by Anna Katmore
“No idea,” Lisa answered. “I already texted him, but he didn’t reply.”
At that moment, her cell beeped on the table. “On the way,” she read out loud then looked at us with a puzzled grimace.
“It’s not like him to be late for anything,” Simone pointed out. Lisa shrugged. And I tried not to listen.
Talking about Tony was the last thing I wanted to do right now. Could we not just give our order to Charlie and get our ice cream already? Fortunately, the middle-aged man came over a half minute later and wrote down our selection on a small pad of paper.
He was gone and half done with preparing our orders when the door opened and Tony came in. My heart thudded in my throat and my fingers clamped around the sugar packet I was playing with. He was wearing the black sweatshirt I had given him back today. I hadn’t reckoned he would, but it made my mouth water in a strange way.
With the sleeves shoved up to his elbows and the hood bunched on his shoulders, he looked incredibly hot. The dark color accentuated his California tan and clashed with his tousled, blond hair.
Since only a few patrons sat in the café with us, his gaze fell on our table first. A little of both hurt and anger appeared in his eyes as he saw me—maybe because of what he must have found in the pockets. I didn’t know how to react, other than to look away as fast as I could—which was about five full seconds after he’d locked gazes with me.
“Tony, lad, you’re late.” Charlie’s deep, rumbling voice drifted to us.
“Yeah, sorry,” Tony said. “I got caught up in…something.”
“Ah, no worries. The place isn’t busy today. Here’s the order for table nine. You can carry it over to your friends.”
Shit. Tony would come to our table in just a few seconds, and I wasn’t ready to face him. What if he said something to me? What if he stayed, chatting with us?
What if he just left and said nothing at all?
Oh boy, me and my big mouth. Why did I have to suggest ice cream anyway?
I sneaked a glance over to where Tony stood at the bar with his back to us. And once again, it was his hoodie that caught my attention. Maybe because I had worn it only a few days ago and knew how soft it felt—and how good it smelled, oh my God.
My gaze traveled up to his neck where his hair was cropped at the back. With only a little imagination, I could still see the water drops from yesterday sliding down the sides. Way hot. I licked my lips. Oh no, I had to stop thinking about it, and fast.
Forcing my mind to go in another direction, I concentrated on my friends again, listening to Simone, who was telling us about how freaking jealous Alex had been acting recently. None of us understood why, because Simone sure didn’t give him the slightest reason for it.
“Ladies,” Tony said in a cheerful voice a moment later, and I looked up. He placed Susan and Lisa’s chocolate sundaes in front of them, but his eyes hung on my face. And they didn’t match his smiling tone at all.
Was it a charade? In order to not get anyone suspicious? I hadn’t told the girls that we’d kissed again. Since none of them had tried to squeeze information out of me, I assumed Tony hadn’t talked to anyone either. Surely, he wouldn’t. All it would do is destroy his chances with Lisa if she ever broke up with Ryan…which I thoroughly doubted she’d ever do. But that was just me. Tony probably prayed every night for it to happen.
Must be the highlight of his day to find her here without her boyfriend for a change. Meant he could blatantly stare at her without getting killed for it afterward.
But his eyes still bored into mine.
“Hey, Tony.” I barely registered Lisa’s voice when she spoke. “Ryan can’t come over tonight. So it’ll only be the two of us.”
Simultaneously, Tony and I turned toward her. Come again, please? I didn’t know they had a date tonight—even if it was a threesome. And damn, I shouldn’t even care! But to hear that Tony was going to spend the evening alone with Lisa made my guts churn.
Argh, I didn’t want this feeling. Go away! I screamed inwardly, but the jealous sting remained.
“What’s Hunter doing?” Tony asked, confused, surprised, happy as hell—I couldn’t tell which.
“He’s helping Rachel and Phil move. They bought a house at San Luis.”
“Oh.”
“Oh? What’s that supposed to mean?” Lisa quirked her brows at him. “Don’t say you’re not planning on coming either.”
I looked at Tony, wondering why his “Oh” had sounded uncertain, indeed.
