Microsoft Word - Starter Boyfriend.doc

by Lana Jovanovic

  He thought about mentioning that, but he didn’t want to overwhelm her or come off as insincere. Besides, she was still watching him with uncertainty and a little fear. It was going to take some effort to reverse what Preston’s words had done, but Colton was ready to tackle the challenge.

  “So… five o’clock Wednesday, Yankees Stadium, and then we’ll grab some dinner—all casual.”

  Zoe pressed her lips together and looked down at her hands. It felt like forever before she nodded her head and laughed and shook her head in disbelief.

  “Yeah, okay,” she nodded. “It might be fun.”

  “Foam fingers are definitely fun,” he reached out and gently squeezed her shoulder. “I’m glad you said yes. Minnie says nothing but good things—I’d kill to have a friend like you any day.”

  Zoe smiled one of her big gentle smiles and nodded. Colton turned toward Minnie and gestured for her to get up. She did, but she couldn’t hide her own smile of excitement and happiness.

  “We’ll leave you to your dinner,” Colton told Zoe. “I’m sure you’re tired of people barging in on your life, huh?”

  “Oh, it’s no trouble,” Zoe said as she hurried toward the coffee table. “Do you want to take this pizza with you? I’m finished with it.”

  He noticed that only one slice of the pie was gone. He shook his head, “Doesn’t look like you’ve had much of it yet.”

  “Oh,” Zoe stared down at the pizza uncertainly for a moment. “I’m through—here, I noticed you looking at it earlier. You must be hungry.” Colton felt blood rush to his cheeks, he laughed lightly and nodded. “I hope you missed the drool on the side of my mouth.”

  Zoe laughed as she closed the box and handed it to him. As he took it, he saw how dirty his hands were. In fact, his whole body was caked with dirt and sweat from working outdoors all day—he was hardly presentable. With a twinge of embarrassment, he laughed lightly and looked at Zoe. On her right shoulder he had left a large dirt handprint—more blood rushed to his face.

  “I’m a mess,” he said quickly. “Sorry, I didn’t realize how dirty I was—I got your sweatshirt dirty.”

  She looked down at her shoulder where the hand print was. When she reached up to brush away the dirt, Colton noticed how tiny her hand was in comparison to the mark he had made on her. A deep part of him tightened and his blood began to pump. The feeling was both scary and welcome—he hadn’t been attracted to another woman in a long, long time. Slightly spooked by this long-lost feeling Colton turned toward Minnie and gestured to the door.

  Minnie looked at Zoe with desperation, “Can I stay?”

  Zoe smiled and nodded.

  “Excellent!” Minnie reached out for the pizza box, but Colton pulled it to his chest possessively. Both women laughed, which made him feel foolish. He relinquished his dinner and watched as Minnie took three pieces from the box and set them on an empty plate on the sofa. She handed him the box back and rolled her eyes before smiling and hugging him around the middle. “Hey—I’ll meet you at your shop tomorrow to help clean up, okay? Nine?”

  “Make it ten,” Colton said. He really wanted to sleep in. Pressing a light kiss to her forehead, he looked back at Zoe who smiled back before looking away shyly. “See you Wednesday evening, Zoe.”

  She nodded and saw him to the door. Colton couldn’t get out of there fast enough. It wasn’t that it pained him to stand there and talk with Zoe; it was just that every time she smiled his heart did this funny leap thing. Since this was supposed to be a purely platonic relationship, he didn’t want to let his hormones or uncertain emotions get the best of him.

  Climbing into his van, he tossed the pizza onto the passenger’s seat, flipped open the lid and pulled out a warm slice. He devoured the entire thing in under a minute and then started up the engine. He was about to put it in gear when Minnie knocked on his window.

  “Thank you, Colton,” she said after he the window down. “I’m really sorry about what I did in your shop—it was completely uncalled for. I just… I was just feeling all these things. I was upset and angry and scared. You know I’m not good about dealing with emotions.”

  “I know, kid,” he said gently. “Don’t worry about it okay—it’s nothing that can’t be fixed.”

