EVEN THROUGH THE HAZY GLASS WINDOW, the look of betrayal on Giovanni’s face is crystal clear. If glares were laser beams, I’d be toast right now. After another second, I see him walk away.
“Oh no!” I take two steps toward the island divider, contemplating running outside. But with Nick here, I’m a bitch if I do and a bitch if I don’t. I stand still, my hand covering my mouth, wanting to stop this whole stupid event by sheer mind power.
“You know that guy?” Nick asks.
Out of the corner of my eye, I can tell Nick’s looking at me. But I can’t bear to see another guy glaring at me with hate in his eyes, so I concentrate on the floor tiles and shrug. “Um…used to.” Past tense now, from the look of things.
A tinge of hope edges sideways into my brain. Maybe Giovanni didn’t see me kissing Nick. It is sunny outside and dark inside, so maybe his eyes had a hard time adjusting to the differences in light. I sneak a peek, seeing him stop by his car and look back at the bakery—like he’s still checking to see if I’m coming. YES! A tiny spark of hope ignites in my chest.
“Hey, can I have a Coke?” Nick asks, the cooler door already open.
“Sure.” Giovanni gets in his car and slams the door with a bang loud enough to be heard inside the bakery. My spark of hope sputters out. Guess Giovanni’s vision worked perfectly well. Damn it! I want to run out to the car and explain before it’s too late.
Nick pops open his soda can, bursting my thought bubble. What am I thinking? What explanation can I possibly give Giovanni when he saw me kissing another guy? Tires squeal loudly past the bakery, more proof that Giovanni isn’t always Mr. Nice Guy. What have I done?
Nick slugs back a sip of pop and props his elbow up on top of the counter. “I take it he was the reason you were in such a hurry to ditch me, and not the library?”
I don’t answer right away, feeling completely miserable. Seeing Nick’s gorgeous blue eyes with a stream of sunlight flitting across his face, I consider telling him that Giovanni is my cousin or an old boyfriend. Until I recall how Teegan says I’m the world’s worst liar. I look down at my hand, twisting my silver spiral ring around my pinky.
“Yeah, you’re right. It’s just that…I met you both around the same time. He’s really—I had fun with—let’s just say I wanted to see how things went before I had to, you know…decide.” I stop, realizing I’ve been rambling again. I shrug, glancing up to see his reaction to my confession. “Guess you hate me now too.”
“Hate you?” His tone catches me by surprise, so I look at him. He doesn’t look all that angry. In fact, he looks calm. “We never said we were, you know, exclusive. And besides, the dude’s gone. Now I got you all to myself.” He raises his eyebrows twice suggestively and sets his Coke down. “I think you said something before about thanking me properly…” He steps closer, his body pressed against mine, and starts to kiss me.
As much as I liked making out a minute ago, my emotions are a hot mess right now. Shouldn’t Nick care that I was kissing another guy behind his back? Even though he doesn’t mind, or maybe because he doesn’t, I suddenly feel sleazy. And the way he said we’re not exclusive means he must be dating other girls. His tongue becomes a wet squid in my mouth. I end the kiss and smile. “Maybe a little later, okay?” Taking his hand, I pull him toward the door. I’m about to say good-bye when I realize I don’t need to send him home. Mom practically gave us her blessing.
“Where we going?” he asks. “I don’t have any plans.”
I relax, deciding I owe it to Nick to stop analyzing everything. “Well, now that my plans changed…how about you help me pick out some supplies for my adorable new kitty? Given to me by someone even more adorable?” I run a fingertip along the barbed wire tattoo on his bicep, and he grins. “And I could sure use my favorite Pet World employee’s discount.”
He shifts, looks uncomfortable. “I can go with you—just not to P. Dub.” He indicates Pet World with his head. “Let’s just say they don’t have Snickers’, uh, record on file. I don’t want anyone to get suspicious. Know what I mean?” He smiles at me.
I swallow, hoping I heard wrong. “Wait a second. Are you saying you…you stole her?” My voice echoes loudly through the empty bakery.
Nick winces, glancing over his shoulder. “Geez! Not so loud!” He looks back at me, tilting his head in apparent confusion. “You said you wanted payback on Darcy.”
“I…I guess.” I nod slowly, trying not to look freaked out. But what I had wanted was for him to slice open a bag of hamster shavings, switch a few rodent signs, maybe toss a dog toy in The Ratnificent Mile—not grand kitty theft.
He laughs, shaking his head. “I mean, you didn’t really think I had an extra two hundred bucks on me, did you?” He traces one finger along my crossed arms, ending with a slight brush against my breast—apparently his trademark move. “Not that you’re not worth it.”
