The Summer I Became a Nerd

by Leah Rae Miller

  Vera nods emphatically again. “It’s totally awesome.”

  “I’d love some strawberry ice cream. How about you, Vera?” Dad leans forward to look at her. “I’ve heard it does wonders for lost teeth.”

  Her eyes almost pop out of her head. “Yes, please!”

  I can’t help but smile at this. Mom and Dad always wanted a third child, but it just never happened, so they make a point of spoiling every kid they come in contact with.

  I tap Logan’s shin with my bare foot when his sister runs off with Dad. “I just need to get my bag and shoes. You wanna see my room?”

  He runs a hand through his hair, bringing it closer to the messy style I love. “Sure.”

  My room is pretty boring. I have a vanity with a mirror on one wall. I’ve shoved pictures into the mirror’s frame so when I look at myself I see Terra and the rest of my friends. Thankfully, I took down the ones of Eric and me the night I called him, my attempt at being brave and deleting him from my life. It wasn’t as tough to do as I expected.

  Logan sits down on my bed and bounces. He looks around at the cream-colored walls. “Nice. Very…girly?”

  “Thanks.” I sit down next to him. There’s that electricity again. That feeling of just being near him that makes goose bumps dance over my arms.

  “Sorry I had to bring Vera with me. Dad is looking for new clients for his web design business, Jonah is at a friend’s house, and Mom has Moira at the shop. Vera could have stayed with Mom, but she hates hanging around the shop, gets bored with it. She’s not really into all that stuff. I tried to tell her no, but she started crying, and well, I’m a wuss, basically.”

  So this is a date. A rush of relief washes over me at the thought. “Don’t apologize, she’s so cute. And you’re such a good big brother to bring her with you. My brother would never have done something like that.”

  It’s quiet for a second. Logan plays with a tassel on one of my throw pillows. I debate how to broach this next subject.

  “I…” I’m suddenly nervous about telling him about this next little piece of my soul.

  “What?” he prods. When I don’t answer, he reaches over and turns on my radio that I’ve moved from the top of my dresser to my bedside table. Of course, it’s already set to the college station, which makes him smile.

  I close my eyes and focus on what I’m about to reveal. “I wanted to tell you a secret. It’s kind of really, really secret so you can’t tell anyone. And I mean no one. If you do, be prepared for backlash.”

  He holds his hands up in surrender. “I promise not to tell anyone.”

  I take his hand and pull him over to my closet. The door to my room is open so I close us in the closet by pulling the fold out doors shut. My thought process is if someone peeks in, they won’t be curious enough to check out the closet, they’ll just see an empty room.

  There are other benefits. Like, there’s barely enough room for us both to fit inside, so we’re pressed against each other. Which isn’t such a bad thing, in my opinion. I pull the chain above us to turn on the light. “See that stack of sweaters?” I swallow hard and glance above us at the top shelf.

  He doesn’t take his eyes off mine as he nods.

  “Put your hand under the third one.”

  Again, he doesn’t look away as he reaches for the sweaters over and behind my head, which just means he has to lean even more into me. I don’t back away because, honestly, this is amazing, having him this close after those couple of days of not seeing him. The smell of his cologne or soap or whatever it is fills the tiny space as he makes a cute effort to put his lips closer to mine. My tongue darts out of its own volition to wet my suddenly dry lips.

  I reposition my feet so I can lean closer to him, but wind up tripping over one of the pair of shoes on the floor. I stumble into him, and his arms wrap around my waist, steadying me.

  The spell is broken as I curse the bottom of my closet and get my balance back. “Damn shoe!”

  He laughs, reaches back up into the pile of sweaters, then gets a questioning look on his face. He pulls down the innocent-looking notebook and holds it between us.

  I clear my throat. “That is really important to me. It’s my—”

  “You guys in there?” Vera yells from right outside the closet doors.

  Logan jumps and almost drops the notebook. My arms immediately cross like I’m trying to hide something. He lets out a deep breath and pulls back the doors.

  She smiles up at us. “I love ice cream.”

