by Chris Cannon
Now what? Did I text back? Did I let him sweat it out? He’d been a tool, but he was recognizing that fact. Not sure what to say, I texted back a smiley face.
On the drive to school, I tried to imagine my life without Trey. That wasn’t hard to do. Imagining my life without Matt was a lot harder. Did that mean he was the one for me or that our lives were intertwined due to our friends? Better question…how would I feel if I saw Matt with another girl? The idea of him with Jane irritated the crap out of me. What about someone else? What if Clarissa fixed him up with one of her friends and I had to watch him holding hands and doing other romantic things with someone else? Acid surged in my stomach. Either I’d had too much orange juice at breakfast or I didn’t want to see him with someone else. Where did that leave me?
I pulled into a space in the parking lot and stared at my steering wheel like it might have some answers to my current conundrum. It did not. Darn it. I’d just go face Matt and see what happened. I’d barely climbed out of my car when Trey appeared out of thin air.
“No yelling at the universe this morning?” he asked.
Uh-oh. I’d spent so much time worried about what I’d say to Matt that I forgot to think about what I’d say to Trey.
“That’s not a happy face,” he said.
“Sorry. My brain isn’t up to full speed yet.” I headed toward the sidewalk and he fell into step beside me.
“I’m not really a morning person, either,” he said. “Today feels like it’s going to be a good day.”
Damn it. Should I say something? Was I obligated to respond? I faked a yawn…which turned into a real yawn. “Sorry. I need about two more hours of sleep.”
“No problem.” When we entered the building I hoped he’d head for his locker, wherever that was, but he stayed by my side like he was walking me to my locker which was not a good idea. When we were about a hundred feet from my destination, I said, “Matt asked to meet me at my locker, so…”
“So you don’t want me to come with you?” he said, like he thought it was a joke.
“It could be a little awkward.” I could see Matt up ahead, but he hadn’t spotted me yet. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
“I’ll just wait across the hall.”
That was not what I wanted, but it would have to do. As Trey veered left, Matt spotted me and smiled. Good. He must not have seen me with Trey. And now I was nervous. When I reached my locker, he said, “This is an I-was-an-idiot-and-I-promise-not-to-run-away-when-things-get-complicated gift.”
The shopping bag was from the bookstore. That was a good start. I opened it up and sucked in a breath. It was the Platform 9 ¾ mailbag I’d wanted. “Oh my gosh. I tried to buy this but they were sold out.”
“Open it.”
I unbuckled the flap. Inside was a Gryffindor notebook and two pairs of Harry Potter socks.
“I didn’t remember seeing you wear those, so I hope you don’t have them.”
He’d paid attention to my socks. “I don’t.” Why did it feel like I was going to cry? He really got me. “Thank you.”
The bell for homeroom was going to ring in about five minutes and I didn’t know what to do.
“Is it your birthday and you didn’t tell me?” Trey asked as he came over to join us. He saw what I was holding and said, “Wait. No. That must be a joke gift.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked.
“Oh.” He seemed to realize he’d made a mistake. “You’re into that kind of stuff? I thought Harry Potter was for kids.”
“It’s a nerd-girl thing,” Matt said.
Trey glanced up at Matt and then at me. “You’re okay with him calling you a nerd?”
I nodded. “That’s who I am. I like Harry Potter and Doctor Who.”
He backed up a step. “And you’d rather read than talk to people and go listen to loud music.”
I nodded.
“I like you, but I don’t think we’re into the same things. Maybe we’re better off as friends.”
“Probably,” I said. That went way easier than I thought it would.
“See you around.” Trey walked off and I didn’t have to feel guilty. Things were finally falling into place.
I glanced over at Matt. He was smiling…not like he was happy, like he’d somehow won. I mean he had, in a way, but something about this situation was off. I looked down at the Harry Potter bag I was holding. Wait a minute. “Did you set me up?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You set me up. You knew I’d go all nerd-girl over this stuff and then Trey wouldn’t be interested in me anymore.”
“I bought these for you a week ago. How would I know that?”
My life had gone from happy to crappy in thirty seconds. “Don’t lie to me.”
He took a deep breath and blew it out. “I’m not lying. I bought this for you the day you were upset about Jane. And I confessed to Jane that I used to have a crush on her so you don’t have to worry about that anymore. I bought you this to show you I understand you and I like you for you.”
Everything he said seemed heartfelt but there was still one problem. “What about Trey?”
