Page 65 of Between the Boards
Hayden stares down at it then glances back at me with the most confused expression I’ve ever seen.
“Why are we here?” He asks, ignoring Colton’s outstretched hand completely. ”Why are we on a date?”
”A date?” Colton asks, retracting his hand and moving to stand next to me. “She’s just here to return your book, bud.”
His hand wraps around my waist and pulls me in, giving me a little squeeze. I press my lips together, not daring to speak as Hayden’s eyes bounce between us.
“Kairi?” Someone shrieks excitedly.
I glance up and watch Maliah and Eliana rushing over, their disguises now removed.
“Oh my gosh, itisyou,” Eliana says when they reach us. “What a coincidence to find you here, too.”
“Friends of yours?” Hayden asks, turning back to me and still not bothering to introduce himself to any of them.
He sure makes it easy for me to turn him down without feeling any guilt.
“Yes,” I say, pressing in closer to Colton’s side, “and we should probably get going. Thank you again for lending me your book, Hayden.”
We wave him off and begin walking away from him in hushed silence towards the parking lot.
“You looked like you needed a rescue,” Colton whispers, pulling me in closer. “I couldn’t just stand by and watch you suffer through that.”
”You were right about that,” I whisper. “He was a horrible date, and now I’m questioning my taste in men.”
When we reach the parking lot, Maliah shoves me into the front passenger seat next to Colton and her and Eliana quickly climb into the back.
“I think we should go to the Burger Shack and decompress from such a stressful day,” Maliah announces.
“I am dropping you two off at your bakery, Mal,” Colton says, angling the rearview mirror so he can see her. “Kairi and I need to talk.”
“We do?” I ask, voice pitched higher than normal.
“We do,” he replies with a firm nod.
I glance at the girls in the back and they look at me with wide eyes as Colton pulls out of the parking lot and heads toward Maliah’s bakery. When we arrive, I say bye to both of them and they mouthgood luckas they climb out.
“Okay,” I say, patting my thighs when they close the door. “What did you want to talk about?”
”First, I want to apologize for cancelling our dinner plans last week,” he says. “I owe you a make up date.”
“Oh.” My cheeks grow warm and I push a loose curl behind my ear. ”Okay, what did you have in mind?”
“Want to go to the drive-in theatre at the edge of town tonight?” He asks, almost sounding nervous. “We can bring blankets and pillows and watch it out of the trunk of my pickup truck.”
I stare at him, a million thoughts racing through my mind, because the whole point of the dinner date he cancelled on was so that we’d be seen on an actual date around town to fuel the fire of our fake relationship. But a drive-in theatre, at the edge of town, in the dark won’t allow for many people to see us.
This wouldn’t be a fake date, this would be real. I know I should say no and keep that boundary we put into place, but a part of me wants to go. To see what it could be like to feel like his real girlfriend for a night. To see if I can make sense of the weird reactions my body has around him.
“As long as we bring snacks,” I whisper, “then I’m in.”
He turns to look at me, relief written all over his face. “Deal,” he says with a nod.
My stomach feels like a million butterflies just broke free from their cocoons and are desperately fluttering around, but all I can do is smile back at him as we drive towards the grocery store.
TWENTY-TWO
COLTON
