Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 103104 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103104 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
My lips twitch. “You really are a movie nerd.”
“The best.” She toys with her pencil. “My favorite line of Darth Vader’s is ‘You don’t know the power of the dark side. I must obey my master.’ You can taste the fear in his voice. You see his internal struggle and how, maybe, sometimes, the light still calls to him, yet he can never go back.” She laughs. “Hey, stop. You’re gaping at me. Okay, fine, I geek out over the franchise, which really means I’m in hell, ranking the movies in my head, considering the debatable cuteness of aliens clearly designed for market reasons only, being tortured by the painfully obvious plot holes that drive me insane. Tyler loves them too. He’s just as much of a geek as I am.”
I just look at her. Damn. She’s so fucking… “I’m amazed by you. Rank them for me.”
“You aren’t even ready for this conversation. Have you watched them all?”
I shrug. “Not sure if I caught the last couple.”
“Who are you?” She gives me a horrified look.
I laugh. “Football takes up most of my time.”
She scoffs. “You don’t deserve to hear what I think until you’ve seen every last movie in chronological order, not in the order of release date. Lots of debate about that, but that’s the camp I’m in.”
I let out a long sigh, and just to annoy her… “We really should have gone with Star Wars. You could write us an essay with your eyes closed.”
Her color deepens. “Sadly, you had to pick the right number! So now it’s some stupid romance!”
I laugh.
She watches me, her aquamarine gaze lingering on my face until she clears her throat and looks down at the table. “Are you sad you don’t have friends at Lou’s?”
“Not at all. I’m on a date.”
Her eyes widen. “No you’re not, Cold and Evil. This is a school-related activity!”
“You’re wearing makeup.” She is. Her lashes are long and curled, her cheeks rosy—or maybe she’s blushing—and instead of that glittery red lipstick she’s been wearing, I see shiny pink lip gloss. Lipstick? Whatever they call it.
My lips twitch at her outrage and she slowly softens, her face brightening until she grins. “A girl can wear makeup and it not mean a thing except she wants to feel pretty. And if I had social media, I’d totally tag you with me just to piss off your buddies.”
Sighing, my head goes back to yesterday. “I saw your locker. I’m sorry for it.”
I hate how her face gets that faraway look on it and her shoulders hunch over. “It’s mostly gone. I came in today and it looks like the staff had scrubbed even more.”
Ah… “Chance and I went back into the school after practice yesterday. He scraped the last of it off with a scouring pad. Apparently it was in permanent marker and the janitor had a hard time.”
Her shoulders shift, fidgeting.
“It was Chance’s idea.”
“Whatever. Let’s not bring him up.”
Lou sets down our food and walks away.
She digs into her fries, popping one in her mouth, and I watch. She points at my plate. “Don’t let it get cold.”
Right, right—focus on the food, not Ava.
Okay, how am I going to covertly get these tomatoes off?
“So, you know my middle name. What’s yours?”
“Knox.” I grin. “And before you ask for my first name, I’m not telling. See if you can figure it out.”
“Let’s see. Maximilian? Eugene?”
I bark out a laugh.
“Megalodon?”
“You think I don’t know what that is?” I pop an eyebrow. “I’m not a nerd like some people I know”—I smirk—“but I’m smart enough.”
“Okay, hotshot, what is it?”
“Extinct species of shark that lived over three million or so years ago. Believed to be related to the Great White. And no, that is not my first name, but you’re funny.”
“Richard? Dick for short, definitely.”
“I have an uncle with that name.”
“Fort? Yep, that’s it. You’re a big stone building that holds all the gold and no one can get inside.”
I take a bite of my burger, gag a bit at the tomatoes, chew it down, and wipe my mouth. “Nope. Forget me. Tell me something about you.”
Because Ava…shit, I want to know everything.
She thinks, her brow wrinkling a little.
“Tell me about your first kiss,” I blurt and then immediately wish I hadn’t. Despite my joke earlier about this being a date, it isn’t.
She studies me, eyes lingering over my lips. “You first.”
I take a sip of water. “Fourth grade. Her name was Cissy Meadows and she was the fastest runner on the playground, even the guys. She challenged me to a race at recess and I beat her. She was so pissed.” I laugh at the memory. “She started bawling her eyes out and I felt so bad for her, I laid one on her lips. No tongue. Really just wanted her to stop crying.”