Page 12 of Something Rad
She shakes her head and laughs before reaching up to pull my hands away. I let her, and she whips around to face me, a huge smile on her face. The moment Denise makes eye contact with me, however, her face flickers, her smile fading and shoulders seeming to stiffen.
“Oh. Robbie,” she says. “Hey.”
I bring my hand up to the back of her head, pulling her forward to kiss her forehead. “Hey, you.” When I pull away, the smile is back on her face, but she seems uneasy, as if she was caught off guard.I mean, I guess she was.But when she doesn’t seem to relax any further, I let out a chuckle. “What? Expecting someone else?” I ask, smirking.
Denise lets out a shaky laugh, shaking her head.
I reach out, pinching a piece of her blonde hair between my fingers and twirling it. “It’s Thursday,” I state.
“Yeah?” she says.
“Which means it’s Friday eve,” I grin.
Her brows pinch together. “Okay?”
“Which means it’s basically the weekend.”
“Does it really?” she chuckles, pushing the lock of hair I was twirling behind her ear.
“Close enough,” I shrug. “What are we doing, sweetheart?”
“Doing?” she echoes me, raising her brows.
“This weekend.”
Denise opens her mouth to answer, but I silence her with the press of a finger to her lips, leaning back against my car and pulling her with me.
“Actually, there’s no need to answer. I’ve got a whole list of things I wanna do with you,” I say.
“Oh?” Denise asks, her cheeks reddening.
“Yeah,” I reply, pulling her closer. And it’s true. It’s been a long four days of school. As much as I’ve loved being back, I’m well overdue for some alone time with my girl. “How about we get an early start with this?”
I lean in, but Denise suddenly turns her head to the side, avoiding my kiss. “Um,” she says, a weird giggle coming out of her as she pushes away from me. She stands up straight, smoothing out her blouse.
What was that about?
“What? Did the summer make you shy, sweetheart?” I mutter, reaching for Denise’s hand. She lets me take it, holding my gaze from a moment before dropping her eyes to our intertwined fingers. After a few seconds, she wriggles her hand free, looking back at Ginger, who I honestly didn’t realize was still there, and smiling tightly at her.
“Ginger, could you give us just a minute?” she asks her. “I’ll meet you at your car.”
“You’re not going to ride home with me today?” I ask, my brows knitting together.
Denise looks from Ginger to me and back to Ginger. “Just…two minutes,” she tells her.
Ginger nods at her, smiling briefly at me before turning and heading for her baby blue VW Bug across the parking lot.
Denise turns back to me, crossing her arms.
I stand up straight against my car, tilting my head. Denise’s big blue eyes meet mine and, even though she has me puzzled as hell right now, I can’t help but break into a grin.
God, she’s something to look at.
She doesn’t return my smile, however, her pouty lips pressing together. I reach out, forcing her to uncross her arms and taking her hands in mine. “What’s going on, sweetheart?” I ask. “You and Ginger already have plans this weekend?”
I find it weird she wouldn’t have mentioned plans with Ginger sooner, but it’s not a big deal. I don’t own her or her time. I guess I’ll just hang with the guys. I wonder what the rest of the basketball team is up to this weekend. I’ll see if I can track any of them down in the parking lot before they leave.
“I need to talk to you, Robbie,” Denise says.