  #17

  My journal sits on the console between us as we hit the bricks of Front Street. I’m having to pinch the tips of my fingers so I don’t snatch it up and stuff it under my shirt. Plus, I’m still humming with nerves from that almost kiss in the closet. How many of those have to happen before the actual thing actually happens?

  “How does Mi Pueblo sound?” Logan’s voice jerks me out of my thoughts so hard I grab the door handle. Good thing it’s locked or I’d be getting some face time with the Front Street bricks right now.

  “Can I get some churros?” Vera asks from her booster seat in the back. There’s barely enough room for her back there. A mountain of random books and boxes are piled precariously next to her.

  “Sure, if Maddie wants to go there.”

  “Sounds great. I’ve never been there before.”

  Logan expertly parallel parks on Front Street across from the restaurant, which makes me envious. I’m the type of driver who will drive around for thirty minutes just to find a spot I can pull into easily.

  We each grab one of Vera’s hands before we all jog across the street and go through the glass door of the small Mexican restaurant. Immediately, the smell of foreign spices and fried things hits me, and I’m suddenly starving. The place seems to be designed to make the customer happy. The walls are the color of pancake batter, and the floors are covered in ceramic tile with a Spanish flowery pattern.

  Vera runs to the bathroom, and Logan and I sit across from each other at a table that gives us a wonderful view of the river.

  “So, go on,” he says. “Spill it. What’s the deal with the notebook?”

  I stare out at Cane River and hope he doesn’t think I’m crazy. Then again, that ship has probably already sailed. “It’s just this kind of…journal.”

  “Like your diary?” He sounds a little shocked. Bye-bye, crazy ship.

  “Not really. It has to do with comics and—”

  The waitress, a girl I’m pretty sure goes to our school, comes over with the menus just as Vera gets back from the bathroom. “Can I get you guys some chips and salsa?”

  Logan passes out the menus. “Please, Corina. Thanks.”

  The girl leaves through the swinging doors behind the counter.

  “You know her?” I ask as relaxed as possible.

  “Yeah.” He says this like I should know her, too. He tilts his head to the side and eyes me. “She’s in our English class. And she’s been the lead in the last two drama club productions.”

  “Oh, right, I remember.” But I don’t really remember. I bury my head in my menu.

  “Can I make a suggestion?”

  “Okay. What do you recommend?”

  Logan slips the menu out of my hand and lays it on top of his and Vera’s. “The monster. We could both eat off of this thing until we’re full and still have leftovers.”

  “Sounds great.”

  Corina returns with some glasses of water and lemon wedges and the chips and salsa, then asks for our order.

  “I’ll have the kid’s bean and cheese burrito and churros,” Vera says.

  “And we’ll have the grande verde burrito.” Logan rolls his Rs when he says “burrito.” I love it.

  “No problem.” Her eyes dart from me to Logan, a smile lighting up her face. I can see why she’s a drama club star. Her Latina-bombshell factor is off the charts.

  I take a sip of my water as she goes to turn in our order. “So, how well do you and Corina know each other
?”

  He shrugs. “I do the sound stuff for the plays, so we got to hang out a little.”

  That’s innocent enough, right? I scold myself for getting even the slightest bit jealous. Here I am, waiting for the confirmation of a breakup, and I’m concerned about this seemingly innocent girl. At that thought, I sneak a quick peek at my phone to make sure I don’t have any missed calls or texts. Nothing.

  Logan props his chin in his hand and gives me a far-too-innocent smile. “Why do you ask?”

  I play with the stack of cardboard coasters sitting in the middle of the table. “Just curious.”

  “Are you sure? Because I thought I detected a hint of jealousy.” I feel him tap my shoe with his. At first I think it’s an accident, and then he does it again. And again. I can’t believe he’s playing footsie with me.

  All I can do is glance up through my lashes and stick my tongue out at him. He just laughs and rests his ankle where it’s touching mine.

  I look around to distract myself and notice we’re the only customers. This calms me a little. As much as I love being around Logan, I still wouldn’t know what to do if someone saw us here. Together. “At least we have the place to ourselves.”

