Page 14 of The Do-Over
He nodded. “I’ve never been on a second date,” he said.
“So you are some kind of playboy.”
“I guess I am,” he admitted. “But if I am, at least I’m an honest one. I don’t promise anything more than I intend to deliver. You and I said this would be just one date.”
“You made it sound as if it would be up to me whether I wanted a second date,” she reminded him.
He looked at her and was relieved to see that she was still smiling. She wasn’t offended.
“I will leave it up to you,” he told her. “If you think the game goes well—I’ll take you out for dinner after it’s over—then we’ll have a second date, and you can choose what we do.”
“That seems fair,” she said. “But you’d be willing for me to be your first ever second date?”
“Honestly?” he said. “I’d be into it. I’d like to have a second date with someone before I leave Deer Ridge, and I’d like it if that person was you.”
Thea nodded slowly. “Okay,” she said. “You’re on for the basketball game, then. And from there, we’ll see.”
“Seems fair to me,” he agreed.
They turned left, and he saw that they’d come full circle around the block. “This is my house,” she said, pointing out a small, pleasant-looking yellow one with flower boxes under the windows and a winding brick path leading to the front door.
“All the lights are out,” he observed.
She nodded. “No one will be at home,” she said. “My parents and my brother will be at the restaurant.”
“Should I take you there instead?” It occurred to him that this would mean more time with her.
But she shook her head. “No,” she said. “I’m fine here on my own until they close up for the evening. I’ll just go back to working on my paper, and maybe heat something up for dinner.”
“Okay,” he said. “If you’re sure.”
“Thank you for walking me home,” she said, gazing up at him.
“Thank you for letting me,” he said.
They looked at each other quietly for a moment. Then, unable to resist the allure anymore, Rob reached up and brushed the side of her face with his fingertips.
She inhaled sharply.
Somehow, the distance between them had closed. Rob didn’t know if he had leaned in or if she had. Maybe it was both of them.
And then they were kissing.
He’d never experienced a kiss quite like it. Usually, when he kissed a girl, he thought about it first. He planned the moment. But this one had happened without his even knowing that it was coming. He wasn’t even sure whether he had been the one to initiate it, or whether Thea had done it. It could have been either one of them.
There was something sort of magical about that.
They broke apart, and she looked up at him, her expression filled with surprise. He wondered desperately what she was thinking. He couldn’t see any displeasure on her face—she wasn’t angry about the kiss. But did that mean she had liked it?
He had never had to wonder before. Girls had always made it clear to him what they thought of him. But Thea—she kept him guessing.
He liked that.
She hurried up the path to the front door, pulled a key from her pocket, and unlocked it. He stood on the sidewalk and watched until she was inside. Then he lifted a hand in farewell, not knowing whether or not she’d seen him. It was possible she was watching from a window—but she probably wasn’t.
He turned and started back toward the high school to pick up his car from the student parking lot.
What the hell is going on with me?
