The Trouble with Dating Sue (Grover Beach Team #6) (28 page)

“I’m done,” I murmured, lowering my head.

“Good.” From the sound of it, he was suppressing an amused grin. “She seemed all right to me. They—her parents—had a conversation with her, that’s why she didn’t answer her phone before. It seems to have gone well.”

A long-held breath rushed out with relief as I lifted my head. “Thank God.”

“And she didn’t particularly mention you or this afternoon, but”—he pressed his lips together briefly—“you might want to keep your phone close by. I think she’s going to call you. Or text you.” He shook his head. “Whatever.”

I jumped out of his chair and raced back to my room, where my phone lay on my nightstand. “Thanks!” I shouted over my shoulder before I closed the door and flopped on my bed, waiting for the damn thing to ring.

It took Sue an endless time to finally text, but when my cell dinged with a new message, my heart thumped in my throat.

Thanks for today.

That’s it? Nothing else? I didn’t really know what I’d expected, but one or two lines more would have been nice. My thumb hovering over the call button, I pondered whether that was a good idea. It was late, for one, and yet it might have still been
too early
to call her. But this was nothing I could reply to and easily engage her in chat. “You’re welcome” was just not enough.

And Ethan hadn’t been such a great help, either. She’d sounded all right on the phone—but that could mean anything in this situation. Did her not sobbing into the phone necessarily mean
all right
? What if she was just pretending to be okay and in truth was crying into her pillow? If she was, she wouldn’t pick up her phone, that was a given.

In the end, I decided to go with a text. It took me three attempts until I was happy with what I had.

Ethan said you’re feeling better. I’d like to make sure of that myself. Mind if I call you?

She replied fast.
Do you really think that’s a good idea?

You bet! If she’d told me in no uncertain words that she didn’t want to talk to me tonight, I’d have respected that. But what she said was practically an invitation to call. Right? And so I did, holding my breath while I waited.

Susan picked up on the third ring. As she whispered, “Hey,” my tension eased and my heart could relax and beat normally again. From the sound of this one word, I guessed she was in her bed. It was funny how I’d taken to notice such small things about her when we talked.

“Hi.”

We were both silent for a long moment after that. Dammit, I missed her.

After a few more seconds, her slightly teasing voice drifted through the line. “I thought you’d say something stupid to make me laugh so you could hear that I’m fine.”

Any other night, that would have been my plan. Right now, however, I couldn’t think of something funny. Too much had happened, and it wasn’t the time for jokes. So the first thing that came to my mind was, “Ethan is gay.”

Although I was serious, Sue burst out in wild laughter. “Yeah? So what?”

So what?
“You knew,” I accused her. She knew, and she hadn’t told me.

“Yes, I did.” She made it sound like it was the most obvious thing in the world that I had a gay brother. “Didn’t you?”

“I assumed.” A casual shrug rolled off my shoulders. “Never knew for sure.” But since we were all clued in now, there was one last thing to discuss. “He told me today. You know what that means.”

“No, what?”

“That you can’t have him.”
Duh
.

“True.”

True? That was her answer? In the dim light, I scrunched my face at the wall opposite my bed. “I’m confused. Today you turned me down because you wanted him.”

“No, Chris, I didn’t turn you down because of Ethan,” she declared in a tone you’d use with a kindergartener. “I said I wanted someone a little more like him. That’s all.”

“Ah. Safe and boring. I get it now.” She would never admit she loved a little adventure, too.

“Ethan isn’t boring,” she defended my brother, and I got the feeling I was about to get on her bad side again. “We talk a lot. He understands me. We can have fun without me having to worry that he’s gushing over the next best girl.”

Right.
“Because he’d be gushing over the next best guy…”

Shit, where did that come from? I bit my tongue as Susan laughed and scolded me, “Chris! You’re impossible.”

Hearing her laugh made me smile. “Yeah, I know.” To change that would probably require more willpower than I could ever master. “But I think it’s cool that he finally told me. And he’s going to tell Mom, too. You’re good for him in that way.”

As if startled by my reasoning, the only sound she made for a moment was her breath in the phone. Finally, she said, “I guess he just needs someone who doesn’t judge him for what he feels.”

