We went down the hall toward the senior wing. I saw my brother, Kenadi, Kevin, and Rex down there too.
C.C. pulled out a key to the door and opened it. “Okay, in ya go.” He gave me a shove and the door locked behind me.
“What the hell! Hey, let me out.” My fists pounded on the steel barrier. “Hey. Someone. Let me out.” I backed up and bumped into someone else.
“Don’t bother. I’ve tried screaming and pounding on the door,” a male voice said.
“Trey?”
“Yeah.”
“We’ll be back in an hour,” C.C. said from the other side.
“When I get out of here I’m gonna kick your ass.” Sometimes, I hated that his uncle was the janitor.
“So how did they lure you in?” Trey said.
“Con tickets?”
He chuckled. “Nerd.”
“Really?” I snorted. “And what did they tell you?”
“Con tickets.”
“Bigger nerd.” I attempted to move and stepped on his foot. “Sorry.”
A moment later, a blue light lit up the closet. Trey had turned on the flashlight on his phone. “We never got a chance to finish our conversation the other day,” he said.
With a sigh, I glanced up at him. Time to be the bigger person. “It’s okay. I mean, I’ve got a few things to say too. First of all, I’m sorry about Portia and almost breaking you up.”
“Actually … ”
“No, don’t interrupt. I need to get this off my chest.” I held up my hand to shush him. “The thing is, I do like you. A lot. And I should’ve seen it sooner. But I know you have a girlfriend, and well, I-I’m okay with that. Like you said, I miss being friends and hanging out. So I hope we can put this behind us, and that you’ll come around again,” I said. “Just, please don’t be mad at me forever. I mean, we can just pick back up where we left off and forget any of it ever happened.”
“But I don’t want to forget.”
My eyes welled up. “So we won’t be friends anymore?” Okay, I guess I deserved that.
“No, what I’m saying is I want to be more than friends.” His hands rested on my bare shoulders. Heat raced through me like sparks igniting. “Where else could I find a girl who loves Dwarves of Iconia as much as me? And where in the world could I ever find another girl who would sabotage my dates so I’d spend time with her learning how to properly date?”
“Wait, I thought you and Portia … ”
“No, after she overheard us in the alcove we talked and realized we didn’t have anything in common. We tried for a few weeks to see if maybe something would spark between us, but it didn’t. In fact, she and Rex are kind of together now.”
My mouth dropped open. “So you’re not mad at me?”
“No. I mean, I was really pissed—because I was there, right in front of you all along and you never noticed. Do you know how sucky it is to be invisible to the one person you want most to see you?” He touched my face. “I just needed time to get things sorted. I’m sorry, I avoided you. That I treated you bad. You didn’t deserve it. You don’t know how many times I stood on your porch ready to apologize. Then I’d remember how crappy I treated you and thought there was no way you’d ever forgive me. It was Portia and Drake who finally nudged me and told me to get my head out of my ass before I lose you. Which, by the way I have to say, I think you should tell Carver Foster that you can’t hang out with him this summer.”
“Wait a second, you were eavesdropping.”
“Yeah.” He grinned, his breath warm on my face. “I love you, Del, and have since you shoved me out of the tree house in second grade—pretending you were a pirate queen.”
“Oh God, I forgot about that.” I buried my face in my palms.
He moved my fingers so he could see me. “I didn’t. It’s always been you, Delyla Denson.”
“Well, not always there was Portia.”
“I never really liked her.” He gave me a sheepish grin. “I-I was trying to make you jealous.”
“You were trying to make me jealous?”
“I’d tried everything else to get you to notice me, when that didn’t work, I knew I had to go big or go home. So when your brother told us about how you’d helped him with Chloe, I came up with the idea for you to help the rest of us. You were always the one I had in mind to impress, but when I filled out my list, I knew I couldn’t put your name down. So I randomly chose Portia.”
“So the whole Nerd Herd was in on it?”
