The Trouble with Dating Sue (Grover Beach Team #6) (14 page)

I shook my head and waited until Sue had disappeared inside her house before driving off. Once home, Mom got out wearing a soft smile, not in the least aware of how terribly wrong this evening had gone for my brother and me. Ethan followed her silently. After I’d grabbed my duffle bag from the trunk and slammed the door closed, I locked the car. Then I walked into the house and dropped the keys in my mother’s handbag.

“Thanks for coming to my game tonight,” I told her, kissing her on the cheek. As she tried to caress my face—the swollen side—I winced. “Please, don’t. You already broke my face once.”

She jerked her hand back, concern on her face. “Sorry, sweetie.” Then she carefully raked her fingers through my hair instead and sent me off with an air-kiss. “Good night.”

Ethan was already in his room. Passing his door, I knocked once and shouted, “Hey, E.T., can I come in?”

“No,” was his curt answer.

Like a damn tree, I stood there for a couple seconds longer. But when it was obvious he wouldn’t change his mind, I rolled my eyes in frustration and went to my room.

IT WAS AROUND eleven, and I was beat. Not only from the game, but that useless argument with Ethan had exhausted me quite a bit, too. Stripping down to my boxers, I slipped into bed and turned off the lamp on my nightstand.

All too soon, though, my mind wandered to Susan’s house. Her room was supposed to be on the second story of that yellow house. What would it look like in there?
May the force be with you
bed sheets and a Harry Potter cape hanging on her door? After starting to get to know her a little better, I actually doubted it. And the
Weird Geek
as a name for her in my contacts list didn’t do her justice any longer, either. I should have changed it a while ago.

Feeling for my phone in the dark, I squinted as the bright blue light of the screen came on. Scrolling down to the very bottom, I found Sue, the last entry before
Wendy 3
. Who the hell was
Wendy 3
? Obviously I hadn’t talked to that girl for a long time, or the name would ring a bell. The 3 wasn’t such a good sign, either. Maybe that was the reason I hadn’t talked to her in such a long time in the first place.

Retyping
Weird Geek
’s entry, I wondered what number I should give her. It was a rating of “doable,” or how much I enjoyed kissing that particular girl. I hadn’t done either with Sue yet, so the system wouldn’t really work.

But I did want to kiss her. And heck, I wanted to really badly. So much so that my mouth suddenly watered at just the thought of it.

Right now, she was probably sitting on her bed, moaning over another missed good-night kiss and waiting in vain for a call from my brother. Since she had no idea about the conversation that had taken place between Ethan and me in the restroom, she must have felt totally alienated by his behavior on the drive home.

If only she knew…

If only she had the slightest idea which sex truly interested my brother. Maybe then she would stop chasing after him and see what she could have with me instead. I would be the right kind of boyfriend for her.

Crap, did I really just think
that
?
The word with a capital B?
No way—this couldn’t be happening…

Or could it?

Dammit, I didn’t know what to think anymore. It certainly wasn’t the way I should’ve been thinking of Sue. Or any girl.
At all
. I never did. At least, I hadn’t in a long time. So why now?

I wanted to put my phone away and ignore these odd feelings that had taken me over tonight. Except I couldn’t. Instead, my heart started pounding harder as I typed a message for Sue.
Good night, sweetness.

Maybe it was the absolute wrong thing to do to send it, but my quick thumb beat common sense. If Ethan didn’t come around fast and sort things out, he couldn’t hold it against me that I was acting my age and running with my hormones. Sue was a girl too sweet to miss out on.

Unfortunately, she was also a girl not interested in me. That much I figured when no good-night text came back. Disappointed, I rolled to my side, dragged the covers up to my chin, and closed my eyes. I’d never had this much trouble cracking through a girl’s barriers before. Regardless of the challenge, maybe that was a sign that I should stop wasting my time with her. For some reason, I got the feeling I was going to break my teeth trying to crack this special nut. On the other hand, I wasn’t quite sure that, even if I tried, I could make myself stop going after this girl…

Shifting to my stomach, I managed to fall asleep eventually. Then a beep paired with something vibrating against wood pulled me out of unconsciousness.