“I don’t. He knows that.” If Ethan hadn’t figured that out before, he knew it now. Our sobering conversation this afternoon was really one of a kind. Then I sighed, thinking of the mess I’d made of Sue and me. “I just wish he’d have confirmed my suspicions a little bit sooner. Like a
week
sooner.”

She definitely knew what I meant, but she asked anyway, and with an unmistakable tease in her voice too. “What would have changed?”

Many things. For starters: “I wouldn’t have been an ignorant dick. I would have come for another kiss the very next day.” And most of all: “I wouldn’t have messed us up.”

“Us?”

“Well, the
possibility
of us.”

Even in her quiet exhale, I could feel her smile. Then she cleared her throat. “Dude…shit happens.”

God, yes.
I rocked with laughter. Sadly, she wasn’t taking my suggestion the way I’d hoped, and that made me uneasy. I really didn’t want to completely lose her over a stupid misunderstanding. Hm, maybe a change of plans? “So I guess I’ll have to show you.”

“Show me what?”

“That I can be safe, boring, funny, a listener, a talker”—in short, everything my brother was—“and all on an
exclusive
basis.”

Her answer came after a short hesitation. “In your dreams, Chris.”

“Perhaps.” But from her giggle, I knew she liked the idea. “Luckily, you’ll be there as well tonight.” Then I added in a softer voice, “Sleep tight, sweetness.”

Normally, she would have hung up at this point. She never said anything after that, not even to wish me a good night. Only now, she was still breathing into the phone. And for a reason. She wanted to give in. Wanted to give the
us
thing a chance. I knew she did.

So come on, sweetness! It’s not that hard. Just say the words.

“You, too,” she murmured, followed by the disconnecting click. The girl was just too adorable.

Chuckling to myself, I dropped my phone in my lap. So she hadn’t written me off completely. That was all I could ask for.

“NO, IT’S REALLY just boys, Mom.”

Whoa.
I stopped dead in the hallway when I heard my brother’s quiet words on Sunday morning. Ethan and Mom were in the kitchen, and they were having
the
talk
. Not the one about the birds and the bees—this was about boys only.

Not wanting to be an eavesdropper, I decided to skip breakfast and slinked back to my room, where I sat the next hour reading. Heck, this was the first time in ages that I’d picked up a real book. After I’d pulled it from the shelf, I had to blow off the dust of what seemed to be years. It was
Paper Towns
by John Green, a Christmas present from Ethan two years ago. He always gave me books for Christmas, even though he knew I never read them. Well, not until this morning, anyway.

After the first few pages, I started wondering what kind of book this actually was and turned it around to read the text on the back. Had he given me a romance book?
Jesus, Ethan!
We really needed to talk about boy and girl stuff.

I shut the book and put it back between the other dust traps, getting an
Archie
comic from the drawer of my nightstand instead.

A while later, I ventured off to the kitchen because my grumbling stomach was killing me. Mom was there alone, hunched over the counter, thumbing through a cookbook. She looked up at me with a smile.

“Are you okay, Mom?” I asked as I poured myself a glass of OJ and grabbed a doughnut from the box on the counter.

“Sure, why wouldn’t I be?”

I shrugged. “Heard you and Ethan talking earlier.”

Straightening, she shut the book and swallowed. “Yeah, that. It was…um—”

“Don’t say it was unexpected, Mom.” I gave her a pointed look, taking a big bite of my breakfast, which sported green icing.

“No, no! That’s not what I was going to say.” She blushed a little and went to get a glass of water. After a long drink, she put the glass down and leaned against the island. “It’s all right,” she finally let out on a sigh. “Ethan is a good boy. He can handle this.”

“Of course he can.” An amused chuckle escaped around my bite. “Just don’t make him feel too special. You have
two
awesome kids, you know.” In mock sulkiness, I lowered my chin, and she laughed at that. Then she came around to the table and ruffled my hair.

“So, what’s for lunch? Find anything in that book?” I nodded back to the counter.

Mom tilted her head and cleared her throat. “Know what? Maybe we should go out. You never got that steak at the St. James for your victory, and home cooking is overrated anyway.”

Going out? Mom was in a good mood. That was a great sign.

On the way back to my room, I informed Ethan of our plans. Then I asked him if he’d heard from Sue this morning and if, by any chance, she was going to come over later today.

Ethan shook his head. “She’s busy all weekend. Her dad’s moving out, and she’s going to help him. I think she won’t be home until Sunday evening.”

