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Kyle wasn’t nearly as nervous on the following Wednesday, but he still wasn’t feeling as if it was any other normal day. If he had to categorize it, then he would summarize his feelings as expectant. It was how he usually felt when he was waiting for Anna to open something that he knew she really wanted on Christmas morning – which was a really weird way to be feeling about what was essentially a sting operation. He wasn’t going to think about it too hard – that would just push him back into nerve wracked, and he was going to be smooth this time. Or, at least, he was going to be smoother.
The door swung open at 4:15 right on the dot – which was another thing he should probably avoid thinking about or his mouth might get away from him again. He might blurt out an inappropriate question about how it was that she managed to do that every time. That would totally push the vibe in the room into that of “stalker present,” and he didn’t want that – even though that was kind of what he was doing.
Lia offered him a small, shy smile as if she was not certain what terms they were on after last week’s interaction. He offered a smile back, but neither of them said anything. Lia headed over to start her normal browsing/buying routine, and Kyle tried to look like he was actually working on something so he could avoid staring at the pony tail swinging behind the girl examining the bins in front of him. Staring was bad. Staring was suspicious. He was avoiding suspicious. He would know when she found it without needing to do any looking. At least, he was fairly certain that he would.
It turned out that he was not wrong. He heard a sort of clicking noise from the direction of the collector’s wall as if Lia was choking back a gasp. He peeked in her direction but ducked his head back to the random invoice in front of him when he saw that she was looking over her shoulder at him. He was so busted. That was great. That was just great. That wasn’t suspicious at all. Although, maybe he should look like he was watching. The whole idea, after all, was for this to jumpstart a connection between the two of them. He was overthinking this again, wasn’t he? He hazarded another look in Lia’s direction. She was no longer looking over her shoulder. She had turned to face him and was clutching a plastic encased piece of merchandise to her chest with both arms. He had heard people use the phrase “blinding smile” before; this was the first time that he had ever felt like he was actually seeing one.
“I’m impressed,” she told him. He had decided in advance that he was going to play this cool, and he didn’t see any reason to deviate from that plan (besides, his version of playing it cool involved not commenting, and the less he tried to talk, the better off this would probably go). He opted for what he hoped looked like a questioning tilt of his head (maybe he should have practiced in front of a mirror before he tried to pull that off). She waited a few moments for some sort of verbal response. When she decided that it wasn’t going to be forthcoming, she kept talking.
“I don’t know how you made this happen,” she elaborated as she walked toward the counter. Kyle noticed that she hadn’t loosened her arm cradle of the sleeve she had pulled from the shelf.
“Things come through the shop all the time,” he told her with what he hoped was a casual shrug of his shoulders. She knew he had something to do with it. He knew she knew he had something to do with it. This way, though, he didn’t come off as if he was looking for credit -- just like he was a nice guy. Girls liked that -- Connor had said so. “You never know what’s going to be on the collector’s wall.”
“It’s cute the way you’re trying to play all ignorant and innocent,” she told him as she stopped directly in front of him. “You should just know that I’m not buying it.”
“Have it your way,” he smiled. Who knew? Well, obviously Connor had known because he was the one who had told him, but he had really been asking himself a rhetorical question which meant that he shouldn’t be offering himself an answer. He was just very impressed. Girls were figure-out-able. That was priceless information.
“I usually do,” she told him while her smile shifted to something that he would classify as a smirk -- a somewhat scary smirk. He wasn’t sure what to make of that. That was interesting. The figure-out-able-ness of girls had lasted for all of three seconds. He should stick to what he really did understand.
“So, I take it you’ll be buying that.” He commented bringing the conversation back into a realm in which he was comfortable.
“That would be why I brought it to the counter with me,” she snarked back. He noticed that she looked a little reluctant to place it on the counter between them. He understood collecting, but he thought that was a little extreme. It wasn’t like he was going to snatch it away from her or something.
“Right,” he said managing to refrain from teasing her over her possessiveness. He gave her the total, and she looked as if she really wanted to say something but changed her mind at the last moment. He thought maybe she was going to comment on the price. It was probably cheaper than it should have been for what it was, and she was liable to know that -- he wasn’t overly familiar with the going rate for collectibles when it came to Return to Labyrinth. She paid in cash (the way she always did), and he wondered briefly how much money she made a habit of carrying with her.
“Kyle?” She asked as he handed over her change.
“Yeah,” he sounded a little wary even to his own ears.
“Like I said, I have no idea how you made this happen, but thank you. It was really sweet of you to go to the trouble.” Then, she was gone.
Glimpse: The Complete Trilogy Page 3