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She turned and ran down the stairs, but he caught up with her, jumping over the last few steps to land on the sidewalk in front of her. Damn it, he was fast. And tall. Fast, tall. And gorgeous. She halted, the flush that had warmed her cheeks mere minutes ago going almost nuclear.
He. Knew.
He shook his head. “You have a habit of running away from me, you know that?” He nodded at the red sneakers she was wearing today—her second favorite pair. “Do you have any other shoes in your wardrobe other than sneakers?”
“Not really.” She glanced around. Most of the kids had left, although there was still enough of a crowd hanging about. She noticed that people were beginning to notice them—including Charmaine Buxton. The girl stood just outside the main doors with Huey, Dewey and Louie, a sour look on her face as she watched Bobbie and Lucas talk.
“You were messing with me,” she grumbled. She lightly punched him in the shoulder.
He feigned injury for a brief moment, then nodded. “Yep. It was fun, too. Should have seen your face.”
She shot him an exasperated look, then reached for her shoe. “Thank you,” she said, trying to keep her tone prim.
He pulled the sneaker out of reach. “Uh-uh. You’ll get this back when I get some answers.”
She shot him an exasperated glare. “Are you serious? You want to play twenty questions again?”
“Well, we didn’t quite finish the game,” Lucas pointed out. He smiled. “Just a couple of questions.”
Bobbie folded her arms. “Fine.”
“Why didn’t you tell me your name?”
She frowned. “That’s not a yes or no question.”
He shrugged. “New rules.”
She pursed her lips, then glanced around. They were beginning to draw more attention. Attention was something she wasn’t used to.
“I liked being someone different,” she said in a whisper, blinking away the burn of tears. “Just for one night.” It sounded so pathetic. She sniffed, then lifted her chin. “My turn,” she said.
“That’s not how twenty questions works—”
“New rules,” she said tartly. His lips curved, and he nodded.
“Fine. Your turn.”
“How did you figure it out?”
Lucas exhaled, his cheeks puffing out for a moment. “Well, that wasn’t so easy. I thought someone was bound to contact me, after the flyers... but when nobody did, I had to try something else.”
Her eyebrows rose. “And?” He looked so darn pleased with himself.
“Yearbooks, school paper... I must have gone through so many photos...” He smiled broadly. “And then I found this.”
He held up his phone, and she saw the online article in the school paper about the funds disbursement story they ran at the beginning of the year. She frowned.
“I don’t get it,” she said, looking at the screen. “How does that prove anything?”
“Ah, it took me a while to spot it, too.” Lucas shifted, his head dipping closer as he spread his fingers lightly over the screen, enlarging the image.
And there it was. She was in the background, watching the photographer with curiosity as she walked down the front stairs. Lucas had zoomed in on her shoes, and the peace symbol was easily recognizable.
Her brows drew together. “You went through all of the newspapers images, looking for me?”
He nodded as he met her gaze. She tried to smile. “Well, that’s a lot of effort to return a shoe. Thank you,” she said huskily.
“I didn’t do it to return the shoe,” he said quietly, his gaze intent. Then he blinked. “Well, I mean, it’s not like I intended to keep it, because that would be weird, and I really did want to give it back to you...” he cleared his throat. “But I really wanted to find Cindy.”
Bobbie’s heart dropped to her stomach like a stone in pond. “There is no Cindy, Lucas,” she said. “There’s just me. I’m sorry, it must be so disappointing—”
Lucas’s eyes widened. “Why would you think that?”
“Uh, because I’m Bobbie Turner. You know, the girl who mopes around and doesn’t talk much...”
His jaw dropped, then his mouth closed with an audible snap. “God, Bobbie, what kind of guy do you think I am? I notice you. I’ve always noticed you. I’ve tried to talk with you—hell, I even sit near you in every class we have together.”
Bobbie’s eyes widened. She thought she’d picked the seat to be close to him... “Oh.”
“Oh?” Lucas shook his head. “When we talked at prom, I—I couldn’t believe it. I found someone who listened to me, really listened to me. I found this amazing girl who could understand what was going through my head, who didn’t judge me for not wanting to play basketball, and who could still make me laugh...” He touched the lapel of her denim jacket. “Do you know how happy I was when I found out it was you?” he said softly.
She swallowed, then shook her head, still trying to process the ‘I’ve always noticed you’ comment, followed by the ‘amazing girl’ comment, so admittedly she was a little distracted. “Uh, how happy?”
“This happy,” he said, and dipped his head to kiss her. His lips were gentle on hers, soft and warm, and she tingled all the way down to her toes. Lucas eased back a little, a tender smile on his face.
Her heart was thudding. God, could he hear it? He’d just kissed her. Lucas Jordan just kissed her.
He lifted her shoe. “I will give you back your shoe if you will come out with me, but not as Cindy. I want Bobbie Turner to come out with me.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Are you trying to blackmail me with my own stinking sneaker?”
His lips curved. “I prefer to think of it as persuasion. Come on, let’s go to the movies, or bowling, or whatever you want to do.”
It sounded so tempting, so ... fun. Uh-oh, unless she was getting completely the wrong idea, which was possible because Lucas hung out with a lot of people. “You mean, in a group, like a—a friend...?” she asked, her voice catching on the last word. Lucas looked surprised, then shook his head.
“No.”
“Oh. You mean, like a date?”
Lucas shook his head. “No. I mean, like a girlfriend.”
Bobbie’s eyebrows rose. Did he just—? Wow. Be still her swoon. She remembered his definitions for dating and girlfriend. “Oh.” She didn’t know quite what to say. “Even though I pretty much only wear sneakers?” She winced. Wow. That was a spectacular response. Dufus.
Lucas laughed. “Especially because you wear sneakers,” he told her. “What do you say? Come out with me?” He waved the shoe suggestively in front of her. She met his gaze.
“I think I need some persuading,” she told him, a shy smile spreading across her face.
“Oh, I can do that,” he said, leaning down toward her.
She arched an eyebrow as she slid her arms up over his broad shoulders and around his neck. “After that little pen stunt, I think it’s going to take a lot of persuasion.”
“Oh, I’m game,” he said, and they were still laughing when their lips met.