“I knew he probably wouldn’t understand your nerdy side and I hoped that might work out in my favor.”
The bell for homeroom rang. I turned around and walked off. It felt like I was drowning in a rising tide of confusion. On the one hand, Matt understood me and liked me for who I was. Woo-hoo! On the other hand, he’d set me up and I didn’t like being manipulated.
In between classes I griped to Nina. “If he’d let me make my own mind up, it would have worked out in his favor. Why did he have to do that?”
“Well…he gets marks for being inventive. He trapped you in a web of your own nerdiness.”
“I know.”
“And you wanted someone to fight for you. In his slightly sneaky way, he did that.”
She was right. By lunch I wasn’t mad so much as disappointed and irritated. I needed to know I could trust Matt. I needed him to be honest with me. When he sat down next to me and opened his mouth like he was going to argue his case, I stopped him.
“Please don’t talk. Just listen.”
“Has she gone off the deep end?” West said to Nina.
I glared at him. “Do you want to see me go off the deep end?”
“Umm…no.”
“Then butt out.” I turned back to Matt. “Just so you know, I was going to pick you. If you hadn’t set me up, we’d both be happy right now.” I waited. He raised his eyebrows at me. Oh right. “Now you should talk.”
“I fought dirty because the idea of you with another guy makes me crazy. You’re it for me. And I’m going to keep apologizing until you forgive me.”
“That sounds annoying.”
“If you accept my apology we could move past the annoying part.”
At the end of the day, I headed to Crazy Crafts for my Monday Mask workshop.
Three girls were making masks. Two wanted fairies and one wanted to be a dragon. “Works for me,” I said.
We glued on ribbons and sequins and feathers until the girls were happy with their masks. We had a snack that one of their moms had provided…apple slices, which was a good thing because at this point I’d eaten way too many Oreos. After all the girls had been signed out, I straightened up the yarn section, putting wayward skeins of yarn back into the correct bins. Busywork occupied my mind until it was time to clock out.
On the way home, my conscience ate at me. I should call Matt. He was a good guy. He hadn’t done anything terrible. He’d proven to me what he’d said all along. Trey and I weren’t into the same things. Though, I wish he would’ve let things run their natural course rather than prodding them along.
When I pulled up to my house, I didn’t recognize it. There were flowers everywhere. Terra-cotta pots with miniature rose bushes sat next to planters full of tulips and lilies. There were pink, red, purple, and white flowers I didn’t recognize overflowing in plastic pots.
It looked like someone had turned my front yard into a flower shop. When I climbed out of my car, their scent drifted through the air. My mom opened the front door and smiled at me. She held out a card. “This is for you.”
I walked up the steps and grabbed the card. I knew this was Matt’s doing. I opened the card.
Because I should have given you flowers a long time ago. Love, Matt.
Awwww. That was so sweet…and clever.
“He’s good,” my mom said. “He must really like you because he promised to plant these wherever we wanted and to take care of the yard from now on.”
That was a commitment. Not the sign of a guy who planned to bail when things became tough.
“You should go see the backyard,” she said.
“There’s more?” I entered the house. Harry ran over to me, wiggling with joy. “Hey, buddy.” I picked him up and headed into the kitchen and out the sliding glass doors. Matt sat at the patio table. He had six bags of Double Stuf Oreos stacked up with a wide red ribbon tied around them like they were a present.
“Is that your backup in case I didn’t like the flowers?”
“Maybe,” he said, like he wasn’t sure. “Do you like the flowers?”
I nodded and set Harry down before joining Matt at the table. He gave me another card.
The Oreos are for when I do things that tick you off, which I’ll try to avoid, if at all possible, but you know how that will probably work out. And, if you’re still undecided, remember I gave you a dog. Love, Matt
He reached over and laced his fingers through mine. “I did give you a dog.”
“You did.”
“And I read in the how-to-date-like-a-normal-guy book that accepting a dog means you’re officially boyfriend and girlfriend.”
“It does? I don’t remember seeing that in my book,” I said.
“Maybe you should read it again,” he said. “Here.” He handed me a notebook.
On the front in black sharpie it said, How to date a nerd-girl and keep her happy. I flipped it open and inside it said:
1. Give her a dog.
2. Watch Harry Potter movies.
3. Keep Double Stuf Oreos on hand in case of emergencies.
4. Give her flowers.
5. Keep track of which Harry Potter socks she has so you can find new ones she needs.
6. Hang around and annoy her until she agrees that she’s your girlfriend.
“Who am I to argue with a book?” I leaned in to kiss him. He may not always be perfect, but he was perfect for me.
