Dating: For the Assist

by Stephanie Street

  Or, maybe I was just excited.

  The connection didn’t last, her eyes pulled away from mine to meet Abby’s. But her hand continued to blaze a trail over my body beneath my suit jacket. Nothing R-Rated, but that didn’t keep my thoughts from going there. Dannika had me on fire with just the touch of her hand.

  But then she opened her mouth and I froze.

  With a sultry, possessive expression, Dannika faced Abby. “Oh, you know. For Luke.” She shot me a glance. “We might have never kissed if you hadn’t broken up with him for that idiot, Aiden.”

  Abby’s mouth dropped open. She recovered quickly, however. “Are you guys together?” She gave me an accusing glare.

  I couldn’t do anything but appear guilty. Abby and I had been flirting over text for the last week. While I hadn’t had an active plan to get Abby back, I didn’t want to completely fall out of relevance. I convinced myself it was okay because we were vague and it was only a text or two a day. But it was clear from those texts neither of us had all the way given up on our relationship.

  Beside me, Dannika scoffed. Her hand slid up my chest again then curved around my neck. “What do you think?” she asked.

  And then she kissed me.

  Somewhere far away, in the deep recesses of my consciousness, I heard a gasp. I half wondered if it had escaped my own lips, but there wasn’t a millimeter of space available between them and Dannika’s lips for any amount of air to escape. It must have been Abby.

  I was too focused on the girl I’d taken in my arms to care.

  It was just like before, in the closet. I lost all sense. It didn’t matter that we were in a restaurant filled with people or that my ex-girlfriend, the one I supposedly wanted to get back with, was standing right beside us. I didn’t care.

  Dannika’s mouth moved over mine. Fleetingly, I wondered that she didn’t taste like lobster. But she didn’t. She was incredible. And I wanted more. She might have initiated the kiss, but it didn’t take long for me to take charge.

  With a rumble low in my throat, I attacked her lips. A week had been too long. Why hadn’t we been kissing all this time? What a waste!

  She melted against me. My arms kept her from falling. I didn’t mind. I just kept kissing her.

  A small hand tugging on my elbow accompanied by a quiet screech threatened to pull me away. I hunched my shoulder over the girl in my arms, hoping whoever was trying to distract me would get a clue.

  “Luke!”

  I sighed into Dannika’s mouth. It was no use. Reluctantly, I pulled back. Even more reluctantly, I pulled my gaze from her to look at Abby.

  Her face was a mask of shock and outrage. Suddenly, I had no idea what I ever saw in this girl. Not only had she dumped me for Aiden, the stupid baseball player, but she had the nerve to try and string me along. Texting everyday. Telling me how much she missed me. And like the dummy I was, I ate it up.

  Abby pulled on my arm again. “What are you doing?”

  What was I doing? I really was dumb. Turning back to Dannika, I swore to myself I’d never look Abby’s direction again.

  “Kissing my date,” I said, searching Dannika’s eyes for some clue she felt as jolted as I did by our second kiss. “You probably better go find your own date.”

  “I can’t,” Abby replied, her voice small and vulnerable. Despite myself, I was curious, but I didn’t take my eyes away from Dannika.

  “Why not? Where’s Aiden?” I remembered asking that before but she never answered.

  “There is no Aiden. He dumped me last night for Simone Merkle.”

  I couldn’t stop myself, I turned to her, Dannika still firmly in my arms. “What?”

  Abby’s face crumpled. “Aiden broke up with me. The night before prom. How could he do that to me?”

  Barely holding back a huge in-your-face laugh, I cleared my throat. “Are you kidding?”

  Of course, Danni was thinking more clearly. “If you aren’t here with Aiden, why are you here?”

  Excellent question! “Yeah, why are you here?”

  Abby’s eyes widened. She fiddled with the little purse clutched in her hands. “Oh, um, about that.” She paused, but Dannika and I were both waiting expectantly.

  I never anticipated the words that came out of her mouth next.

  “I followed you,” she blurted.