Tony didn’t turn to me, but he glanced at me from the corner of his eye before he answered, “I can’t. Sorry. I have tons of homework.”
“AVE again?” Lisa moaned.
“Yeah. Tough project to finish.”
“Can’t you do it tomorrow? I don’t want to watch Vikings alone.”
“Not a chance. It’s due tomorrow.”
“That sucks,” she whined. “Your aunt shouldn’t burden you with so much homework.”
It more than sucked—it was totally odd, because Caroline Jackson hadn’t given us homework. Not for the entire week.
“Maybe ask one of the girls,” Tony suggested and shrugged. “I’m sure Simone would love to come and watch those hunky guys with you…if Alex lets her.” He winked at Simone, who giggled at that.
Leaving us alone for a second, he walked back to the bar to get Simone’s strawberry milkshake and my vanilla sundae—with cherries on top.
Lisa turned a frustrated face at us. “Guys—how can they prefer homework to an evening with popcorn and hunky Vikings?”
“They can because they’re guys. Promise them an evening with Lara Croft and you’ll have them at your total disposal,” Susan pointed out, making us all laugh.
When Tony came back and placed the glasses in front of Simone and me, Lisa gave it one last shot. “Are you sure you don’t want to come?”
Tony hesitated for an odd moment, then he answered, “I am.” It was strange how he didn’t look at her when he said it, but at me.
And even stranger was the funny quirk in my stomach at that moment. So he’d passed on an invitation from the one he loved? On an evening alone with her? For the sake of fake homework? I didn’t get it.
Subtly, so only Tony would notice, I lifted my brows.
His answer was a slight tilt of his head and pressing his lips together. Then he turned around and walked back behind the counter to deliver more orders from other patrons.
“Sam…? Hey, Sam!”
“Hmm?” I snapped my head around to find the girls eying me.
“What are you gaping at?” Simone asked me then chuckled. “No, don’t tell me. I already know.”
Unpleasant warmth flooded my face. I tried to cool myself off with a spoonful of ice cream.
“It’s a shame he doesn’t want to come to my place,” Lisa whispered to me, leaning closer. “I planned to invite you, too, and play matchmaker.” She let a conspiratorial smirk slip around the spoon in her mouth. “I guess that will have to wait until Saturday then.”
I stopped the next heap of ice cream in front of my mouth. “Saturday?”
“Yeah. At the party. Tony will be there…and you will be, too. It’s the perfect night to get a little romantic with him. You had such a great time at the sleepover, and then he kissed you, didn’t he?”
“I— Yes, he did.” I grimaced, licking the ice cream off my spoon. “But I don’t know… It’s not like that between us.”
“Ah, don’t play the shy bunny. You like him,” Simone seconded. “It’s so obvious it hurts. And the jerk likes you, too.”
“Maybe.” I sighed. “But not the way you think.” Or the way I wished he would.
Susan leaned forward, closing our totally obvious we’re-talking-boys circle, and said in what was an unusually serious tone for her, “I know why you’re reluctant, Sam.”
We all looked at her.
“You think he’s still in love with Lisa, because we told you all that crap about last summer.
But you know what? I think he changed his mind. You changed it.”
“Yeah, she’s right.” Lisa pointed her long-stemmed spoon at Susan but looked at me. “Just think about how he dismissed me just now. Art homework?” She huffed and rolled her eyes. “I beg you. As if that’s ever kept him from coming to my place. I swear if I’d asked him last week, he’d have been on my doormat ten minutes early.” Then she touched my forearm and grinned. “By the way, what did you two do in his room yesterday? I could tell you were not working on another drawing project.”
“Damn, what is it about you girls?” I leaned back in my chair, folding my arms over my chest, and narrowed my eyes at all of them. “I swear not even the CIA would suck information like you guys do.”
They grinned back, and Susan pointed out, like it was the most obvious thing in the world, “That’s what you call friends, Samantha. We know you better than you know yourself.” She put her index finger in her mouth and flicked it like the singers did in the song “Lollipop”. “Get used to it.”
