Shallow (7 page)

She looked as though there were a thousand places she’d rather be and I dreamed of how I might be the one to take her to any one of them.

“Don’t be fooled by her moping act.” I turned and saw Claire by my side. “She was never into Cooper.”

“I think you need to convince her of that,” I argued.

“She’s a smart girl. She’ll figure it out.”

I looked back at Claire’s beautiful best friend through the window and winced.

“It would take a little while for her to get over all of this nonsense on her own, but I think a little help from the right guy could have her over it by tomorrow.”

What was that supposed to mean? Was she encouraging me to go after Payton? “What are you telling me, Claire?”

She took a drink from her glass, peered over the rim at me and then nodded in Payton’s direction. “I’m telling you to be the right guy. Be the one that makes her see that she never cared ‘bout Cooper and she’s mourning something that was never there.”

I was sure I looked like a deer in headlights as I stared at her and I wondered what Jessie would say about all of this. “Why would you encourage me to go after your best friend when I know Jessie has told you about me? I’m not known for being inexperienced.”

“It doesn’t matter what Jessie has said because I’ve seen the way you look at her.”

What could she possibly know about the way I looked at Payton? “And just how do I look at her?”

“The way Jessie looks at me.” A feather could have knocked me over as she described her observations to me. “Like just now when you were watching her through the window, you were smiling and I bet you didn’t even realize it.”

No, I hadn’t realized I was smiling, but I had realized how happy I was to find her.

I was sure that Claire didn’t know about the things Payton and I had discussed last night. Her best friend didn’t want me because of the way I had treated girls in the past and I didn’t blame her. She had no guarantee she wouldn’t become the next unidentifiable number and it was my own stupid fault.

“I asked her out and she turned me down cold.”

“So, you’re gonna accept her first refusal and give up on her, just like that? I didn’t take you for such an easy defeat.”

In no form or fashion was I an easy defeat and I recognized a challenge when I heard one. “No, I hadn’t planned to give up. I just hadn’t made a plan B yet. Since you seem to be so determined I do this, do you have any ideas for me?”

She didn’t hesitate. “It drives me insane but she’s a total textaholic. I think you should send her a cutesy message.”

I shook my head at her. “No way. I don’t do
cutesy
messages.”

She cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes. “Don’t ask for my advice if you’re not going to take it.”

Yikers, this side of Claire was a little scary. “Okay, I’ll send her a
cutesy
text,” I relinquished and then realized I had no idea what constituted cutesy. “Explain
cutesy
.”

“Are you kidding me? Jessie told me you were a ladies’ man. Do you really not know how to woo a girl?”

“I don’t do
wooing
because I don’t have to.”

“Payton wants and needs someone romantic, so wooing will be a requirement. Be prepared.”

Wooing. What a ridiculous word, but I guessed I could go along with it. “Any more suggestions?”

“Sorry. Here comes Jessie so you’ll have to figure it out on your own.”

7 Is Bullshit One Word or Two?

Payton

I still felt like crap and it really sucked to be a drinking party when you couldn’t drink. I was debating blowing the whole thing off when my phone vibrated with a new text from an unknown. “
U look beautiful 2nite.
”

My forehead unconsciously wrinkled as confusion and curiosity set in. 555-9143. I didn’t know who the number belonged to but I recognized it as the number for the missed call I had this morning.

I could ignore it, but I was like a cat too curious for its own good.
“How would U no?

My phone vibrated.
“Cuz I CU.”

Okay, I didn’t know if I should feel flattered or creeped out, but I was leaning more toward creeped out. “
Who is this?”

A few seconds later, “
Saint Nick
,” appeared on my phone.

A smile crept across my face when I remembered calling him that last night. I also vaguely remembered something about him telling me he didn’t like it and I wondered why he was so touchy.

I looked up from my phone to scan for him, but he wasn’t in the kitchen so I slid off the countertop and walked into the living room. No luck. He could see me, but wasn’t making an appearance, so that meant he was hiding from me.

I quickly texted back,
“Where RU Stalker?”

I continued looking around the house as I waited for his next text.

Buzz
.
“Outside.”

I never liked hide and seek. I went outside to the backyard and didn’t see him anywhere. I made my rounds through the crowd of people until I passed the pool and still didn’t find him. He wanted to be chased, but I wasn’t into that kind of thing and he had wasted enough of my time.

“Don’t CU. I’m leaving.”
I hit the send button.

My phone quickly beeped and vibrated again.
“Front of house.”

Yeah, I thought he’d get more specific if I threatened to leave. Guys were so predictable and like putty in girls’ hands.

Rather than go back through the house and come out the front door where he expected, I walked around the side of the house so I could catch him off guard; just the way I wanted him. I was all about equality. If he could spy on me, I could spy on him.

I found him casually leaning against a column on the front of the house as he waited for me to come through the front door to meet him. He tried to look nonchalant with his arms folded across his chest but he was entirely unsuccessful because there could never be anything casual about how sexy he was.

I huffed at my inner thoughts and mentally slapped my own hand. Gah! Why did I have to be so attracted to this guy? He was a street racing man-whore and I’m sure the only future he looked forward to was his next race and his next lay.

The music was loud so he didn’t hear me sneak up behind him and I couldn’t resist the urge to goose him so I reached out and poked my finger right into that ticklish spot everyone has on their ribs. “Here I am! Now what are your other two wishes?”