I uncross my arms so his hand falls to his side. A seasick feeling sloshes around in my gut. Is harboring a stolen cat a crime? My mouth dries up as I picture the day Teegan’s older sister, Sammi, got caught shoplifting at Woodfield Mall last Christmas. The security guard handcuffed her, while another security guard escorted Teegan and me to the office, carrying our purses and shopping bags in case we had been stealing too—which, thank God, we hadn’t. Remembering the open-mouthed shoppers staring at us like we were giant head lice as we were paraded through the mall suddenly makes a choking sensation creep up my throat.
“I need some fresh air.” I fumble with the two deadbolts, unable to get them open.
“Need some help?” Nick easily twists the locks on the door and pulls it open.
I lunge for the sidewalk. My ears ring, and the ground feels squishy beneath my feet, as if I’m walking on a mattress. I lean my back against our picture window and gulp the humid air. My head spinning, I close my eyes, waiting for the sensation to pass.
Nick’s muffled voice asks, “What’s wrong, Soph?” He sounds like he’s speaking with a coffee cup pressed around his mouth.
I wipe my forehead with the inside neckline of my pink tank and slowly open my eyes. I swallow the lump of embarrassment in my throat. “Nothing. I’m fine now.”
“What happened?” Nick asks. “Did you smoke some weed before I came over?”
What did just happen? Can a person get dizzy over a memory? How lame. “I think all that kissing earlier must have made me weak in the knees.”
He laughs. “I am a great kisser—or so I’ve been told. A lot.” He elbows me gently.
The thought of him kissing lots of other girls somehow doesn’t lend itself to conversation. “Yep.”
“How about we go to that pet shop next to the movie theater?” He points off on an angle, and I know which one he’s referring to. “It’s Action Pet or Active Pet, something like that.”
“Sure. Let me lock up.” I scramble through my purse looking for my keys before I realize my mistake. “Oh, wait. I need to run up and get money first.”
Nick flicks his shaggy blond hair out of his eyes. Such an adorable guy move. “You won’t need it. I’ll handle it.” He pats a bulge in his front pocket. I assume he’s referring to the money in his wallet, unless he’s got some weird sexcapade arrangement with the local female pet shop vendors. I cringe at my overactive imagination.
“You have money, but will you use it?” I smile to let him know I’m joking, but part of me doesn’t want to go if he’s planning to steal. “Because it’s no biggie. I’ll just run up and—”
He squeezes my shoulder and pulls me closer. “Seriously! I cashed my check today. Bowls and food and kitty litter don’t cost that much. Besides, how much can we possibly carry?”
“Okay, then. Thanks.” After locating my keys, I lock up, thinking it odd that he’d worry about how much the bag of kitty supplies weighed. I mean, he’s not a rock like Giovanni, but I’m pretty sure he can handle carrying all ten pounds of merchandise from the store to the car.
Nick grabs my hand and leads me down the sidewalk toward Milwaukee Avenue instead of toward the parking lot. That’s when it hits me. “Wait. Are we walking there?” I don’t want to sound like a total lazy ass, but it’s like six or eight blocks away. As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I realize he probably just parked at the far end of the lot to get exercise, like Cosmo suggests if you want great legs. I feel stupid for being horrified by a little exercise.
“Yeeaah…” he says slowly, as we continue walking. “Remember how I told you at the concert that my driver’s license got suspended?”
I search through my memories of our first date. I’m nearly positive he never told me anything about his license. I know I drank a beer and had a hit of weed, but I would definitely remember something like that. “Not really. But whatever.” I shrug, wondering what someone would have to do to have his license suspended.
His face lights up. “Unless…will your mom let you drive her car?”
For a second, I think about asking to use Mom’s car, but what if he begged me to let him drive? Or wanted to smoke weed inside? I decide we’d better hoof it. “Sometimes, but she has plans tonight,” I lie. If she knew I was hanging out with Nick tonight, she’d not only let me use her car, but she’d probably hang a “Soon To Be Married” sign on the back and tie strings of tin cans to the bumper.
As we head toward the main street, Nick shrugs. “No biggie. I’ve had to walk a lot for the past five months. I only have one more month on my suspension, then I’m buying my own car. Got over five hundred bucks saved already.”
“Great,” I say, trying to be supportive. Five hundred bucks is four hundred eighty more than I have in my bank account, but that’s still not nearly enough for a car. I realize now that Giovanni saving fifteen hundred dollars for Purple Hazel is fairly impressive. I feel guilty recalling how I thought it was kind of a shitty car.
Thoughts of Giovanni make me wonder if he’ll ever speak to me again. Does this mean that Dola has chosen Nick for me? Or is losing Giovanni the curse for arguing with my mom?
We stand and wait for the light to change. Something’s bothering me, and I can’t wait any longer to ask. “Why’d your license get suspended?”
“Too wasted that night to remember what I said, huh?” He smiles, looking at me. A bright yellow Mustang roars past. “Sweet ride! That’s what I want.”
“Yep,” I agree politely, hoping he gets the idea that I’m still waiting for an answer.