  My eyebrows rose to my hairline. Beside me, Dannika sputtered something that sounded like a giggle. I opened my mouth to say something to that, to somehow respond, but Abby beat me to it.

  “I knew when you were leaving and I waited until you left. Then I followed you. I pretended to be here with a date, but really, I just wanted to talk to you. To tell you what happened.” Her eyes watched me hopefully. I had no idea what she expected me to do. Was I supposed to fall at her feet? Abandon Dannika in order to be Abby’s date to prom?

  That was so not happening.

  “I’m sorry Aiden broke up with you, Abby. I really am. But Danni’s my date tonight.” I felt Dannika’s quick intake of breath and wondered what was going through her head. She’d just kissed me, for heaven’s sake. Did it mean something to her the way it did to me?

  Turning to Dannika, I asked, “Are you ready to go?” Neither of us had finished our dinner, but at this point I doubted I’d be able to eat another bite. Besides, we needed to get away from Abby.

  Dannika searched my eyes. I had no idea what she was looking for, but finally she nodded. “Yes. Let’s get out of here.”

  She picked her purse up off the table while I patted my pockets to make sure I had my wallet and phone. Our waiter hadn’t brought our check, but I was sure we could pay if we stopped by the hostess station.

  After taking Dannika’s elbow gently in my hand, I turned to Abby. “Have a good night, Abby. I really am sorry about Aiden.”

  And then I walked away. It felt amazing. I didn’t want Abby. I just thought I did. Actually, I was just bruised. She’d taken a shot at my ego and I let it get to me, mistakenly labeling my feelings as feelings for her rather than feelings about what she’d done to me.

  Then I kissed Dannika for the first time.

  That wasn’t supposed to happen.

  And then we kissed again.

  At the hostess station, I explained that we wanted to leave and could she please track down our check. While she searched her computer screen, I let myself be aware of the girl beside me.

  Dannika

  My sister’s best friend. A girl I’d known more than half of my life who was still a mystery to me. I thought about the way she challenged me to kiss her the night of the party and the way she’d kissed me not five minutes ago. There had been no hesitation. She’d been bold. Confident. And so dang hot I tugged at my collar again just thinking about her.

  “Thank you,” I said to the lady behind the counter after signing the slip of paper she handed me. “Are you ready, Danni?”

  She’d been quiet since we left Abby to do…whatever Abby was going to do now that she was done following us. At least, I hoped she was done following us. I glanced over my shoulder. Thankfully, my ex was nowhere to be seen.

  “Yeah, let’s go,” she finally said, drawing my attention back to her, not that it had left. In fact, I was beginning to wonder if I would ever look another girl again.

  Once outside the restaurant, I noticed the sun was beginning to set. We still had almost a half an hour before the dance started, but we were twenty minutes away. Part of me wanted to ditch the dance and go somewhere so we could talk about what had happened in the restaurant. I had a feeling the back of a limo wasn’t that place.

  I also really, really wanted to kiss her again. Maybe the back of a limo wasn’t a bad place for that.

  Tim spotted us right away and pulled up to the curb. He quickly got out of the drivers seat, but I was faster. For some reason, it was important to me to open the door for Dannika. I held her hand as she got into the back of the limo before I followed her inside. Tim closed the door securely behind me and all of the s
udden we were alone.

  I had no idea what to say.

  Dannika plucked at her skirt, shifting in the seat next to me. She cleared her throat.

  “Well, that was interesting.”

  I barked out a laugh. “Putting it mildly.” I glanced at her with my eyes crossed and we both roared.

  “I can’t believe she followed us.” Dannika gasped, trying to catch her breath.

  Holding onto my stomach, I tried to calm myself down. “No kidding. That was crazy.”

  After a couple of moments, we’d both settled into quiet chuckles, but then Dannika turned to me, her expression serious.

  “But I think it just really means she likes you. And she’s single now. You have a chance of getting what you wanted.”

  Her words were like cold water in my face. What I wanted? I opened my mouth to tell her exactly what I wanted, aka not Abby, but she kept going.