  “If you see Preston, you need to tell him to stay clear of me,” her eyes turned hard. “I don’t know what I’ll do to him—but it will be worse than the shop. Zoe didn’t deserve any of that.”

  “I know she didn’t,” Colton nodded. He rubbed the tightness in his chest and sighed.

  “And if you did happen to say anything similar to what Preston told Zoe—well…

  hopefully you don’t think so badly of her now.”

  “I never thought badly of her in the first place,” Colton responded. “I didn’t know what this whole Starter Boyfriend thing was really about—it’s awkward and unreal. And I felt a little bit hoodwinked by you and Paige. That’s all I told him, and Preston, as usual, came to the wrong conclusion and didn’t listen to a word I said. Trust me, little sister, if he comes around I’m going to steer him directly toward you.” Minnie smiled and nodded. “See you tomorrow?”

  “Yeah, tomorrow—thank Zoe for the pizza.”

  Minnie waved goodbye and hurried back inside the building. Colton pulled his seat belt across his chest and turned the wheel to ease the van into traffic. As he drove home he thought about all of the things that could possibly go wrong with this plan. He could inadvertently hurt Zoe in some unforeseen way. Maybe he wouldn’t teach her enough about relationships and she’d go off and marry some asshole. He didn’t want to screw up, but he really felt that he was going to do just that. He didn’t have an amazing relationship track record that was for sure. Well, he knew how to respect a woman, which is far more than he could say for his little brother, so maybe that would be enough to get her on the right track.

  Zoe seemed like a nice girl that deserved a little fun. He’d take her to a few baseball games and a few other non-romantic dates and get her out of her shell, and then maybe he’d introduce her to one of his single friends.

  Only, he didn’t have single friends.

  He’d get Minnie to find her a real potential match once this two month period was over.

  Until then, he’d keep things sweet and simple and would control that weird patter of his heart that happened whenever she smiled.

  --

  Lesson Five: Rules for the first date: Be yourself. Don’t cry over spilt milk. Don’t

  worry about how many calories you consume. Kisses aren’t mandatory—just go with

  the flow.

  Zoe leaned against one of the three flag poles in front of Yankee Stadium and nervously fidgeted with the strap of her purse. She was early by about twenty minutes, which was good, she needed time to think over every tip Minnie had given her. The main point, Minnie said, was for Zoe to be herself. That was hard to do when you were still figuring out who you wanted to be, but she decided to take on the challenge with gusto. She’d be herself—her new self. She’s be approachable, friendly, funny, exciting, all of the things that she’d always found lacking in her own personality. She’d be the perfect date, which, according to Minnie, meant that Colton was supposed to pay for everything—the baseball tickets, snacks, drinks, dinner, everything.

  Zoe wasn’t particularly thrilled about that. She had been taking care of herself for so long, the idea of Colton paying for everything made her squirm—what would he expect in return? Because she was not putting out—no matter how often she thought about throwing caution and responsibility into the wind and acting on impulsive feelings. Still, the idea that he’d force out money for everything made her feel a bit freeloader-ish. But at the same time she didn’t want to come off overly feminist bra burner. It might be nice to have someone else take care of her for an afternoon. So, she’d let him pay although she wasn’t at all comfortable with it.

  Minnie had spouted off several more rules, which left Zoe’s head buzzing. Dating was a
ll very confusing, and she still wasn’t sure if she was dressed right. Minnie and Paige had come over to help her prepare for the monumental occasion. Zoe spent nearly two hours standing around in her underwear trying to figure out what to wear. She had plenty of work clothes, but they were “too dressy” according to Paige. She had t-shirts and jeans also, which were far too casual and “not sexy” according to Minnie. There seemed to be no happy medium, not to mention the fact that everything was baggy on her and made her look sloppy. Zoe had yet to let go of some of her old comfy things, but why should she?

  They fit perfectly.

  She glanced down at her outfit again and began to fret—it was definitely all wrong.

  Maybe she wasn’t sexy enough. But then, this “date” wasn’t supposed to be about physical attraction—not completely. She was definitely attracted to Colton; her whole body had come alive at the very sight of him in her doorway a few nights ago. But that was just a one sided thing—she highly doubted that the attraction was mutual.