Get used to a bunch of crazy girls who could make me laugh when only ten minutes ago I’d thought I wanted to bawl?
You so had to love them.
“The really important question right now is do you want our help with this or not?” Simone demanded, sucking her strawberry milkshake through the straw.
“Can I think about it for a while?” I whined, punching my spoon into my sundae. I didn’t really want anybody to interfere, but neither did I want to hurt their feelings.
“Sure. You have two minutes.”
“What?” My eyes grew wide at Simone.
She smiled sweetly. “One minute and fifty seconds…”
“If I say no, will you help me anyway?” There was a certain resignation in my voice.
“Absolutely,” all three said at once.
Simone added, “I’ll take that as a yes. So let me just make a call to my guy.”
“Call Alex? Why?”
“He’s at Frederickson’s place right now, and I think the man might come in handy today.” She shoved her milkshake away from her, got her iPhone out, and swiped her thumb across the screen twice. Then she pressed the phone to her ear. “Baby, this is an emergency call. Can you and Frederickson come to Charlie’s, like, right now?” She looked to the ceiling as she listened to his answer. “No, nothing of that sort. Just get your sweet butt over here.” A grin flashed across her face. “Sam wants to see Nick. I’ll text you with the details.”
It felt like my face had fallen off. I wanted to see Nick? Was she nuts? What would Nick think? And worse, I had no idea why I supposedly wanted to see him at all.
“Get a grip, Sam,” Simone said in a low voice as she rang off and then wildly punched in a message. “Today we’ll teach you how to get a guy’s undivided attention.”
I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to learn from her, but when the others seemed enthusiastic about it, I caved in. “Fine. So what’s your brilliant plan?”
“Simple. You’ll have a little fun today.” She grabbed her glass and sucked at the straw again, batting her lashes at me almost innocently. “With another guy.”
“Pardon?”
“You’re going to flirt with Frederickson. He won’t mind. I know he likes you. And you’ll see how that will make Tony all fussed up and wondering. He’ll be like your puppy at the end of the day.”
Oh no, I wanted to whine. Get me out of this. But at that moment, Tony went by to wait on a few guys two tables from ours. I sank lower in my chair, trying not to follow him with my gaze as my heart tapped a frantic rhythm in my chest.
The girls immediately knew what was up, and they all gave me their best See? look.
Not long after Simone’s call, Alex and Nick entered the café, laughing hard as they scanned the place for us. They saw Tony first and went over to say hi. We couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but Simone grunted under her breath, “They’d better not dare tell him about our plan.”
Next, Tony laughed out loud, too. It was an amazingly beautiful sound. One that made me want him to return my look. But he didn’t. He wiped the counter, then went through a swing door to a connected room, and the other two came over to us.
“Hey, girls, what’s up?” Alex said as he lifted one leg over the backrest of Simone’s chair and took a seat right behind her, moving her forward to the edge but wrapping one arm securely around her middle.
Nick pulled a chair from a nearby table and turned it around so he could straddle it backward next to me. “Hey, Finn Girl. What’s so urgent that you had to see me straight away?”
Yeah, what was that again, Simone?
I shrugged. “Umm…nothing important, really. So…you guys been playing video games?”
Simone banged her head on the table. “Ugh, Sam. It doesn’t work like that.”
“What?” I snapped at her, lifting my shoulders. “I just don’t think this is a good idea.”
“What’s not a good idea?” Nick wanted to know—of course.
Simone lifted her head, shoving her hair out of her face, and fixed Nick with a determined expression. “All right, since Sam doesn’t want to do it, could you please flirt a little with her?”
Nick stared back at her for a couple of seconds, then he tilted his head at me like he was deliberating the idea. But in the end he looked back at Simone, totally clueless. “What?”
Simone moaned. “We want to show Tony that he should take Sam a little more seriously or she’ll be off with someone else. And we need your help.”
“Nuh-uh, baby,” Alex said behind her. “You can’t expect us to betray our pal.”