  “I’m sorry I kissed you like that. I know this whole thing is about making Abby jealous.” Her bright caramel eyes watched me carefully as a small laugh escaped her lips. Lips I wanted to kiss again. And not to make Abby jealous. How could I have been so stupid? Dannika had been right in front of me all along and I’d missed her. Don’t even get me started on this last week! I’d been deluding myself thinking I wanted Abby when it was Dannika who had the power to bring me to my knees.

  I started to say something again, but she cut me off. Again.

  “Don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten. And for the record, I thought it was really sweet what you said about me being your date, especially since we’re just friends.”

  Just friends? After that kiss? After I just blew off my ex? She thought we were still just friends?

  That’s when I realized what I had to do, what this night was really all about- convincing Dannika Harper to be my girlfriend.

  13

  Dannika

  Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!

  I was such an idiot. What on earth possessed me to kiss Luke like that? I mean, I know why I wanted to kiss him, but I also knew all the millions of reasons I shouldn’t! Like the fact that he wanted his psycho ex back.

  Seriously, Abby was a bit crazy. Who followed their ex on a date and then had the balls to confront him in a crowded restaurant? I had to give the girl props. But still, I couldn’t get over the way she completely discredited my presence. I was his date. She’d let him go for some player who dumped her the first chance he got. She didn’t have the right to treat my friend like that!

  Then I reminded myself that Luke, my friend, was only on a date with me to make that weirdo jealous. I probably shouldn’t have even defended him let alone kissed him. That’s why I convinced myself I did it, to help him, to make Abby jealous like he wanted.

  And boy, was she!

  As soon as I shook the stars from my eyes, I got a load of her. The girl was spitting fire. It was the perfect opportunity for Luke to play his hand and I half expected him to, but then there was the other half, the half that hoped he enjoyed that kiss as much as I did.

  Holy smokes!

  How could he not? That kiss was hot with a capital ‘H’. My knees were still weak from that kiss. And then he’d denied her. She was all dressed up and ready to be swept off her feet and he denied her.

  For me?

  Or did he? It was possible Luke was just playing hard to get. It was possible he didn’t want to give in to her too easily. She’d dumped him after all. I knew his feelings were a little banged up. He was a guy and his pride was involved. I wasn’t going to get my hopes up. As far as I was concerned, nothing had changed. Luke still wanted Abby, he was just being nice to me. As long as I didn’t forget that one little detail, everything would be just fine.

  The rest of the ride to the dance, was somewhat awkward. We made small talk and I tried not to think about kissing Luke again. It was difficult, though. He was right there. And he seemed to be enjoying being close to me. Every time I shifted to break contact with his arm or his leg, he would adjust his position so we were touching again. If I didn’t know any better, I would think he was trying to tell me something.

  Probably, he was just oblivious.

  I wasn’t, however, and by the time we made it to the hotel where prom was being held, I was a bundle of frayed nerves. It didn’t help that when Luke held my hand to help me from the back of the car, he didn’t relinquish it. Not as we passed through the glass doors into he hotel lobby. Not as we walked down a long hall toward blaring music. Not when he opened the door, allowing me to pass in front of him. And especially not when he leaned down to murmur in my ear.

  “Have I told you how incredibly beautiful you look tonight?” His voice, deep and smooth as silk, sent shivers down my spine that had no right being there.

  Still, it wasn’t often a girl received compliments like that one.

  “You have. But thank you for saying it again.” Heat flooded my cheeks and I had to bite my lip to stop my smile.

  Luke grinned. “I’ll keep saying it over and over if it will make you blush like that.”

  I nudged his shoulder. “Stop it.”

  He gave in with a nod, his hand squeezing mine gently. “Should we do pictures first? Before we get all sweaty on the dance floor?”

  “Yeah, let’s.” Maybe once we lost ourselves in the crowd dancing to the pulsing music this would start to feel less like a real date. I had no idea what to do with a sweet and attentive Luke Hines. I was determined not to fall any more in love with him but he wasn’t making it easy.