  She had ended up with a mix of different looks. She put on the smallest pair of jeans she owned, which were still pretty saggy in the butt and thigh area, a light blue African Aid tshirt that she had bought during a fundraiser Minnie dragged her to, a heavy dark-gray camisole, and black Sketchers. She had wanted to wear her hair up, but both Minnie and Paige said it looked better down. She didn’t usually wear a lot of make up and decided to keep things light for her date, but agreed to let Minnie do her eyes. She had to admit that she really liked the smoky outcome—it made her brown eyes pop.

  Zoe was glad that she had had a few days between Saturday and Wednesday to really put Preston Philip’s words behind her. What he had said really hurt, especially when she thought he was Colton. Now that she knew that Colton didn’t feel the same way as his brother, she felt oddly at peace. She was grateful that Minnie brought Colton over to explain, she probably never would have believed it if she hadn’t seen him with her own eyes.

  Zoe was thinking about all of this when a soft material brushed her temple. She turned to bat whatever it was away, and smiled as she found Colton standing beside her pointing a large black foam finger at her like a gun. A serious, yet playful scowl was spread across his handsome face.

  “Stick ‘em up, Beautiful!” he ordered. The soft curve tilting up one side of his mouth completely ruined his serious tone. Zoe laughed and did as he asked feigning terror.

  Colton smiled and handed her the foam finger. He then held his arms out wide. She wasn’t sure if he wanted a hug and felt her stomach drop at the idea of wrapping her arms around him. He had such a nice body. He was obviously muscular, but in a thick and soft way; someone who you could grab onto and really lose yourself. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily too, Colton turned around as if he was modeling his outfit for her.

  “See, I can clean up,” he said with a big smile, “my mom claims that I’m never truly clean since I play in mud and grass all day, but I think I did a good job.” He was wearing jeans, gray and blue Nike tennis shoes, and a black Yankees pullover.

  His sun-tanned skin was clean as was his soft brown hair swept over his forehead in a semi-shaggy sort of way that was incredibly sexy. He did look very nice, Zoe decided.

  This look was so unlike the man who had stood in her apartment doorway three nights ago with dirt and mud caked onto his boots, pants, shirt, and hands. Cleaned up, Colton was even more attractive than he had been covered in earth. Although there was something even sexier about a man who worked with his hands and came home dirty.

  The dirt looked good on him.

  For a moment, Zoe felt a pinch of uncertainty and shyness—she almost wanted to shrink away from him, but that would be the old Zoe. Shy and awkward Zoe. New Zoe wanted to be more outgoing and playful so she stepped closer to him and nodded her approval.

  “You look nice.” She said with a thumb up, which she instantly regretted because it seemed foolish and corny.

  Flirt with him… don’t be scared, Zoe recalled Paige suggesting.

  With blood rushing quickly to her neck and cheeks, Zoe added, “Not that I minded the dirt by the way.”

  Colton grinned; his own cheeks turning slightly pink. His eyes fell over her quickly and immediately returned to her face. “You look great also. Minnie took me to that fundraiser too. I’m surprised I didn’t see you there. Have you been here long?”

  “I got here earlier than I intended,” she admitted as she slipped on the foam finger to try it out. It would make her hand sweaty in a matter of minutes, but she liked it nonetheless.

  “I’m really looking forward to this—thanks. And thanks for giving me the finger too.” She poked him in the chest with it.

  Colton’s laugh was deep and rumbling and the smile on his face made him even more attractive. He nodded his head to her and continued to smile. “Should we go find our seats?” As he asked, Colton held out his hand to her. She knew that he didn’t want her to examine his hand, so she slowly slipped her palm to his. The warmth of his fingers as they wrapped around hers spread goose bumps over Zoe’s arms and chest. As they neared the stadium entrance a considerable amount of foot traffic developed around them.

  Colton’s fingers tightened their grip and he slowly pulled her forward so she was standing in front of him.