Epilogue
Lisa
“Is triple dating even a thing?” Matt asked as we walked into The Slicery with Charlie and Clarissa.
“Doesn’t matter,” I said, “because apparently it’s what we’re doing.” I waved to Nina as we walked across the restaurant to meet her and West.
“I didn’t realize Nina was so pushy,” Clarissa said. “Not that I don’t want to hang out with you guys, but geez.”
“She’s just enthusiastic.” Actually, this had been my idea because I was worried the whole dating Trey thing might have messed up Charlie and Clarissa’s relationship. I didn’t want to be responsible for that, so I shared my plan with Nina and she agreed to pretend it was her idea to make it all a little less awkward. Plus she was known to argue her point until people caved which is exactly what she’d done with Clarissa. The ends justified the means.
When we reached the table, Nina and West were pointing at the menu and debating what we should order. “It would make more sense for us to order two extra-large pizzas,” West said.
Nina sighed. “That would work, but you like mushrooms and Lisa won’t touch them. She’ll insist on meatball pizza which you don’t like and I have no idea what Clarissa and Charlie will want.” She and West both looked at Clarissa.
“What’s your pizza preference?” Nina asked.
“Why does it feel like I’m taking a test?” Clarissa asked as she sat down.
“Don’t worry,” I said as I settled into my chair. “There’s no wrong answer except pineapple.”
“Okay.” Clarissa pushed the menu away. “This will probably throw off your whole equation, but I like plain cheese pizza.”
“Just cheese?” I wasn’t adventurous in my eating, but that seemed a little boring.
“We usually split a half cheese and half bacon pepperoni pizza,” Charlie said.
“Three pizzas it is,” Nina said.
“Or four,” Matt said. “Because bacon pepperoni is pretty awesome.”
“So that’s one sausage mushroom, one meatball, one bacon pepperoni and one cheese?” Nina said.
“How can we need four pizzas for three couples?” West asked.
“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “It’s what we’re doing to keep everyone happy. Plus there will be leftovers to take home. Cold meatball pizza is one of my favorite breakfasts.”
Matt grimaced. “That’s just wrong.”
“You can stick with your Cap’n Crunch,” I said. “Cold pizza makes me happy.”
“Speaking of things that make you happy…” Matt leaned in and pressed his lips against mine. My heart tripped a beat as I kissed him back. It still didn’t seem real sometimes that Matt and I were together…officially a couple. It had been a few weeks now and so far things were working for us. There had been a few bumps in the road…I was still a little jealous of Jane because she was a cute bouncy blonde while I was a normal nerdy brunette, but Matt didn’t seem to notice her as much as I did. Either he was acting like he didn’t notice her because he was into me, or he really was that into me.
And I needed to trust him because he’d kept his word so far. He’d planted all the flowers and came over to mow the lawn every weekend. He’d even painted a set of Harry Potter book bricks for me.
“Time for me to confess something,” Matt said.
“Okay.” I had no idea what he was going to say, but I trusted it wouldn’t be too awful.
“I signed up for some business classes at Canton.”
“You did? That’s great.” I was going to Canton Community College because I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life and there was no reason to spend money my mom didn’t have before I figured that out. Thanks to the sperm donor I had cash for a more prestigious school. Once I knew what I wanted to do when I grew up, I might dip into his donation. Until then, I’d spend time with Matt and enjoy figuring my life out. I’d gone from the friend zone to a fake relationship and then ended up in a real relationship, which kind of gave a whole new meaning to the phrase fake it until you make it.
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Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank Erin Molta for helping me make my books the best they can be. I’d like to thank Entangled Publishing for believing in my romantic comedies.
About the Author
Chris Cannon is the award-winning author of the Going Down In Flames series, the Boyfriend Chronicles, and the Dating Dilemma series. She lives in Southern Illinois with her husband and several furry beasts.
She believes coffee is the Elixir of Life. Most evenings after work, she’s usually sucking down caffeine and writing fire-breathing paranormal adventures or romantic comedies. You can find her online at www.chriscannonauthor.com.
Discover the Dating Dilemmas series…
The Dating Debate
Also by Chris Cannon
Blackmail Boyfriend
The Boyfriend Bet
Boomerang Boyfriend
Going Down in Flames
Bridges Burned
Trial by Fire
Fanning the Flames
Burning Bright
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