Page 21 of Eleanor & Grey
“It was amazing! I’ve never seen a kung fu movie before.”
He sighed, relieved as he rested a hand on his chest. “Good. I was really worried. Most girls think it’s weird that I watch them, but I love it.”
“I love that you love it.”
“So now what? Do you want to go get some food or something?”
“I could always eat,” I agreed.
We headed to an ice cream parlor, where I found something else we both had in common: vanilla ice cream with chocolate fudge. We weren’t shy about stuffing our faces either. As we ate, I couldn’t help but wonder about something, though.
“What made you want to hang out with me?” I blurted out, feeling my face heat up a bit after the words left my lips.
He held his spoon filled with ice cream midair. “What do you mean?”
“It just seemed a little random, that’s all.”
“Oh.” He ate the bite he’d scooped up and then spoke with his mouth full. “You didn’t seem impressed with me at the party.”
“And that made you want to hang out with me?”
“Yup.”
“But why?”
“Because most girls act like everything I do and say is magic when really I say a lot of stupid things. I would say a good ninety percent of what I say is just bullshit.”
“I’d round it up to a hundred,” I joked.
He snickered. “See? Things like that. Other girls would never say that. It’s like they like this guy they made up in their head, and they have no clue who I actually am. You didn’t care about me at all.”
“You want to hang out with me because I don’t care about you?”
“Yeah, exactly.”
I chuckled. “That seems messed up.”
“Maybe, but it’s true. Plus... with your mom being sick...” His words trailed off, and I felt a strange tug in my gut.
“I don’t want you to hang out with me because you feel bad for me,” I told him. I didn’t need his pity.
“No, it’s not that. I mean, I do feel bad, but I don’t know how to explain it.” He raked his fingers over his forehead. “I guess, I just mean, when my grandpa was sick, it was all I could think about, and I remember wishing I had someone to take my mind off of him being sick for just a little while. I wanted to do that for you. I wanted to give you something else to think about, and I didn’t want you to feel alone.”
I wasn’t certain that this boy was real.
Even in my novels, the heroes weren’t that sweet.
I bit my bottom lip as I ate my ice cream. “Oh.”
That was all I could say, because my emotions were choking me.
“Which brings me to our next topic.” He linked his fingers together and stretched out his arms before placing them on the table. “I have a proposition for you.”
“Oh? What is it?”
“We have to keep seeing one another, at least once a week to keep you from going insane.”
“What do you mean?”
