
I widened my eyes. “Excuse me?”
“I’m betting that I can find your perfect match.”
“No. No way.”
His smirk was annoying and that put me at ease. His smile threw me for a loop but this smirk? This was easy to hate.
I couldn’t quite believe I’d told him about my results or any of the other stuff but this smirk put it all in perspective. He might have been charming in the extreme—but he di
dn’t mean it.
“Want to know who I got as my match?” he asked.
There was something in his eyes that made me wary. Suspicious, even. Then I remembered what Danielle had said and frowned. “I thought you didn’t check your results.”
“No, I did. Want to know who I got?”
No. I shrugged. Don’t tell me. Don’t tell me, don’t tell me, don’t tell me.
His gave me that rueful smile again, a weird mix of sadness and amusement. “The person I wanted.”
His words stung and I didn’t even know why. I blinked stupidly. Of course he’d gotten who he’d wanted. He’d probably gotten Danielle or one of the other girls he hung around with. He probably liked one of them but who knew which when he was so freakin’ nice to everyone.
Two-faced jerk.
He leaned forward. “Edie, the person I got—“
“Don’t tell me,” I interrupted sharply and ignored his questioning look as I scrambled to cover up my weirdness.
Too little too late if his shocked expression was anything to go by. Crap, he almost looked…hurt.
I straightened in my seat and tried to adopt a business-like tone. “You got who you wanted so you’ll be the control,” I said. “Yours will be an example of when the app actually gets it right. The fluke,” I added with more than a hint of bitterness.
“And yours?” His voice was tight, his gaze narrowed.
“Mine’s a classic example of when it’s wrong…obviously.”
He grunted, his smirk morphing into a small smile I’d never seen before. A smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “So, you’re offering yourself as tribute? The example of how wrong the app can be?”
I shrugged. “I suppose.”
He leaned forward. “Why not let me play matchmaker for you, too. Just like we’re doing for the others.”
I scowled at him, hating him in a million ways in that particular moment and I didn’t want to think about why his offer hurt. This was what I wanted. I wanted a boyfriend. Or at the very least a proper date. Maybe even a kiss.
I might have been an overachiever, and a go-getter, and an organizer and blah blah blah. But I was still a high school girl. Was it so wrong to want one kiss before I graduated?
And here I had the school’s most popular guy—the guy who was friends with every eligible, available male in our school—offering to set me up.
I swallowed down the humiliation and focused on what I wanted. On my goals. I needed someone new to like or I’d be stuck with the same useless, depressing result every time I hit refresh.
I’d be stuck matched with the one guy in school I knew without a doubt didn’t want me.
No, that was too depressing for words.
“Fine,” I said. “It’s a deal.”
He sank back in his seat. “Great.”
We eyed each other in silence for a long moment, Dane slouching back in his booth and me tapping my fingers nervously on the table’s edge. “I don’t know how you think you’ll accomplish this,” I finally said, even as I told myself to shut up already before I embarrassed myself even further. “You don’t know me well enough to find my perfect date.”
His smile was small and secretive.
It was a little unnerving, actually.
“I beg to differ. I’ve known you my whole life, Edie Zindell. But maybe it’s time you and I got reacquainted.”
Chapter 4
Dane
“Would you relax?” I eyed Edie with a mix of amusement and frustration as she fidgeted beside me in the stands.
“I don’t see why we had to come to the game together,” she said.
“It’s for research,” I lied. “You promised you’d let me get to know you better so I could find you a better match.”
Was it wrong that I was exploiting her desire for a date? Maybe. But I had to believe that in this one instance, at least, the app was right. I liked Edie, and I thought maybe she’d like me if she just gave me a chance. I had no idea why she was so prickly around me, but maybe if we spent more time together, talked about things other than school and group projects…
Maybe if she just gave me a chance, I could make her see that I wasn’t such a bad match after all.
She pursed her lips and looked away from me, eyeing the others in the stands as they filed in to watch tonight’s basketball game. “This was a bad idea,” she muttered, seemingly to herself. Turning back to me, she added, “Now the app is definitely going to match me with you.”
I bit my tongue to keep from asking if that would really be that bad.
Of course it would. Edie had made it alarmingly clear just how awful she thought it would be to be linked romantically with me.
I tried not to take offense, I really did. I mean, I liked to think I had a pretty healthy ego, especially when it came to girls. But even my confidence was a little rattled by her obvious disgust at being paired with me.