“We prefer Romeo Club.” He teased. “But no, not at first. They didn’t get involved until after our fight. Drake realized how miserable we both were and put two and two together. He came by my house and asked what was going on. At first, I didn’t want to talk to him, but you know your brother, he has a way of making me spill things. Once he knew the whole story, he talked to C.C. and Kevin about fixing things. Between me, Drake, Portia, Kenadi, and the guys we devised a plan to get you here. You don’t know how worried I was that you wouldn’t show. Not after how many times everyone tried convincing you to go to prom and you said no. But I knew that you had to be here. With me. Or this night wouldn’t be complete. Like I said, it’s always been you, Del.”
He cupped my face in his hands then tilted his head. His mouth captured mine. My pulse sang in my ears, drowning out everything but him. My fingers laced in his hair, pulling him closer. His tongue grazed my teeth and I tasted a hint of cinnamon. His hands slid down my waist, pulling me closer until our bodies melded together. This was the moment, I’d waited my entire life for.
It was perfect.
The door whipped open to reveal the Romeo Club with their dates, plus Kenadi, Mikah, Rex, and Portia.
“We can come back later,” C.C. said, grinning. He started to close the door.
Trey’s arm shot out to keep it open. “Don’t you dare. I have to dance with my girlfriend. I mean, this is prom after all.”
My brow shot up. “Girlfriend? I don’t remember agreeing to that.”
He chuckled. “How about a friendly game of Dwarves of Iconia. If I win, you’re my girl.”
“Well, I guess you’ll be single a long time.”
He tugged me into his arms and kissed me again.
I’d finally found my Romeo. And he was a giant nerd. But I was okay with that. Because in truth, I was one too.
“I thought you two were going to dance?” C.C. said.
“Uh-huh. Just one more minute.” I shoved him away, without taking my eyes off of Trey.
“Make that two.” Trey shut the door.
“You realize you probably just locked us in again, right?” I rested my head against his chest.
“I don’t see what the problem is.” His kissed my nose. “I couldn’t think of anyone else I’d rather be locked in the closet with.
“Me either.” My fingers traced his cheek. “And Trey?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
“I love you too, Del.”
For once, I realized that happy endings could happen, if not in the way we first imagined. And it was all because of a little thing called The Romeo Club.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I want to thank my daughter Erin, who bugged me until I wrote this story. Between her and my sister Rachel, they made sure I didn’t let this idea slip through the cracks. Then there’s my lovely agent, Jennifer Mishler, who is the champion of my stories. Thank you for letting me chat your ear off and have online Lightsaber battles via Twitter. You’re truly TeamLC’s Yoda! I also don’t know where I’d be without my Romeo, Tim who is ever supportive of my dream to write. I love you. To my kids, Devin, Alyssa, Kris, Barrett, Erin, and Chase who give me lots of great material to write about. To my FAB critique group YAFF (Ya Fiction Fanatics), who are the ones who truly make my stories better. They see the roughest versions of what I write and turn them into something magical. I love you ladies! And I can’t forget to thank my brother Phil, who inspired my ultimate nerd
, C.C. Love you bro! Also a heartfelt shout out to Georgia McBride, who read this story over a weekend and loved it enough to offer me a contract for it. Thank you so much for introducing my cast of crazy characters to the world! Finally to Mom and Dad who bought me my first books, which fueled my love for the written word. See, staying up late and reading a book under my covers with a flashlight WAS a good idea.
Rebekah L. Purdy
Rebekah was born and raised in Michigan where she spent many late nights armed with a good book and a flashlight. She’s lived in Michigan most of her life other than the few years she spent in the U.S. Army. At which time she got a chance to experience Missouri, Kansas, South Carolina, and California. Rebekah has a business degree from University of Phoenix and currently works full time for the court system. In her free time she writes YA stories, anything from YA Fantasy to YA Contemporary Romance. Rebekah also has a big family (6 kids)—she likes to consider her family as the modern day Brady Bunch complete with crazy road trips and game nights. When not hiding at her computer, Rebekah enjoys reading, singing, soccer, swimming, football, camping, playing video games, traveling, and hanging out with her family and gazillion pets.
Visit Rebekah online:
Website: http://rebekahlpurdy.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @RebekahLPurdy
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4615084.Rebekah_L_Purdy
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