Oh. That was tough. Her parents had dumped the news of their split on her only yesterday, and already her dad was moving out? Hopefully she was all right. She should have told me what was going on last night on the phone.

The weekend dragged on endlessly, and without the prospect of seeing Susan for the entire two days, I couldn’t wait to get back to school on Monday. Yeah, shocking, right? Only, she wasn’t there in the hallways that morning. Well, of course she had to be there somewhere, but I didn’t see her on the way to my first class. Either she was already in her classroom, or she came late. Was it deliberate, to avoid me?

Nah.
I was clearly starting to overthink our situation. A little depressed, I headed to history. After second period and on the way to gym, Brady and I ran into Lauren. Not exactly into her, actually, but I spotted her by the lockers and stopped in my tracks, shooting an arm out to hold Brady back, too.

“What’s up, man?” he asked with a bewildered look.

“Nothing.” I just didn’t want to interrupt what looked like Wesley with the elephant ears and Lauren arranging to go out. When her warm gaze wandered slightly off and landed on me, she gave me a quick smile. I nodded in approval. She would have plenty of time to tell me how the chat with Wesley went in Spanish. I was actually getting a little excited—not for Lauren, but for Wesley’s sake. The quiet guy had no idea what he was in for with that bombshell of a girl. She might be the stuff of his very own high school legends later in life.

Brady and I headed on to the gym, leaving the new dream couple to their smitten selves.

At long last, between third and fourth period, I saw Susan for the first time since Friday afternoon. Her backpack draped over one shoulder, she came shuffling toward me along the wall. My heart lurched to my throat in anticipation of talking to her. Today, she wore that soft green t-shirt, the one she’d had on when we made out in my house. Was it weird that I’d started to develop a liking for this simple piece of clothing?

I stopped, forcing the kids behind me to stream around me. Sue’s eyes found mine. They were shy and friendly, blinking tentatively in my direction. Her sweet ponytail swayed with each of her steps. I wanted to skim my fingers through her soft hair once more and draw in that fruity scent of her shampoo.

But she didn’t halt. All she actually did was lift her hand and briefly wiggle her fingers my way as she hurried on.

Was that it?
My shoulders slumped, and my stomach dropped to the floor. Did she actually intend to pretend we didn’t belong together like ketchup and fries? She gave me a fricking wave, nothing else? I thought we were over our argument and could start a new chapter.

Apparently, I’d been wrong.

Frustrated, I slumped against one of the lockers behind me and banged my head against it, the metallic sound rising over the crowd of students, making some of them look at me sideways. And ouch, that hurt. Rubbing the back of my head with one hand, I pulled out my phone and texted Ethan with the other.
When you see Sue at lunch today, can you invite her over this afternoon?

His answer arrived before the bell rang.
Will do.

Good. I really needed a chance to talk to her in person. On the phone was nice, but it never got me nearly as far as when we were in the same room. When we stood face to face, she had no chance to edit. It was as simple as that.

In Spanish, Lauren told me about her date set for Friday with Wesley Elephant-ears, and I was genuinely happy for her. Still, my mind kept wandering off elsewhere. Maybe I shouldn’t leave it up to Ethan to invite Sue. I could walk over to the soccer table and ask her myself. That way, she could see how important she was to me. Then again, I didn’t want to ruin anything by being too obtrusive.
Gah
, this was such a dilemma.

In the end, I decided to trust Ethan and hope to see Sue that afternoon.

Yeah, total shot in the dark. Ethan was going to see her, all right! She’d invited him to her place, instead. That girl made courting her quite difficult.

Irritated and bored to death, I roamed the house after basketball practice, waiting for Ethan to come home. I needed a detailed report of everything she’d said.

As soon as the sound of the front door closing drifted to me, I dashed into the hallway, where my brother was hanging his jacket on the coatrack. Turning around, he gaped when he found me planted in the middle of the hall, blocking his way.

“Hi,” he said warily.

“Don’t you
hi
me, traitor. How was it?” I demanded, jaw set.

“It was…nice?”

“Nice? That’s all?” Dammit, did he want to kill me with his reluctance? “What did you two do all evening? What did she say? Will she come over tomorrow?”

“Umm…” Ethan squeezed past me and rushed to the kitchen. He freaking
fled
!