He jumped and whipped around as I backed away and then he smiled that lopsided grin. “You little sneak! You think that was funny, don’t you?”

I couldn’t control my laughter. “Yep, I sure do and you would too if you could have seen the way you jumped.”

He came down the front steps and stood in front of me with his hands stuffed in the front pockets of his jeans as he looked at my purse on my shoulder. “Leavin’ so soon?”

“I haven’t decided. I was kicking the idea around when I got your text.”

“You should definitely leave this party. With me, that is.”

This guy was a piece of work. He really expected me to take off with him. “I just met you last night and I don’t recall getting to know you all that well so why would I do that?”

“First of all, you owe me two more wishes according to your own admission, Genie. Second, you could use the time to get to know me better.”

“Why do I need to know you better?”

There they were; those dimples I adored and I wondered what provoked them to make their appearance. “So our first date won’t be so awkward.”

He was hot, but I wasn’t falling for his routine. “There’s no way I could fool myself into thinking you might be a good idea.”

He took his hands out of his pockets and reached for mine. “Many great ideas have happened by mistake.”

I looked down at his hands grasping mine. That might be true, but I wasn’t willing to take that chance because my last mistake was still fresh on my mind. “I don’t need more mistakes in my life.”

He let go of one of my hands and put two of his fingers under my chin to lift it. He had the dreamiest brown eyes and I was jealous of his long lashes. “Payton, we’re gonna happen. You should know that up front.”

No! I would not be fooled by the likes of a
Playah
like Nick Hawke. “Is bullshit one word or two?”

“You have one smart ass mouth on you and I’m not gonna lie about it; I really want to kiss it, but I won’t because you’re not ready.”

“What makes you think I’ll ever be ready?”

“I’m choosing to use my second wish on you leaving this party with me, so that means I only have one wish left and I’ll be saving it for our first kiss. I’ll let you know when I’m ready to redeem it. So, do you need to let Claire and Jessie know that you’re leaving with me?”

Geez, he was presumptuous. I should have told him I wouldn’t go anywhere with him, but that wasn’t what I did at all.

“No, I’ll text Claire.” I didn’t want to have
that
discussion right now. I mean the one where I had to explain how I had lost my mind when I decided to leave with the Sex Tricks Jedi.

“Leaving w/ Nick. Call U Later.”

My thumb hesitated over the send button.
Gah! She and Jessie were going to go apeshit about me leaving with him and that’s why I waited to hit the send button until Nick and I were getting into his car.

He pulled the big heavy door open for me and I felt like I ungracefully fell into the seat when I got in because it was so much lower than my Lexus. “Whoa, I wasn’t expecting that kind of drop.”

“What? You mean my car being low profile?”

“Low profile?” I laughed. “Sure, we’ll say low profile if that’s what you want to call it.”

“What would you call it?”

I definitely wasn’t a short, little petite girl like Claire.
“Ass dragging on the ground
is what I’d call it.” I stretched out one of my long legs toward Nick. “Have you seen how long my legs are? I’m five-seven and most of that is in these legs.”

His eyes darted down to my ankle and slowly followed my leg up to where my shorts started, making me decide that my move might not have been such a great idea.

“Are you kiddin’ me? There’s no way I could miss these legs, Doll Face,” he laughed and I quickly pulled my leg back into the car. My face immediately felt like throbbing fire. I was blushing, by gosh, actually blushing for the first time in my life.

Nick shut my door and then he walked around and got in on the driver’s side. He started the car and it roared loudly the way I always imagined a NASCAR would.

“There’s no sneaking in or out at night for you in this loud bad boy, is there?”

“No, there’s no way I would be able to pull that one off so I guess it’s a good thing I don’t have to sneak around. There’s not a lot of rules at my house.”

Geez, I hoped he didn’t have parents like Jessie’s mom and grandmother.

He backed out of the spot where he was parked and did a U-turn in the street in front of Dane’s. I had no idea where we were going but I didn’t care because I needed some distance between me and my most recent mistake.

I got a text and I reached for my phone to silence it because I knew Claire and Jessie were about to blow it up. “Your parents don’t have rules for you, huh?”

“Not really. I live with my dad and he doesn’t really care what we do as long as it doesn’t involve causing him trouble. Do your parents still have a curfew for you or something?”

“My parents’ control isn’t really about a curfew. They are much more concerned with appearances so they like to control who I’m with and what I do because it reflects upon them.”

Speak of the devil and he shall appear. The text was from my Mom and I shoved my phone back into my purse without replying to her. “That makes my parents sound like total Class A assholes, doesn't it?

“I guess it depends on their limitations. Let me guess...they would not approve of their perfect little girl being with someone like me. Am I right?”

The thought of my parents thinking I was perfect made me laugh, but he had the disapproval part down perfectly. “My parents aren’t afflicted with the misconception of thinking I’m perfect. They’re not delusional.”

He turned to look at me briefly. “But they wouldn’t approve of me, would they?”

I looked out the window and watched the street lights quickly passing. “No, they would not approve of me being with you and that’s putting it mildly.”

He was quiet for a few seconds and I wondered what he was thinking. “What do your parents think of Jessie?”

I had heard them voice their feelings over and over but I was going to leave off the part about how they thought he was trash and would never amount to anything. “They commend the Deverauxs for helping Jessie, but they believe it’s a mistake for them to take him in their home. They’re pretty much outraged that they would allow their daughter to be in a relationship with him.”