True Love and Magic Tricks

by Cassie Mae

  “Like, I don’t randomly ask people to take dance lessons. It’s just, you’re tall enough and my dad’s like, this super huge swing dancer and him and my mom were really good together. But now she’s you know… they’re divorced, so he’s got this work thing that’s coming up and he’s getting this award and I’m sort of his date and I wanted to learn. Surprise him with it, I guess. Stupid… I know…”

  Nate mumbles some sort of incoherency, his hand growing slick against mine. Great, let’s see how many more times my mouth will run and make him uncomfortable.

  Ava clicks by on her heels, puts a hand on each of our backs, and shoves us closer together. Nate trips into the step, and my not-so-small chest squishes against him.

  I think his face could cook an egg. A loud laugh flies from my mouth as she goes to another too far apart couple.

  Nate’s grip tightens on my back, and a zillion flutters go up my spine. “I don’t think it’s stupid,” he says, completely avoiding my eyes.

  “Oh.” I let out an exaggerated sigh of relief. “Thanks. I don’t want to make an idiot of myself.”

  “We’ll just leave that up to me.” His voice is nervous, but there’s a hint of amusement there as he turns me out and swings me back in. I fumble a little, but my lips turn into this ridiculous smile. Without even thinking about it, I press back against him, letting my chin hover over his shoulder. This isn’t swing dancing… not yet. But I think I want to practice this for a while.

  ***

  It’s another one of those “do whatever you want days” in gym, and it turns out Nate wants to teach me the trick of the magic trade before we start the big stuff tonight. Swing class runs every Thursday night for the next six weeks, and we plan on “magic training” for every Friday. I don’t care what anyone says, I’m counting it as date night up until the talent show.

  “It’s all about distraction,” he says, pulling out a quarter from I swear nowhere. I adjust on the grass so I’m not sticking to it and wiggle my butt a little closer. “An illusion is only successful if you have your audience properly distracted.”

  “Got it.” But I’m totally paying attention to that coin, and it’s just popping in and out of existence.

  He leans over his crossed knees and smiles. Okay, now I’m distracted. I find nervous Nate completely adorable, but confident Nate is downright hawt.

  “Watch the coin, ‘kay?”

  I nod and force my eyes to his hands. I like his hands. Sort of veined and they connect with pretty strong arms and they look big and manly and freaking oh my gosh I’m supposed to be watching the coin.

  He flips it between his fingers, holds it up to my face, pinches it between his thumb and forefinger, flips it again, and it drops into the grass.

  I laugh and pick it up. “Was that supposed to happen?”

  “Hmm…” he says, rubbing the back of his neck. “Maybe I’m a little rusty.” He flicks one of my braids from my shoulder, and I raise my eyebrows wondering how he got the nerve to touch me like that. His hand moves to my other braid, but he stops. “Huh, what happened here?”

  He grins, and I take a look at my left shoulder where my braid has come undone. My hair tie is nowhere to be found.

  “What the… what?”

  Nate laughs and lifts his wrist, the pink tie resting there. “Distraction.”

  “Oh my gosh… I didn’t even feel that,” I say, running my hand through my long blond strands.

  He holds out his wrist and lets me take the hair tie off. My skin tickles a bit when we make contact.

  “It’s sort of a mind game,” he says as I re-braid my hair. “That’s why magicians have attractive assistants. To divert the attention.”

  My fingers pause mid-braid. “Did you… are you calling me attractive?” I blurt out.

  His eyes go to the coin, he fumbles a little bit, and then it’s gone. “You’ll… you’ll be an excellent distraction.”

  The butterflies swarming through my body make me bounce on my butt. I seriously cannot contain myself.

  “That’s like, the best compliment ever.” Dang it, I think I’m beyond blushing.

  His mouth pops open through a smile, but before he can say anything to my lack of filter, Lexie screams, “Nate! Get him!”

  We both look up to Ryan bolting down the track toward us. Lexie’s shirt is soaked, her empty water bottle at her feet. Ryan’s is full, and he’s clutching it in his hand, laughing his head off.