“What is it?” I snarled as I strode after him and cornered him by the sink.

Hands gripping the counter behind him, he faced me and inhaled slowly. “She actually wants some distance.”

“Distance?” My jaw dropped. “She lives at the flipping other side of town. How much more distance can she want?”

Ethan shrugged uncomfortably. “I don’t know. She just said some distance would be good for the two of you.”

My gaze sank to the floor. “Distance,” I repeated flatly, heaving a deep sigh. “She’s punishing me, right? For how I screwed up last week.”

“Look, I don’t think it’s—”

“What do you recommend I do now?”

Lips pursed, he mulled over my question for a moment, then suggested in an uncertain voice, “Maybe you should give her the distance she wants?”

“Right.” An almost hurt laugh pushed out of my throat. “Or maybe not.”

Spinning on my heel, I trudged to my room and slammed the door shut. Susan Miller had a problem with nearness? Fine. Let’s get this sorted out. I grabbed my phone and typed a message for her.

Seriously? Distance? How am I supposed to show you all the good sides of me then?

Within two minutes, her answer arrived in my inbox.
You can shine with your absence. ;-)

A winking smiley face? Did she think this was fun? Then again, maybe she did. So she wasn’t punishing me as much as teasing me? Heck, this girl confused me more than complex numbers in math.

Biting the inside of my cheek, I wrote:
And fade out of your mind? Clever girl. Guess what? It’s not gonna happen, sweetness.

And hell yeah that was another challenge.

The sad thing was, she didn’t reply after that, and staring at the silent phone was driving me crazy. I finished the
Archie
comic I’d started reading on Saturday morning, then I turned off the light and glared at the ceiling.

Hah. Distance. You wish, little Sue.

*

As I swung my legs out of bed the next morning, my mind was set. I was going to get this girl, come hell or high water.

Of course, she once again successfully dodged me all day long. No possibility of an easy conversation, let alone the chance to touch her. Only, when I caught her gaze across the cafeteria at lunch, she sent me a flirtatious smile. Over quite a distance…

I was so sick of being kept away. Seriously, what a mean streak this deceivingly cute girl had in her! This was cruel.

But also exciting, on a deeper level. Hell, I quivered inwardly each time I spotted her somewhere in the school building, and the tingles in my stomach doubled whenever we locked gazes across the hallway. It was a fascinating game of hide-and-seek, and something that made me completely brain dead all day. Thank God I had no tests to take. The possibility I’d fail was about ninety-nine percent.

Oh, shocking surprise, she didn’t come to my place again that afternoon. Man, she was one stubborn little thing. The worst part of it all was that
I
was in love with her but Ethan was the one who got to be with her. She never said no when
he
called her.

Hm. Never said no…

I scratched my brow. So what if—

No!
No, no, I couldn’t do that! Shaking my head, I abandoned the idea that had just sneaked into my mind. But hell, the thought didn’t go away. So maybe I could? It was, after all, for a really good reason—and, at the moment, the only way I could think to convince her that I could be just as much her dream guy as Ethan was, if only she gave me a fair chance.

Yep, it was worth a shot.

“E.T.!” I yelled as I raced down the hallway, rattled on his door, and stormed inside. He sat on his bed with a car magazine in his lap and gazed at me, utterly perplexed. “I need your help. Now!” God, I knew being a twin would come in handy one day!

“With what?” His voice was more than a little skeptical.

“With winning Sue.”

“Uh, I don’t think I want to have anything to do with that, thank you.” Chuckling, he concentrated on his magazine again.

“Shut up and listen.” I planted myself in front of his bed, hands on my hips. “She thinks you’re the perfect guy for every girl, right? Well, at least for
her
. Except, we both know that she’s deluding herself and really wants a guy like me.”

“
Really?
” He tilted his head up once again, one eyebrow arched.

I gave him a broad grin. “Yes.”

“Fine.” With a mildly intrigued smile, he closed the mag and leaned back against the headboard. “So what, in God’s name, can I do for you?”

Heart racing with excitement, I bent forward and braced myself on the mattress, so that we were on eye level. “I want you to ask her out on a date.” As he sucked in a breath to interrupt me, I quickly added, “But
I
’ll be the one actually going out with her.”

His chin dropped a little. “You want to fool her?”

“Not fool, exactly, but…yeah.”