Flirting with Disaster (19 page)

Chapter 41

I awoke Saturday morning to a text from Penny.

I’m not feeling so well this morning. I’ll see how I’m doing as the day goes on, but just to make sure, Bill and Maddie are going, right?

Let me check.

I glanced at my watch. Tommy would be leaving for football in like ten minutes. I speed-texted.

Hey—good luck at the match today. Bill is still coming tonight, right?

Thanks. Bill is fine. Just talked to him—he’s gearing up for the game. Better run. I’ll see you about 7:30, right?

Big sigh of relief.

Yeah, see you then!

Four hours later, Penny texted.

Sorry, Sav. I still have a fever. Text me as soon as you get back and let me know all the details.

I spent the next hours doing my homework, finishing my chores, and trying on about eight outfits. After finally settling on my second-best skinny jeans with gold flip-flops and tank top layered with a peasant shirt, I decided I’d better do a pedicure. My polish was chipped; it looked like mice had been nibbling at my toe tips.

I checked my watch. Two hours to go. Plenty of time to do my hair.

I begged my mother to drive me on her way to a dinner with the ladies in her Bible study. “Please. It’s embarrassing enough to be dropped off alone, now that Penny can’t go.” I loved Dad, but he was bound to do something mortifying. Thankfully, she agreed.

Wexburg didn’t have its own movie theater, so we drove to the next village over. I hated arriving when no one else was there—you felt like such a loser hanging out in front of the theater alone. But Mom had insisted that we leave a bit early so she would still be able to get to her dinner on time.

So I stood outside the cinema and waited. I hoped Tommy would arrive before Bill and Maddie. He did!

“Hey!” He strolled up to me. It looked like he’d rubbed a little gel through his wavy brown hair, and his eyes were still as deep as dark chocolate. Lately we hadn’t been turning away from direct eye contact; we’d been holding it instead. I know it’s a cliché, and as a writer, I was supposed to avoid them like the plague, but my stomach really did do somersaults.

“Hi,” I said. “How was the game?”

“We won!” His face was flushed with high spirits. “But Bill got hurt. Someone actually kicked him really hard in the shin. He’s got to get it looked at, so he won’t be able to come tonight. Funny about your asking if he was coming this morning. Where’s Penny?”

“Sick,” I said, starting to feel that way myself. “That’s why I texted you to see about Bill earlier. So Maddie isn’t coming either?”

“Nah. It’d be weird without Bill since you two aren’t friends. I guess it’s just the two of us then. Should I buy the tickets?”

Just the two of us.
I’d have loved for him to have bought the tickets for “just the two of us.” After all, I was nearly sixteen. I mean, come on. We were at a public movie theater. He was a Christian. But even though I was allowed to go out with people, my dad had said no one-on-one dates till I was sixteen.

Chapter 42

“I’m really sorry, but I don’t think I can stay,” I said.

He looked at me strangely. “Why not?”

I hated that I had to be the person to say that word
date
first, because we weren’t even official. It’s not like he had asked me to go out with him. “I’m not allowed to go anywhere, um, you know, one-on-one with anyone till I’m sixteen.”

“One-on-one?” He still looked puzzled.

Okay, apparently I was going to have to do the heavy lifting here. “A date,” I said. “My dad says I’m not allowed to date till next month.”

Next month. It sounded so ridiculous and legalistic. Twenty-eight days.

“I could text my dad and ask him if it’s okay,” I said.

He shook his head. “That’s all right. If that’s his rule, we should respect it.”

So I texted my dad—because my mom was at church—and asked him to come and pick me up. Tommy and I stood and made small talk, which was, surprisingly, not terribly uncomfortable, given the situation. We were even laughing when my dad pulled up. Tommy waved as I got in the car.

“Does he have a ride home?” Dad asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Well, ask him!”

I rolled down the window, feeling ridiculous all over again. “Do you have a ride?”

“I can hang out for a couple of hours till my dad gets home,” he said. “My grandparents dropped me off on their way to dinner. My mom still can’t drive because her cast isn’t off her foot yet.”

“My dad said we can give you a ride home.”

I had to admit, I was totally shocked when he headed toward the back door and opened it. “Thanks!” he said.

I sat fairly silently as we drove to Tommy’s house. He and my dad talked about football and cars and
Top Gear
. I let my mind wander because I didn’t know a lot about cars. However, the thought occurred to me as I listened to them talk about test tracks that maybe tonight was one of the tests Joe had mentioned.

We soon got to his house. It was nice—a single home, not a semidetached like mine, but not a mansion like Hill House. As I looked over the beautiful front garden, I remembered that his mom was also in the garden club that Penny’s mom and Ashley’s mom were a part of. And that my mother still hadn’t been voted in.

“Good night, Savvy,” Tommy said as he got out. “And thank you for the ride, Mr. Smith.”

“Not at all,” Dad said. After Tommy got into his house, Dad turned to me and said, “He’s a nice young man.”

“Thanks.”

“I’m proud of you for doing the right thing. Even if it doesn’t always feel good or work out the way you hope it will.”

Chapter 43

When I went to school on Monday, I felt all “prayed up,” as my old Sunday school teacher would have said. Worship was great on Sunday, and then I spent some time with my family. All in all, I felt even closer to Tommy after our movie fiasco than if we had gone. It gave us something to laugh about together and harass our friends about for abandoning us.

He still hadn’t officially asked me to go out with him, though.

Anyway, I was prepared for Hazelle—and our talk—on Monday. Or at least I thought I was. We’d agreed to meet after school. I sat with Penny at lunch, but when I turned around to look at the newspaper staff table, I noticed that Hazelle wasn’t eating anything for lunch. I wasn’t either.