  Nate sighs, but before he moves, my legs take over. If there’s one thing I’ve been blessed with, it’s long legs and speed. Once Ryan passes us, I’m only two steps behind and I pounce on his back, snatch the bottle from his hand, and dump it all over his head.

  Not exactly the ice-breaker I was hoping for when meeting Nate’s best friend, but effective none-the-less.

  I hop off and toss the empty bottle at him, laughing at his stunned face. Nate catches up to us with an adorable smile.

  Ryan holds his hand out like “what just happened?” and Nate says, “You deserved it, dude.”

  Lexie jogs up and immediately bumps my hip. Poor girl is wearing white and you can see her pink sports bra through the wet shirt. She totally owns it in front of these two guys, though.

  “Finally found someone who can keep up with your monster legs, Ry.”

  His mouth goes from stun to smile. I catch his eyes on Lexie’s shirt before they rise to meet mine. “I just gotta convince her to be on my side.”

  “Sistas before mistas,” I sing, and Coach blows his whistle. I loop my arm through Lexie’s and wiggle my butt at the two boys, laughing as I hear Nate choke on what could only be air. Lexie tries to get out of my grip, but I keep her locked in as we walk to the locker room. As soon as we’re out of hearing distance from the guys, I bat my eyes and ask, “Do me a solid?”

  “Uh, sure.” She somewhat laughs. “Since you did one for me.”

  “Let me sit with you at lunch?”

  “Don’t you have like, a million other friends that want to sit with you?”

  Sadly, no. I have no close friends. I hop around from table to table. Good thing I’m awesome at talking to people, but I want close friends. Like Lexie, Nate, and Ryan when they’re together. My fingers twist around my pigtail, heart beating in my stomach, hoping that I’m not coming off totally pathetic asking for friends my junior year.

  “Okay,” I say, “so I’m going to be spending time with Nate, and I really want to get to know his friends. Like, I know you, but I don’t really know you, know you, and you seem awesome, so can I sit with you? I promise I’m fun.”

  “Kaylee, it’s fine with me.” She takes a seat on one of the benches and wiggles out of her shirt. Her dry pink camisole is on so fast you’d think she was self-conscious about her body. Which she so shouldn’t be. “Just… I have to ask… you’re not just going through Nate to get to Ryan, right?”

  Ryan? I have to force back my laughter. Ryan is hot in the conventional way I guess, but does he know how to make quarters disappear? I don’t think so.

  “Promise,” I say, stripping out of my gym shirt. “I actually thought you and Ryan were…”

  She snorts. “Friends.”

  I want to say, “Yeah right,” but she looks dead serious. So I let it go and yank my shorts down and stuff them in my laundry bag. Friday… so gotta wash all the sweat out of these things.

  “Hey, you dropped something,” Lexie says, nodding to the ground as she slides into her jeans.

  There’s a blue folded note near my feet, and forget getting dressed on time. I lean against the cold locker and rip it open, my smile ready to eat my whole face.

  Still no name on it, but it must’ve been slipped somewhere on me while I was distracted.

  Chapter 4

  I sit at the lunch table with a deck of cards—never leave home without them—and start practicing my ambitious card routine. It’s better when you have someone to pick the card and place it back in the deck, but it’s a classic trick I’m
trying to put my own spin on before presenting it to anyone.

  I’m totally in the zone when Kaylee flops into the seat next to me. “Hey there,” she says, and places a blue lunch bag decorated with pink, orange and white flowers on the table.

  “Uh…h…hi,” I mumble, staying focused on my cards. She’s wearing a shirt that cuts dangerously low, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to control my eyes if I look her way.

  “Whatcha doing?” she asks, pulling out a pb&j from her bag.

  “Card trick.”

  She bounces in her seat. “Oh! Show me. Please?”

  I move my chair closer to her, getting wrapped in her intoxicating scent—a dangerous combination of cucumber and melon.

  “What’s this trick called?” she asks, her full attention zeroed in on the deck. Most people humor me and let me teach them a few things. But with Kaylee it’s different. It’s as if she genuinely wants to learn. And maybe…possibly…she is interested in more than the card trick.

  Doubtful. A girl like Kaylee would never go for a guy like me.

