Page 36 of Charm Me Not

I raised an eyebrow. “But what if?”

She paused, and I knew I had piqued her interest. If I could hook her and reel her in, I may have a shot.

I needed to come up with the full plan and I only had seconds.

“How?”

Score. There it was. She took the bait and now I had to be as convincing as possible. I didn’t know what I was doing, but she hadn’t said no yet. She hadn’t gone running from the restaurant. She was still here, and maybe even considering it.

“Let me take you out. On a real date. More than one date even. Maybe,” I added. She looked at the table between us, as if this was already considered a date. I shook my head, but remained silent.

“You can’t.”

“Why not?”

She glared at me as if I were stupid. Which, at this moment, I kind of felt like.

“You’re Charlie Henrikson.”

I leaned forward, smiled, and whispered, “I know.”

“Captain of the varsity soccer team.”

“I know,” I whispered again, adding a waggle of my brows for added effect. Whatever she was trying to prove wasn’t working. She was only stating things I already knew. If she intended to say there was the divide between me and her, I didn’t want to hear it. It wouldn’t work because I didn’t care.

She wasn’t amused. She kept the deadpan look on her face. “You’re the captain of myfather’ssoccer team. If he found out we were going out, he’d bench you. Kick you off the team. Something.”

My face fell, and I leaned back. She brought up a good point. But would Coach Andersen really kick me off the team?

“He would do that?” I asked, not bothering to hide the hurt in my voice. I worked hard to get where I was and had plans to play in college. If Coach kicked me off now, before the playoffs, all that would go down the drain.

Una shrugged, a little smirk on her face like she thought she won. “He did it to Bastian two years ago after he ditched me at Homecoming.”

Another strike in the love department for her. I had heard about Sebastian taking her to Homecoming, but didn’t realize the extent of it. Bastian was a junior to our sophomore, but on the JV squad. He was also a Teller kid, so asking Una to a dance wasn’t as crazy as what I was suggesting now.

What I didn’t know was the fact that he ditched heratthe dance. That was a jerk move and Coach’s punishment made more sense now. Back then, we were shocked and appalled, especially since Bastian never fought against it. I had a feeling Una was holding back more to the story, but it unnerved me nonetheless.

She dropped her hands under the table, fiddling with something I couldn’t see. Bringing up Bastian hit a sore spot.

“Alright, I see your issue with love now. You definitely don’t have a good track record to work off of, or many great role models,” I said, reaching up and ruffling my hands through my hair. I needed a way to get her to agree. If I didn’t… anything between her and I would be lost after this dinner. We would leave this restaurant, and she would have no reason to ever talk to me again.

A tiny crack hit my heart just then. I couldn’t let her go that fast. Not when I had been waiting years to even get to this point. She was so close.

The only thing that stood in the way was her father. Not physically, but it almost felt like it. If there was a way for him not to know—

That was it. We couldn’t let her dad find out. That would solve her problem and mine. Lying wasn’t my strong suit, but for Una? I would lie every day for the rest of my life.

“What if your dad doesn’t know? What if no one does?”

Her brows slammed down over her eyes, her frown deepening. “No. Wait, what? No.”

Bubbles of excitement fluttered in my stomach. Or maybe it was the jalapenos. Either way… “Come on. It could be fun just being our little secret.”

Just then, her phone buzzed, sending both of us jumping. Una looked down at it, frowned even more, and leapt to her feet.

“I have to go.”

“Oh no, wait! You can’t go now—” I called after her, but she had already disappeared around the corner and out the door.

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