With no idea how much time had passed, I lifted my head, drowsy, wondering what was going on. The blue light of my phone illuminated my dark room. No ringing meant no call. A text? Rubbing the eye that was not swollen from getting punched in the face, I reached for my cell. Right, text. From
Ponytail Sue
. The name didn’t ring a bell, couldn’t be important. With a moan, I closed my eyes again, wanting nothing more than to fall right back into sleep.

Until the name jerked me wide awake an instant later.
Ponytail Sue?
That’s what I had replaced
Weird Geek
with! I lifted my head and read what she’d written:
Are you still awake?

Rolling onto my back, I sat up and typed a reply.
I am now.
With my eyes still sticky from sleep, I had to correct three typos in that short message. Only after sending it off did I check the clock. Quarter past midnight. That was awkward, to say the least.

Another text arrived.
Can I talk to you about something?

In fact, if she wouldn’t, I doubted I could go back to sleep now. I answered:
You can call me anytime. ;-)

Twenty seconds later, the phone went off in my hand. Dammit, and I’d almost believed she wouldn’t really do it. “Hey, sweetness,” I answered. “What’s troubling you?”

After a moment of hesitation, she confessed, “Something that you did earlier.” Even though her voice was low and wary, it felt nice to hear it again. But what exactly had I done wrong?

“Starting with offering to give you a hickey, that could be many things.” I chuckled. “Could you be a little more specific?”

Sue let out a long breath into the phone that I could almost feel on my ear rather than hear. “I did something terrible tonight,” she whined. “When you went to the restroom after your nosebleed, I did, too.”

That was the drama?
OMG! The horror!
I shook my head, smirking into the darkness. “Okay, that’s really not a big issue, Susan. Everybody needs to pee sometimes.”

“I was outside when you and Ethan were talking in the bathroom.” Her voice dropped even lower. “I heard you.”

My breath froze in my lungs. Shit. I raced through the conversation earlier at Burger King. Did I say the word
gay
tonight? Or something about “into guys”? Or whatever the hell else could have revealed Ethan’s secret to her?

“Chris…?” Sue’s cautious voice flowed through the phone.

Little hysteric shivers zoomed over my skin, making it hard to concentrate. I cleared my throat. “What did you hear
exactly
?”

“There’s something going on, and you know it. Since it’s concerning me, I think you should tell me.”

Was she kidding? “No, I don’t think I should.”

“Then at least tell me why you got in a fight with that guy—Will.”

Goodness, she was onto something. And she had a right to know. But what could I do? Nothing, goddammit. With the same curtness as before, I answered, “Sorry, can’t.”

“Fine,” she muttered. “Then there’s no need for me to talk to you anyway.” And she frickin’ hung up.

No way, sweetness
! We weren’t done yet! I’d dialed her number before she could finish that frustrated huff of hers, and when she picked up, I immediately told her, “That was rude.”

“Keeping secrets from me when you know that I like your brother is rude,” she snapped back.

God help me out of this! I didn’t want to make her angry. And she didn’t deserve to be lied to, either. But who was I to spill Ethan’s secrets? I just couldn’t. Why didn’t she understand that?

“Fair enough, but I can’t help it,” I told her honestly. She was starting to mean
something
to me. But my brother meant more. And because Sue was relying on
me
, of all people, to help her with him, I knew that he really meant a lot to her, too. In a way, it stung. A hint of cynicism sneaked into my voice. “It’s not my business, as you told me so nicely the other day.”

Sue heaved a deep sigh. “How about I take a guess, and you just say yes or no?”

To her credit, it was a good try. In spite of the twinge of jealousy stabbing me, it made me chuckle. “Nope. It doesn’t work that way.”

And then Sue totally stumped me when she moaned into the phone.

My jaw dropped, because the sound of it, so incredibly sexy, ignited a series of X-rated visions in my mind. “Do that again, and I might ask you what you’re wearing right now,” I told her, no longer master of my own tongue and mind.

Sue sucked in a sharp breath, but the next second, her tone was heavy with frustration as she said, “Chris, you’re such a blockhead.”