  “Earth to Nate.” She taps lightly on my head, and I snap my attention to her, fumbling my cards and dropping the entire deck on the table.

  She brushes a braid over her shoulder. “I’m not falling for fifty-two card pick up.”

  “I…I didn’t mean to do that.”

  The soft skin of her hand brushes mine as we both reach for the cards. An electric current, or something darn close to it, zaps up my arm. Her big green eyes stare at me through thick lashes, and I’m momentarily paralyzed. I swear she has true magic powers. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had a big K sewn on her undershirt.

  Her adorable lips curl up in the corners, and she gathers the rest of the cards, placing them in my hand.

  “So what’s the name of the trick?” she asks.

  I get my bearings and take a deep breath. I can do this. I can talk magic. “It’s called the ambitious card trick.”

  “Oooh. Sounds awesome.” She shimmies her butt in her chair.

  “This is one of the most popular effects in card magic. It’s usually the first thing a magician learns. You can put your own spin on it to make the trick yours, and that’s what I’m working on now.”

  “Show me what you got, Mr. Magician.”

  I smile up at her and hold out the deck. “Take a card.”

  She takes one from the middle, running her tongue over her top lip. I clear my throat, hoping I’m capable of using my voice.

  “Put it back anywhere you want.”

  She places it in the center, and I flick the deck. I slide the top card from the pile and hold it up. “Is this your card?”

  Her mouth drops open, her big green eyes growing bigger by the second. She grabs the ace of hearts out of my hand and examines it. “How’d you do that?”

  “Magic,” I say all serious.

  “That’s amazing.” Her wide eyes widen even more.

  “That’s just the start.” I grin. “With the ambitious card trick you want it to progress in difficulty. To keep the viewer interested so you’re not doing the same thing over and over again.”

  “So what’s next?”

  I straighten in my chair and hand her the deck. “Shuffle.”

  She takes the cards, and my eyes nearly bug out when she does bridge after bridge with such precision like some sort of casino dealer.

  “Now what?” she asks.

  “Turn the deck over and pick any card that catches your attention.”

  She fans the cards out and swishes her lips back and forth before plucking out the two of hearts. “Now what?”

  I hand her my pen. “Write your name on the card.”

  “You want me to write on your card? Won’t it ruin it?”

  “I have more. Besides, you could become famous one day and this two of hearts will be worth a fortune.”

  “And what do I get out of the deal?”

  “You’ll be famous. What more would you want?”

  Her teeth slide over the plumpness of her bottom lip, her big green eyes lock with mine, and she tucks a strand of hair that fell loose from her braid behind her ear. She’s closer to me. Or am I closer to her? I smell the cucumber melon and feel the heat between our hands and our mouths.

  “I have a full tray of fries here. Don’t mess with me,” Lexie threatens Ryan. Kaylee and I jump away from each other.

  “You don’t scare me,” Ryan says to Lexie and snatches a fry off her tray, tossing it between his teeth.

  Lexie puts her tray down next to Kaylee and wails a fry at Ryan’s head. It smacks in between his eyebrows. He catches it before it falls to the floor and plops it in his mouth. Lexie gives him a dirty look, and he gives her a Mr. Charming smile.

  Ryan sits next to me and nods to the deck. “Is he wowing you with his skills?” he says to Kaylee.

  Heat shoots through my cheeks, and I use my shoulder to rub at it, pretending I have an itch.

  Kaylee picks up the pen and smiles at Ryan. “He has and supposedly he’s just begun.”

  She writes her name in the middle of the card in perfect bubbly cursive. “What next?” she asks.

  I hold the deck out. “Slide the card back in.” I use the standard Hindu shuffle, controlling the card so I can bring it back to the top without her noticing. “Now if you really have a connection to this card, you should be able to call to it. Think of the card and snap your fingers.”

  Her long lashes flutter as she closes her eyes then snaps. Her lids pop open, and I pull the top card from the deck. I hand it to her without even looking because I never doubt my skills.

  “Holy guacamole! That’s my card. Did you guys see that?” Kaylee turns to Lexie and Ryan, holding up the two of hearts.