  “Busy…” he muttered near her ear as Zoe was bumped back into him as a man and woman rudely pushed their way through the lines to get to kid selling team programs.

  Zoe nodded and nibbled on her lower lip as Colton’s fingers slid up her arm to steady her after she was jostled yet again. She could not walk and concentrate on the feel of his hand on her—she tripped twice.

  By the time they reached the ticket taker and Zoe’s purse was checked, Colton had his arm loosely around her waist. It didn’t feel awkward at all, Zoe was surprised to realize.

  It seemed like a natural, protective thing, and something that he did to keep her from falling over, because once they were through the turnstile his arm slipped from her waist and his hand took hers again.

  “Hungry?”

  “Um… are you?” Zoe countered.

  She wasn’t hungry at the moment, but the smell of the concession stands was certainly enticing, not that there was anything that she could eat and not feel guilty about. A big ball park hotdog sounded absolutely delicious. Colton shrugged his shoulder and glanced down at the tickets he was holding. With ease, he led her through the concourse filled with rambunctious Yankees fans and talked a little about the odds of the game and who was projected to win. He asked her questions from time to time, and as silence fell between them, Zoe began to grow uncomfortable. She had no idea what to talk to this man about and was starting to kick herself for not jotting down notes to refer back to like Paige had suggested.

  “So, food?” Colton asked again.

  “I could wait, but I’m a little thirsty, why not grab a few beers?” His fingers hooked hers as he pivoted left suddenly to step into a concessions line. As they stood there, five people back from the counter, Zoe stared at her new foam finger unsure of what to say.

  Colton stood pretty stiffly at her side as well. Gone was the relaxed way in which he had greeted her outside, gone was the carefree attitude he seemed to have. Now he was just nervous.

  The line moved forward quickly and soon they were standing before a sticky counter, staring at a college-aged kid with an unfortunate case of acne.

  “Let me get two Miller Lights, a bag of peanuts, and a bag of Skittles—make that two bags.”

  Zoe wanted to tell him that she didn’t need Skittles, but instead she reached into her pocket for the cash she was carrying. After a quick calculation, she offered him a ten dollar bill.

  Colton stared at it for a long time and then paid the kid with a twenty. As he stuffed his change into his pocket he leaned in close. “Always let the guy pay the first few dates. I’d say offer to chip in on the third, he’ll love you for it, but if he’s a good guy he’ll refuse to let you pay. I… refuse to let
you pay.”

  “B-but,” Zoe stammered.

  “But nothing, I asked you out—the person who does the asking usually pays. I’m too old fashioned.” Zoe took the bag of Skittles he extended to her and stuffed her money back into her pocket. She didn’t want to be a freeloader and still was uncomfortable with the idea that he wouldn’t let her chip in, but she let it roll off her shoulder as they headed down to their seats situated between first and home plate.

  “Great view,” She commented as he brushed dirt off her seat. He stood while she sat down and then settled beside her. “Do you come to a lot of games?”

  “Um… no, I’m usually working,” he answered as he set his drink on the ground near their feet. “I’m pretty swamped most days, so this is really nice—getting out of the dirt for a few hours. I love baseball though, most of the time I’m only able to get highlights from Sports Center—not like the real thing though, is it?”

  “No,” Zoe nodded.

  She shifted in her seat and in the process she kicked over his drink. It didn’t just lightly topple over either; she kicked it hard enough that it flew a foot into the air and splashed his pant legs and the back of a woman in the next row down. The woman jumped up with gasp of shock that quickly turned to rage. She spun around and just as Zoe was about to apologize, Colton rose to his feet and stepped over.

  “I am so sorry!” he exclaimed. “I… just… I’m sorry… what can I do? Tell me there’s something I can do.” The woman was probably in her forties, Zoe guessed, she was pleasant looking, although maybe a little too heavily made up for a baseball game. She was wearing a Yankees t-shirt that was entirely too tight as well as skin-tight jeans. She pushed her blond hair off her face and gazed up at him. Zoe felt a sting of possessiveness as the woman slowly took in Colton from head to toe. Slowly the rage melted off her face and was replaced by a predatory glint of obvious attraction.