He scratches his neck, like he’s stalling. “It was the night of winter formal,” he says, glancing at me, “and my girlfriend threw this huge after-party. Everyone got wasted. Next thing we knew, the cops came and twenty-two of us got busted for drinking. The whole court thing sucked, but the party kicked ass.” He looks off in the distance with a vacant stare on his face.
“The light changed,” I say, eager to interrupt his mind party. As we head across the street, Nick’s list of bad habits itches at my subconscious like a serious case of poison ivy. I know a ton of kids who party and some who’ve shoplifted, but how much and how often is normal? And why did he call her his girlfriend instead of his ex-girlfriend?
“So, how many girlfriends do you have?” I try to sound nonchalant but hear the guilty finger voice slide in there alongside my own. I figure Nick knows about Giovanni, so it’s only fair that I find out if I have any competition too.
A truck rumbles past, heading east on Belmont, leaving behind a cloud of black exhaust. I wave my hand and cough, hoping I didn’t sound too possessive.
He puts his arm around my shoulder and pulls me close as we cross. “Only you, if I can call you that.” He smiles at me, and I smile back, liking the sound of that. I think.
Just then, a black sports car with a lightning bolt turns right on red, nearly running us over. It screeches to a stop and honks—as if we were the ones doing something wrong! Nick pounds his fist down on the guy’s hood, making a loud thud. “Watch where you’re driving, jackass!” He throws his hands up in the air, glaring at the darkened windshield.
The car door flies opens. A twenty-something guy in a camouflage coat and crew cut gets halfway out of his car, pointing his finger at Nick. Tattoos cover every inch of his neck, but his face is pristine. “Touch my car again, and you’re dead!” His face contorts with anger, looking like one badass soldier with post-traumatic stress oozing from every pore.
Thank God he’s driving an expensive car, or I’d be afraid he’d lift it and chuck it at us. “Let’s go, Nick.” Gently, I tug on Nick’s forearm, taking a step toward the sidewalk.
Nick yanks his arm out of my grasp and stands in front of the car, facing the driver. Nick flips up his middle finger, holds it there a second before touching the hood with it. “What are you going to do now, tough guy?”
“Ohmigod, Nick. No.” I’m half in shock and half in awe that he’d provoke a guy who looks like he could kick his ass in a minute flat. I pull Nick’s arm again, but he won’t budge. Angry horns start blaring behind Psycho Dude as traffic backs up behind him.
“Don’t touch my car, you punk!” Psycho Dude steps forward, coming after Nick.
“Suck it!” Nick makes a gesture toward his crotch and rushes past me, yanking my arm. It’s so sudden and forceful that he winches my shoulder in the process. We race toward the gas station, sprinting toward the pumps. Psycho Dude shouts more obscenities before peeling away, tires screeching.
When we nearly reach the building, Nick peeks over his shoulder. “Okay, we’re good.”
We move to the side of the gas station, standing in front of long row of prickly bushes that separates us from the houses behind it. Nick runs one hand through his thick hair, laughing. “Man, that was close. That guy scared the shit out of me!” He smiles at me, and that adorable dimple of his comes to life.
A nervous burst of laughter escapes my lips. “He did? Me too!” I hold my palm out flat in front of me and see it trembling slightly. “Look at my hand.”
He takes my hand in his and rubs it softly between his. “Wow, sorry.” He looks so sincere and worried that it makes me like him even more. Like he’s protective. Never having anything resembling a real father, I wonder if this is what it would be like. “Are you okay?”
I nod. “Except maybe my shoulder. You pulled it out of the socket when you yanked my arm.” I smile to show him I’m not angry.
He frowns. “Sorry. Let me fix that.” He drops my hand and moves behind me. I let my purse slide down to my fingers, and he gently massages my shoulders. His strong hands make my knees feel weak. “Is this okay?”
I close my eyes and try to relax, despite my emotions revving up to high on the inside. “Mmm…feels great.” Nick might be a bad boy on the outside, but he bleeds sugar and spice. And he’s got fine massaging skills, to boot.
He continues kneading my sore shoulder as he explains, “Who does that guy think he is, anyway? Almost runs us over and then goes all commando just because I touched his fricking car? I hate guys like that, you know?”
“Yeah, me too. Mentally unstable morons. The kind my mom likes to date. Only they have to be rich, too.”
He pats my shoulder twice to indicate he’s done massaging it. “Is your owie all better?”
I glance over my shoulder and smile. “It is. Thanks, Nicky-Poo.”
“My pleasure. But I think I missed a spot right here…” He leans down and kisses my neck, sending shivers down my spine. I feel like I’m having my own personal romance novel moment—until he grabs my butt and gently squeezes it. “Nice ass.”
Personally, I don’t like my butt touched. I’m about to shimmy out of his grasp when I see a black sports car with a lightning bolt pull into the gas station thirty feet in front of us.
Apparently Psycho Dude wants some ass too—to kick some, that is.