  “I guess it’s nice if you look at it that way.” He squeezes his lemon into his water, then stirs the drink with his straw. “This place is amazing. It should be busier than this at this time of day. I’m sure most people are at the fast food places or the chain restaurants for lunch, like always.”

  I can hear a hint of animosity in his voice. “Not a fan of corporations, huh?”

  “Damn the man,” Vera says out of the blue, and I almost choke on the sip of water I’ve just taken.

  Logan frowns. “Veer, what have we said about that word?”

  “Right, sorry. Darn the man.” She looks down because of the scold, then grins at me.

  “Having a mom and pop comic book shop in a small town can make one bitter,” Logan says to me, running a hand through his hair again. “I don’t know if it’s because we’re not originally from around here or if it’s because people just don’t care about comics these days, but it’s like The Phoenix is doomed to be just another local business that had the potential to be great, but just never got the customers.”

  Well, that sucks. There must be some way to fix it, though. “Could it be because of advertising? Not to be rude or anything, but I hardly ever see ads for you guys.”

  “Could be that. But it’s hard to pay for billboards when you’re hardly paying the rent. Anyway, I shouldn’t have brought it up. Let’s not get into it. Not today.” Logan looks at me wistfully.

  Corina comes back with a big tray of food. Vera doesn’t waste any time picking up one of the fried churros and dipping it into the cup of icing they came with. Our burrito is the last plate put on the table. Logan wasn’t lying—the thing is huge, the size of one of my Dad’s work boots, and it smells delicious. The stuffed-to-its-limit burrito sits in a pool of green sauce, steaming.

  Logan picks up his fork and knife like he’s about to dig into Thanksgiving dinner and begins to cut it into edible bites. I stab a piece with my fork, and so does he. He raises his eyebrow as we both take a bite. Again, he was right. This is so mouth-wateringly yummy I’d sell my pom-poms to pay for another taste.

  We only finish half of “the monster” before we’re both stuffed, and Logan has to request a to-go box. Like most kids, Vera finished like ten minutes ago.

  “Are y’all done yet?” she asks for the hundredth time in the past five minutes.

  “I think so,” Logan says.

  She bounces in her seat. “Yay! Can we go to the—”

  Logan puts a finger to his lips. “Right, right.” She nods her head. “It’s a surprise.”

  …

  We’ve left the bricks of Front Street behind and passed Logan’s house. Now I’m very curious about what he has planned because there’s nothing out this way except for a place that sells mobile homes and an animal hospital. We pass both of those things and keep going.

  If she wasn’t strapped in, I’m sure Vera would be bouncing off the windows right now. “Are we there yet?” Classic kid question.

  Logan glances at her in his rearview mirror. “Almost.”

  It isn’t until we turn into the gravel parking lot that I realize what Logan has in store for our first date.

  “I love bowling!” I shout and begin bouncing just like Vera. “I haven’t been here in forever. Can we play air hockey? I rule at air hockey, just so you know.”

  Logan turns off the car. “We’ll see about that.” He leans over to open the glove compartment and tosses my comic journal in it.

  I flinch. Just a little.

  When we walk in, all those familiar noises hit me at once. The beeps and crashes of the arcade machines collide with the smash of someone taking out at least seven pins. The scents of beer, nachos, and bowling ball wax meld into this one smell that, if it were a perfume, would be called Eau de Gutterball.

  We rent a lane from a lady with big, almost white-blond hair and electric blue eye shadow, whose name tag says Barbie, then head over to the bowling balls. Vera is way more interested in trying to get her heart earrings from the claw machine so she darts over to it.

  “Stay where I can see you, Veer!” Logan yells after her.

  After picking out the perfect bowling balls (mine is pink and swirly, his is shiny and black), we set up at our lane. I take off my flip-flops and pause. No socks. Do they sell socks here? Is there a stocking vending machine somewhere?

  I’m still staring at my pearly-pink painted toenails when Logan says, “I brought socks, just left them in the car. Could you, um…” He trails off and looks over at Vera.

  I smile up at him. “I’ll go see if I can help her get those earrings.”