  “Hey! You guys made it!” Piper rushed away from Drew in the line for pictures and gave me a hug. I noticed her gaze dart to our hands, still clasped in the air between our bodies. Her brows raised ever so slightly. I narrowed my eyes and hoped she’d get the message. Back off! At least, for now.

  She wrapped me in a hug which I returned one armed because Luke refused to let go of my hand even when I gave it a little tug.

  “I want to hear everything later,” Piper whispered in my ear before stepping back and punching Luke lightly in his bicep.

  “Come get in line with us. I think we should do a picture together for Mom.” Piper tugged Luke’s hand, pulling him into line behind Drew.

  Drew reached for her as soon as she was close enough which wasn’t unusual, but there was something in his eyes that set off alarms in my brain.

  What was that all about?

  I waited to catch his eye and raised my brow in question. He shook his head almost imperceptibly. Whatever it was, and I was convinced it was something, now obviously wasn’t the time to discuss it. That didn’t help the quiver of anxiety jolting through my stomach.

  Great.

  Without thinking about it, I moved closer to Luke, needing his warmth and reassurance. He didn’t miss a beat, releasing my hand to wrap his arm around my waist. Before I knew what was happening, he had both arms wrapped around my middle from behind. In my heels, I was the perfect height for him to rest his chin on the top of my shoulder.

  “Is everything okay,” he whispered close to my ear.

  When I nodded, my face brushed against his. I couldn’t believe he was being so affectionate. It was wonderful and amazing. And confusing.

  “I don’t believe you,” he murmured, this time his lips brushed the skin on my neck.

  Goosebumps rose and raced down my arm. I shivered. Glancing at him through my lashes, I quietly said, “We’ll talk later.”

  Luke’s eyes bore into mine, smoldering with a look I’d never seen before. It was a look that said things I couldn’t believe he meant. At least, not toward me.

  “Luke,” I whispered, but he interrupted me with a soft kiss on my lips, effectively cutting off any other words I might say. For the rest of my life.

  “Later,” he murmured before focusing his attention on the line in front of us. He’d been moving us forward after each couple finished posing for their pictures. There was only one couple left in front of Drew and Piper.

  Soon, the photographer was waving m
y best friend and her date forward. The lady was good at her job. The backdrop wasn’t as hideous as some I’d seen. No fake Greek columns or helium balloons. There wasn’t even an imitation of a star-filled night. Instead, it was a wall of barn wood decorated with sprays of flowers and ribbon in white and silver.

  Piper and Drew stood in front of the wooden wall and moved when the photographer directed. Piper gazed at the camera with a huge smile on her face that only her best friend- I glanced at Luke who’s brow pinched as he watched his sister- and possibly her brother, might recognize as anything less than authentic.

  Drew noticed it, too. Instead of looking at the camera with his own fake smile, he watched Piper. She didn’t see, but I did. And I’d never seen a more intense expression of love and desire on a man’s face. Ever.

  I had no idea what was going on with Piper, but something deep inside me said she was about to make the biggest mistake of her life.

  “Look at me, handsome!” the photographer called out to Drew. He dragged his gaze from Piper long enough to give the lady what she wanted, but that was all he could do before his eyes were back on his girl.

  “Okay, that’s great,” the photographer said, sounding a bit irritated. “Who’s next?”

  Luke dropped his arms from my waist and stepped forward. “Can I get a picture with my sister?”

  The photographer turned to him with a smile. “Of course, of course.”

  Drew dutifully moved out of the staged area and came to stand at my side.

  “What is going on?” I asked out of the side of my mouth, attempting to hide the words from Piper. Which was silly. Her fake smile had taken on a more genuine appearance when Luke went to her side. They were doing goofy poses like making guns with their fingers Charlie’s Angels style.

  Beside me Drew sighed. “I have no idea. The closer we get to graduation, the more she pulls away.”

  I shot him a glance, but not surprisingly, his attention was focused on Piper. “Have you declared?” I knew Drew and Piper both had received offers from several schools, some of them the same. I had a feeling Drew was waiting for Piper before deciding what to do. He was putting his life on hold for her.