I returned his smile. “Well, in your case, it wasn’t really as bad as that, since it wasn’t just any girl.”
“I suppose she does have her charms . . .”
“No, silly, not in that way,” I said, finally relaxing a bit and giggling, slapping his chest lightly. “Your little misunderstanding wasn’t as bad as you say, because the girl in question was one hundred percent beyond clueless. The whole making-wild-assumptions thing. Like, I still can’t believe I somehow thought your dad was holding hands with Kirby’s dad.”
He nodded slowly. “Yeah, I have to admit, when Kirby told me that one . . .”
“And this girl couldn’t identify a total jerk.” I kicked at the ground.
He chuckled. “ ‘Even flowers have their dangers,’ huh?”
A last puzzle piece clicked into place. The card! “Oh, my God. That card was from you, wasn’t it?”
Seeing my surprise, he reddened a bit. “I didn’t really know what else to do,” he mumbled. “You didn’t want to hear it from me, so I figured a bit of anonymous advice never hurt anyone . . .”
I let this sink in for a moment, still clutching Oliver’s waist, and he mine. I thought about how Xiang had described her relationship with Parker as natural . . . comfortable.
I think I understood that now.
Thinking back, I was attracted to the idea of being with Felix more than actually being with him. Or I didn’t know what I wanted, really. I was so busy trying to be the person I thought he might like that that I didn’t spend a whole lot of energy getting to know him. (Obviously.)
But when I’m hanging out with Oliver, I know he likes me for the person I already am (even now, despite everything!). And I like me when I’m around him.
More to the point, I really like who Oliver is. He’s just so great, and he makes me want to be better.
(And now I think he’s even cuter than Felix ever was.) ;-)
“So, anyway,” I continued, fingering a belt loop on his jeans. “This girl needs to make it right with you. She wants to. Somehow.”
“Well,” Oliver said, straightening up, “fortunately, I am what you might call an idea man.”
He drew me closer. As our foreheads touched, I couldn’t help but note the contrast with my last encounter with Felix. Instead of rising panic, I felt nothing but desire bubbling up.
“In fact,” he continued, his lips brushing up against mine, “I have a number of suggestions. Starting with—”
Well. You can probably guess the rest.
Linas Alsenas has spent—OK, spends—way too much time singing show tunes to himself in the mirror. He has written several books for children and young adults, including Gay America and The Princess of 8th Street. Raised in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, Linas now lives in London with his husband and works at a children’s book publisher.
Beyond Clueless Page 19