“I can and I do.” She shifted between his legs so she could look at him over her shoulder. “Last night, you said yourself that Mitchell needs a kick in the butt to work up the guts to ask Sam out. Or didn’t you?”
“Well, yeah. But I didn’t mean we should trick him. I mean, he’s our friend after all.”
“Yes.” Nick sent me a quirky look. “No offense, Sam, but I don’t think he’d like it if I fooled around with you.”
“But that’s the whole point,” Lisa explained. “If he doesn’t like it, he’ll realize that he likes her more than just as a friend. Get it?”
The boys looked at each other for a moment. Eventually, Nick shrugged. Alex reasoned, “Weird girl logic.”
“Folks! Do I get a say in this, too?” I grumbled, because I didn’t want anyone to help me make Tony jealous. I didn’t want Tony jealous at all. Heck, I was done with him. Couldn’t they understand that?
“No!” all three girls replied at once.
Fantastic. I was so screwed.
Nick scooted a little closer to me. “So basically you want me to do what? Sit with you like Simpkins and Winter?”
I scrunched up my face. “In fact, I’d feel very uncomfortable if you did that.”
He leaned into my ear and said in a very low and almost whiny voice, “I think I would, too.” Sounding far too sweet for his six-foot-something, it made me giggle.
At that moment, I caught a glimpse of Tony looking over at us. He’d come back from the other room and was wiping the menu boards now. A muscle in his jaw ticked.
Oh my God. Did this mean Simone’s stupid plan was already working?
Tony stopped wiping. Our gazes locked across the distance. His brows suddenly pulled to a deep V, but the glare wasn’t meant for me. He was looking to my right—where Nick was sitting, just as he was putting his arm around my shoulders.
“Hey, Tony!” Nick shouted. “Can you bring the girl a lollipop? I hear she’s having withdrawals already.”
Next, I felt Nick’s breath against my cheek as he whispered, “If Mitchell kills me for this later, it’s all your fault.”
“Not mine. Simone’s,” I hissed back.
Tony pulled a lollipop out of the candy jar on the counter and came over to us. He didn’t say a word but tossed a lollipop on the table. It bounced with a hard clicking sound, and I caught it in my lap
. It was cherry flavored. Chancing a shy look at Tony’s face, I croaked a hoarse, “Thank you.”
He didn’t reply. As he turned on the spot, ready to head off again, Alex asked him something about their trigonometry class, but I couldn’t listen in, because Nick bumped against my shoulder then.
“Hey, Finn Girl, are you cheering at our soccer game on Saturday?”
I dragged my gaze away from Tony, looking helplessly at the other girls. We’d talked about it once this week, but apart from Allie and another girl called Teresa, none of us felt ready for it. And then I’d missed the practice yesterday.
“Are you girls going?” I asked them.
Simone shrugged. Lisa shook her head, looking as uncertain as I felt. “I don’t think so,” she said. “I can hardly keep the steps in my mind.”
“I say we skip this one and cheer at the next game,” Simone suggested. “But we can go watch the game together.”
“Just what I thought,” I agreed.
“Ah, shame.” Nick leaned back and pouted in a very unmanly way. “I really wanted to see you dance. I heard it looks”—his pout turned into a smirk—“hawt.”
I laughed. “Who said that?”
His lips sealed for once, Nick glanced at Tony, who still stood next to Alex. I followed his gaze. An awkward silence stretched between the guys. Slowly, Tony’s lips curled in the parody of a smile. “Thank you, Nick.”
“You’re welcome,” Nick replied, looking all smug and happy.
CHAPTER 6
THURSDAY AND FRIDAY were quiet. Thank God. I needed the time to calm my nerves after what had happened with Tony. Ignoring him—or rather not looking at him at school when my mind seemed permanently fixed on him still—became easier and easier. Susan said he was staring at me a lot during lunch. As long as he didn’t talk to me, I didn’t care. Well, that’s what I told myself anyway.
There would come a day when I would probably speak to him again. Maybe even hang out with him and have fun, like I had with the others. But for now that day was shoved far into the future, when I knew I could do all this and wouldn’t have to fight the impulse to throw myself at him.