  He sighs out the word, “Thanks,” then says, “I’ll be right back.”

  When I walk up behind her, Vera growls at the metal claw as it opens to drop absolutely nothing down the slot.

  “Did you get ‘em yet?” I ask.

  “No.” She mashes a quarter into the machine and presses the forward arrow button. “I only have two quarters left after this…one…and…I almost have them!” The claw clamps down on the clear plastic egg that holds the earrings, but it’s not dead on so the egg slips out of its grasp. “Awww, man, this thing is cheating.” Her forehead drops to the glass as she watches the claw come back empty handed again.

  “I have a trick for this. It’s better if you have a buddy watching from the side. I’ll stand over here and tell you when to stop going forward, and then you move it left or right.”

  I have to drape myself over the jukebox next to the claw game in order to get a good view from the side. We almost get it on the next try, but the egg is just slightly out of line with the claw. It shoots over, putting itself in a prime spot for grabbing; wedged in a stuffed panda’s arms, big end up.

  “We can do this, Veer. It’s perfect. Just concentrate.” I plaster my face to the glass. Who cares about germs when giant sparkly heart earrings are at stake?

  She takes a deep breath and drops her last coin. The claw moves forward.

  “Just a little more,” I say.

  I catch my lip between my teeth as the claw lowers. It closes around the egg perfectly. We both gasp when the egg wobbles. It rolls to the side, through a gap in the metal prongs, and falls out of the claw. I think we’ve lost it and try to come up with something comforting to say to Vera, but then the egg bounces off the glass at an angle and careens down the winner shoot.

  I jump up and down and squeal as Vera dives for the earrings, shouting, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” the whole time.

  “Well, that was spectacular,” Logan says from behind us. “Give me a high five, Veer.” He holds his hand up high so she has to hop up to slap it. He holds his hand up to me, and I place my own against it. He laces his fingers with mine. “You’re cute, you know that?”

  Later, when I’m lying in bed going over the d
ay’s events, I’ll probably think of tons of different perfect responses to this, but right now, all I can think of is, “Thanks.”

  We go back to our lane. Vera takes a seat so she can spend some time with her new earrings, and Logan hands me a pair of socks. They’re a pair of his soccer socks so when I put them on, the heels are almost sitting on the back of my calves, and they come up to the middle of my knees.

  He chuckles. “Sorry. I guess I could have gotten some of Mom’s.”

  “Don’t worry, I like them. Could be another one of my new fashion trends. Two-toned bowling shoes and oversized socks are so this season, don’t you think?” I pick up my ball and strike a pose.

  He just continues laughing as he sets up the score board.

  After a few frames, it’s clear neither of us is a pro, but who cares what the score is when you get to watch a cute nerd-boy tiptoe up to the line only to almost fall every time he swings the ball? I even record the whole scene once with my phone without him knowing so I can watch it anytime I want.

  After about an hour of this, Vera says she’s thirsty, so Logan goes to the concession stand for some drinks.

  While he’s gone, I check out the other bowlers. A family a few lanes over look like they’re having fun, laughing, and making bets on who will get the next strike. A small group of college guys are playing pool in the enclosed arcade area. Another smiling family steps up to Barbie to rent a lane.

  That’s weird. The mother of the family looks just like Terra’s mom. And how odd is it that the daughter has curly hair just like Terra… Oh crap. I dive down in my seat.

  It can’t be. There is absolutely no possible way Terra and her family would walk into this bowling alley, on this day, at this particular time. Is there?

  I peek over my shoulder and end up staring at a cup of brown soda with a straw.

  “Here you go.” Logan hands Vera and me our drinks.

  I take a sip and try to find the Terra doppelganger again. The family is setting up five lanes over. The girl’s back is to me as she switches her shoes.

  “Maddie, you okay?” He sits next to me and nudges me with his elbow.

  “Yeah, I’m… You know what, I’m getting a little worn out. I thought maybe we could go over some LARP of Ages stuff. Maybe at The Phoenix?” I say, hopefully in a very I’m-not-trying-to-avoid-being-seen-with-you way.