My confidence might have been shaken, but it also brought out my competitive side. Her words the other night at the diner had been like a bell dinging the start of a new round in boxing.
She was ready to dismiss me as a match even though we were so obviously great for one another?
We’ll see about that.
I ignored the voice of reason that was telling me this was a mistake. Not only to try and weasel my way into her good graces, but also to do it under the guise of a school assignment. The entire group had a lot to lose if we failed this assignment, and I had to tread carefully.
But I couldn’t just sit back and let her go. It wasn’t in my nature. I just had to prove to her by the dance that she hadn’t gotten the wrong result.
That maybe I was worth a shot.
That maybe she shouldn’t have rejected me all those years ago.
I rolled my eyes at the memory that still lingered. Whoever heard of a person getting all bent out of shape over a junior high incident. It was time to let it go, already.
And it was time for Edie to open her eyes and realize that it was time for her to get over whatever it was I’d done to get on her bad side.
I wasn’t sure why the app had chosen me as her love match, but I did know this. If mutual stubbornness came into play, it was a no brainer. We were both exceptionally good at holding a grudge.
But I was ready to let mine go, and maybe I could get her to do the same.
All I had to do was be nice to this girl. How hard could that be?
A little while later as we watched the boys dribbling and shooting hoops to warm up as the cheerleaders did their thing, I got my answer.
Hard. It was freakin’ hard to be nice to this girl.
Every time I tried to pull any of my usual moves, Edie shot me this wary side-eye like I’d just suggested we sneak out to score some drugs.
Actually, wary didn’t even begin to cover it. The girl seemed freaked out by the merest hint of flirtation.
“See, this is your problem,” I finally said when she gave me a wrinkled-nose sneer in response to a compliment.
“I don’t have a problem.”
“Yes, you do,” I said. I reached out and bopped her nose, struggling not to laugh at her look of shocked outrage when I did. “This right here is your problem.”
She rubbed her nose. “My nose is my problem?”
I rolled my eyes. “No, Edie. The way you react to a guy hitting on you. Why are you so distrustful?”
She stared at me. “Better question, why are you hitting on me?”
Touché.
“Just trying to get to know you better,” I said. “Getting a feel for what you’re looking for in a guy.” I couldn’t help but add with a mutter, “Clearly compliments are not on the list.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I would have no problem with compliments if I thought they were genuine.”
Now it was my turn to give her a look of shocked outrage, and I wasn’t faking it, not one little bit. “Why on earth would you think I wasn’t being genuine? Have I ever lied to you before?”
I waited for her to admit that no, I had never lied to her. And when she didn’t…well, I didn’t even want to admit to myself how much that stung.
She didn’t say I had either, but her silence seemed to echo between us as she turned to face the court. The game still hadn’t started but she feigned an interest in the warm-up.
“Edie,” I started. What have I done? What did I ever do to you? Before I could figure out how to say that, she hurried on with a scowl of concentration. “Did you ever talk to Rex about him and Jessica?”
I just barely held back an exasperated sigh. She’d been doing this ever since we’d arrived. Steering the conversation to the group project, making it seem like that was the only reason we were here together.
It wasn’t. I’d thought I’d made that clear. But she got all twitchy every time I brought up my dumb matchmaking plan or the Valentine’s Day dance. I couldn’t even bring myself to mention the Love Quiz app for fear she’d bolt without another word.
I scrubbed a hand through my hair. “No,” I said. “I tried to confront him in the hall the other day, but he was acting all weird.”
Edie nodded, her brows furrowing in concern. “The same happened to me when I tried to talk to Jessica. She got all weird on me and ran off.”
We stared at the court but Rex hadn’t left the locker rooms yet. “You think they’re okay?” she asked.
I looked over at Edie, struck by the actual concern in her voice. “Yeah, I’m sure that whatever it is going on between them, they’ll work it out. They’ve been friends forever, right? Whatever this is will blow over.”
She nodded but her gaze looked distant. “I guess.”
“Besides, they’re right on track with the experiment,” I said. “Their app results still say they’re a perfect match. And they’re still dating other people.”
“Yeah,” she said. “They just…they don’t seem to be having much fun, do they? Shouldn’t they be happy if we’ve paired them with their ideal romantic prospects?”
I didn’t answer as I, turned to face the court, too. She was right. They definitely didn’t seem happy. For two normally laid-back, upbeat people, Rex and Jessica had both been uncharacteristically down these last few days.
The Match Makers: Love Quiz #3 Page 5