Page 31 of Operation Prom Date
I reached up and twisted a strand of my hair around my finger. “What I’m saying is, I’ll take you up on that sometime.”
“Good. So how much longer are you going to leave me hanging about this weekend?”
Crap. He must’ve said something in the text about this weekend.As soon as I’d walked in the door last night, Mom had wanted all the details, and I’d had to sort through which ones I wanted to give her, and by the time I looked at my phone, it’d died. I was running late this morning, so I hadn’t even checked it yet. Which was so unlike me, to the point I wondered if a parasite had been in the lake water and infected my brain.
It certainly wasn’t because I’d completely spaced Mick’s text and gotten caught up in thinking about myfriendCooper and how much fun we had together.
If I dug out my phone now, he might see his code name that I hadn’t had time to change. “I’m sorry, but I just realized I have to get notes for this test I’m probably about to fail.”Which is something a serious girl would worry about.“Not that I’d normally care, but my mom is riding me about my grades, and you know how it is.”
Please know how it is, even thoughIdon’t even know how it is.
“For sure. Coach was always riding my ass about grades—but now that season’s over and I’ve got scholarships lined up, I’m pretty much coasting.” He made a motion with his hand, like it was surfing an air-wave.
“Okay, well. I’ll catch up with you later? Like lunch?” Realizing he probably had standing appointments with all the cool kids at lunch, I backtracked. “Or not lunch, because I’m sure you have plans, but—”
He put his hand on my arm and my heart stopped, I swear it did. “I’ll catch you at lunch.”
With one last smirk, he backed away and melted into the crowd.
As soon as I was sure the target had left the area, I ducked into a corner and pulled out my phone. My fingers hit too many keys at once, and I ended up having to put my password in three times.
Future Prom Date:I’m having a group of people over on Friday night. How about you be one of them?”
I squealed loud enough to garner a few stares, then I quickly put my phone away.Guess I owe Cooper an apology, or thanks, or maybe even dinner.
I couldn’t believe that ballsy text had worked. Clearly I didn’t know what guys were looking for in girls, so thank goodness I had help. I scanned the halls for Cooper so I could tell him his plan actually worked, but most everyone was rushing around, headed to class, and I realized I better, too. Didn’t want to get my first tardy.
Making it through morning classes had never been so hard. Before lunch I popped a breath mint, slicked on some of my strawberry shimmery lip-gloss, and searched for Mick among the crowd in the cafeteria, feigning ignorance to where he usually sat.
“Kate!” Mick patted the seat next to him, and I had a crap-ton of eyes on me. The sets belonging to the female portion of the crowd were less than friendly.
My heart traveled up into my throat and I carefully put one foot in front of the other, terrified I’d trip and ruin a moment I’d dreamed about for longer than I cared to admit.
As soon as I sat down, Mick put his hand high on my thigh, like we’d been dating for months instead of seconds.
Not that we were, you know, technically dating.
But did he really think he could just put his hand so high on my thigh? Offense bubbled up, because I wasn’t that kind of girl, but then I remembered the endgame of this whole operation meant pretending I might be.
Just until I hook him. Then he’ll get to know the real me, and I can slowly clue him in to the fact that I move a little slower.
“We never did have that conversation about UNH,” I tried, my voice coming out less steady than I hoped, but not as shaky as I feared it would.
“Right.” He shifted to face me more fully, keeping his voice low enough to make it a two-person conversation despite the large group surrounding us. “I like that it’s only a forty- to fifty-minute drive. I’d still live on campus to keep up with practices, but I’d be close enough to come home when I need to.”
Before I could tell him I was planning to stick close, mostly because it was cheaper to live at home, he added, “I’m not one of those people afraid to leave home or anything. It’s just…my little brother will be a freshman next year, and he plays football, too. I’d like to be able to at least see some of his games.”
Aww.I thought about that day in the ice cream shop again, and how I could see how much his little brother adored him, and clearly it went both ways. “That’s sweet.”
“Sweet.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not sure how I feel about being called sweet.”
“It’s a compliment, I promise.” I glanced at my food, but knew I’d never be able to eat while he was looking at me so closely. “And UNH is a really good school. I’m actually planning on going to the branch in Manchester.” My major was still up in the air, but I was leaning toward statistics. There was a big need for it in the health field and software field, so I had a few career paths to play with.
“It is a good school,” Mick said, but something about his posture screamed hesitance.
“So, what’s the hang up?”
He arched his eyebrows like I’d surprised him, and maybe I was reading more into the situation, but he seemed relieved I’d noticed. “It’s not even in the top one hundred as far as football goes. Which probably makes me sound like a total snob, but I want to play for a good school, one who wins.”