There was no use in denying that when the visuals kept coming with unstoppable force. Some of them involved kiwi and cream and reminded me that I just might get another chance to feed her soon. “Yeah, maybe,” I purred, sinking a little deeper into my pillow. “But you have a date with this blockhead in a week.”

“No I don’t,” she huffed.

“Oh yes, you do.” After practically begging me on her knees today to cook for her, she couldn’t have forgotten so fast. “You’re coming to my house, I’m going to cook for you, and we’re eating together. Sounds very much like a date to me,” I explained, carefully leaving out the part about my brother being with us as well. “And like it’s customary for a
real
date,” I drawled, “I will kiss you before the evening is over.”

For all I knew, Ethan wouldn’t even mind.

A shocked laugh escaped Sue. “You’re insane if you really think that.”

“So? I’ve been called worse.” I chuckled. “You should consider the possibility that Ethan, nice as he may be, just isn’t the right guy for you.” Honest enough, but still safe. Mentally, I patted myself on the back.

“But you are?” Sue challenged next.

“At least I don’t have dark secrets.”

After a moment, she grumbled evasively, “I think it’s late and time to end this conversation.”

Aw, did that mean she actually agreed with me and was taking the easy way out? It could only be that, since we hadn’t solved the original problem yet. “Really? Shame.” I held back a smug laugh, enjoying teasing her just a little more. “Before you go, could you moan for me again?” It would totally make my night.

“In your dreams,” she snarled, but I saw right through her defiance. Who was she trying to fool? She liked my teasing as much as she’d enjoyed the kiwi, me breathing a kiss on her neck, and us holding hands at Burger King tonight.

Maybe it was too soon to throw in the towel just yet. The fight for Sue wasn’t over, and as I saw it, I stood a fair chance. “I guess I’ll be seeing you around.” A smile pulled at my lips. “Night, Sue.”

The disconnecting signal was her reply, but I would swear I’d heard the softest chuckle before she hung up.

With a surge of joy, my hand fell to my lap, clutching the phone. My gaze wandered to the window, and I stared out into darkness. Hopefully Ethan would invite her over tomorrow.

I couldn’t wait to see her again.

*

Sunday morning, a call from Hunter caused me to open my eyes while I was still lying in bed, daydreaming. He wanted to know if the Sharks won the game last night.

“Yep. I took a blow to my back and sunk the winning point with a free throw. It was awesome!”

“Congrats, dude!”

“Thanks.” I got out of bed and booted up my computer to have a little music fill the room. “By the way, your friend Susan came with us. She and Ethan wanted to go to the movies at first. Jeez, I still can’t believe he would do that to me.” There was a slight sting of betrayal stabbing me again. “But she made him go to the game.”

“Whoa, how did that happen?” Ryan demanded.

I scratched my head. “No idea, actually. But it was an altogether crazy evening.”

“Crazy how?”

With the cell squeezed between my ear and right shoulder, I put on my jeans and buttoned them up. “Well, for one, your nerd friend gave me a freaking compliment. And later, I got in a fight with Will Davis from my team.”

Hunter’s laugh echoed through the line. “Aha. Want to explain any of it a little better?”

I detailed most of last night, leaving out only how Susan Miller stared at me in the rearview mirror and how we sort of held hands at Burger King. Those things were just too personal to spill. But since Hunter knew about my speculations about Ethan being gay, I also told him about the conversation we’d had in the bathroom and how my brother had run from it.

“Mmm, that’s bad,” he admitted. “Are you going to try again?”

“Talking to him?”

“Yes.”

I heaved a sigh. “Maybe.”

“Good luck with that, man.” As Hunter said goodbye, I heard a doorbell ring somewhere on his end. Apparently, he’d arrived at his girlfriend’s house. “See you tomorrow.”

I hung up and slumped in my chair, my head lolling backward. We couldn’t act like nothing had happened last night, so a visit to Ethan’s room seemed inevitable.

After I’d finally donned the rest of my clothes, I walked over to Ethan’s door and knocked. “E.T., can I talk to you for a minute?”

He grumbled something that sounded a lot like
fuck off
.