  “Yup, and if you think that’s impressive you should see him do the paintbrush color change,” Ryan says, and snatches more of Lexie’s fries.

  “Hey!” Lexie screams and throws another fry at Ryan’s head, but he catches it with his mouth.

  “You, my friend, are smart,” Kaylee says to Ryan, and everyone at the table looks at her. “See he knows what he’s doing. He knows if he steals one of your fries, you’re going to throw another one at him. Two fries for the price of one.”

  “You!” Lexie yells with a smile on her face and goes to throw a fry at Ryan, but instead tosses it in her mouth.

  “Caught,” Ryan says in defeat.

  “Maybe if you ate some meat you wouldn’t be so hungry, and wouldn’t need to steal my fries all the time.”

  Ryan’s nose crinkles. “I’ll stick to my plain pizza, thanks.”

  “It’s not pizza without pepperoni,” Lexie says, and takes a huge bite of her own pepperoni-covered slice.

  “You’ll be the one with clogged arteries one day. But don’t worry. I’ll make sure you take your cholesterol pill.”

  Lexie goes to throw another fry at Ryan, and he opens his mouth in anticipation. Lexie stops herself then looks at Kaylee. “You just saved me a lot of fries. Thanks. I can’t believe I didn’t pick up on that.”

  Kaylee tosses her arm around Lexie, and I wait for Lexie to give her a confused and dirty look. She’s not exactly the type of girl who hangs with other girls. Ryan and I are pretty much her only friends.

  “Stick with me,” Kaylee says, pulling her closer. “I can teach you a lot.”

  “You’re weird,” Lexie says, and then actually starts laughing.

  It hits me then. Kaylee isn’t like other girls. She’s really not like anyone else. Which makes her the perfect side to turn our triangle into a square.

  ***

  After school Lexie and I meet at Ryan’s Lincoln and wait for him to get out of History. Mr. Miller always keeps them till after the bell.

  Lexie leans against the passenger door and her eyes wander to Sean Dixon. Why she likes him is beyond me. Despite the fact that her home life is a mess, Lexie is a cool chick and could do a thousand times better than that ogre.

  “So,” I say in a sad at
tempt to get her attention off him, as if that will help get rid of her crush.

  “So?”

  “What do you think of Kaylee?” The words are out before I even have a chance to stop them. I reach into my pocket and pull out my deck of cards, keeping my focus on the red design.

  “She’s weird, but she’s not fake like some people.” Lexie rolls her eyes, and her gaze lands on Sandy Nelson, who is across the quad talking to her minions. “What’s going on with you two anyway?”

  “Uh…Nothing. She’s just helping me with the talent show that’s all. Nothing more.”

  “If you say so,” Lexie says with a cocked eyebrow.

  “Ready to get out of here?” Ryan runs up to us, and messes up Lexie’s hair. She smacks him good in the stomach. When he recovers he pats my back and opens the doors.

  Lexie slides in the front seat, and I get in the back. No yelling shot gun because the one time she got stuck in the back, she put her hands over Ryan’s eyes, and he almost took out Mrs. Peterson’s mailbox.

  We drop Lexie off first. Ryan pulls up to the house, where she and her mom live in a basement apartment. Today her mom is sitting on the front lawn, her purse in her lap and the contents spilled around her.

  Lexie sighs and shakes her head.

  “Come on. Let’s get her in the house,” Ryan says, and gets out of the car. He meets Lexie on the other side, and they both move like a united front to Mrs. Boggs. I would help, but Lexie gets so embarrassed, it’s better for her if I just pretend it’s not happening. I take out my cards and start shuffling.

  Ten minutes later, Lexie and her mom are inside, and Ryan’s back in the driver’s seat.

  “Everything okay?” I ask.

  He shrugs. “Okay as it’ll ever be.” I reach out and pat his shoulder. I can say it will get better, or not to worry about Lexie because she’ll be just fine, but we both know it’d just be me blowing smoke out of my ass.

  “So…I’m taking swing dance lessons with Kaylee.” I didn’t mean to tell him. Ryan may be my best friend, but there are some things you just don’t tell people.