Page 42 of School Spirits
I tossed a fry at his head. It bounced off his shoulder, and he winced theatrically, pressing his hand to his clavicle. “Easy, slugger! In your hands, a french fry is a deadly weapon.”
“No, I’m only deadly with dodgeballs,” I said, and he laughed.
“Flirting and joking! Within a few minutes of each other! Is this the side of Isolde that only her friends get to see?”
He was teasing, but it gave me the opening I’d been hoping for. “Yup. And speaking of…” I ventured. “Friends…they can…they can tell each other stuff, right? I just mean…if you had some kind of secret, or something you hadn’t ever told anyone, you could tell me. No matter…no matter what it was.”
Oh, smooth, Izzy. Seriously. Why didn’t I just grab him and yell, “TELL ME WHAT KIND OF MAGICAL POWERS YOU HAVE!” By the end of my little stuttering speech, I was blushing and Dex was frowning.
“A secret?” he asked, puzzled. Then his face suddenly cleared, and he shook his head. “Oh, right. Because of all the purple.”
“Purple?”
“The clothes, I mean,” he said, gesturing to his coat. “I know that I’m fashionable and well-groomed, and yes, I have been known to rock the occasional man-bracelet.”
He lifted his wrist, jangling the bracelet I’d noticed earlier. I could see now that it was plain silver, just a series of links.
“But,” Dex continued, dragging another one of my fries through ketchup, “I also like ladies. And not as shopping buddies, but in the carnal sense.” His tone was light as always, but he wouldn’t meet my eyes. Not to mention, that spiel was so smooth, he had to have done it before.
I’d only thought I was blushing before. Now my face was probably the same color as the tabletop. “Dex, I wasn’t asking if you were…I didn’t think you…”
“Oh.” He took a drink of his soda. “Then you were just asking me to spill some…nonspecific secret?”
I shook my head. “Forget it.” This was obviously getting us nowhere, so I decided to try a new subject. “Tell me more about your Nana.”
Dex’s face immediately brightened. “Basically, she is the bestest Nana in all the land. Bakes cookies, knits afghans, and lets me hang out past curfew with lovely ladies such as yourself. You should meet her someday. She’d love you.”
Was meeting Nana a serious thing? It kind of felt like it. Ireallyneeded to get those magazines. Making a mental note to stop by the drugstore I’d noticed on my way to the graveyard, I nodded. “I’d like that. And your parents, are they also the bestest?”
If Dex’s face had gone all shiny at the mention of his Nana, bringing up his parents had the opposite effect. His shoulders slumped a little, and something flickered in his eyes. “They died when I was little. Just me and my Nana for a while now.” He took a long sip of his Coke, rattling ice in the cup. I had the sense that it was less about being thirsty and more about dropping the subject.
“My dad died when I was little, too,” I heard myself say, and Dex lowered his cup.
This wasn’t part of my cover; this was the real deal, but he had shared something with me, so it felt right to return the favor. “He, uh, was a soldier.” That was literally all I knew about my dad. Men don’t tend to stick around in the Brannick family.
Dex nodded slowly. “Sucks, doesn’t it?”
I hadn’t known my dad, so I didn’t miss him the way I missed Finn, but still I replied, “It does.”
A silence fell over the table, and I mentally kicked myself. I was supposed to be getting information out of him, not sharing personal feelings.
Ignoring the tiny voice that said maybe my interest in Dex was less than Brannick-y, I reached out and took his wrist. This time I was prepared for the little buzz that went through me. “You know, I actually like this man-bracelet,” I said, turning his wrist for a better look. I hoped it came off as jokey and kind of flirty, but really I was inspecting it for…well, anything. Maybe there were runes or something carved into the links.
Preening a little, Dexter leaned closer to me. “That’s because you’re a woman of taste. My Nana gave this to me. I have very strict instructions never to take it off.”
I looked up sharply at that. “Seriously? Never? Why?”
For the first time since I’d met him, Dex seemed a little uncomfortable. Taking his hand back, he shrugged. “Superstitious thing, I think. Nana, like you, has a touch of the Irish in her.” He turned his wrist, the silver gleaming in the fluorescent lights. “Supposed to be lucky, I guess.” And then he flashed that grin again. “And clearly it has been lucky, because I was wearing it when I met you.” He grabbed another fry from my plate. “My new best friend.”
In spite of myself, I laughed. “Oh, so now we’re best friends?”
He nodded very seriously. “Two fries I’ve stolen from you. That cements it.”
By the time Dex drove me home, I was thinking less about his bracelet and his Nana and whatever it was I felt when I touched him and more about how nice it was talking and laughing with a boy. Leslie and Everton didn’t seem to do much laughing. Mostly they were either crying or angsting or making overly dramatic declarations of love to one another. That had seemed kind of fun on the show, but I thought maybe this was better.
But those kinds of thoughts were pointless and stupid (and I clearly needed to stop watchingIvy Springs).It’s ajob, I reminded myself as Dex opened the passenger door for me.He is a job. You don’t get to think things like how softhis hair looks. Or how nice his eyes are.
Dex walked me as far as the front door, and when he stopped there, my heart pounded in my throat. Oh, God, this was the part where kissing happened. I may never have been on a date, but I’d watched enough TV and read enough books to know that when you eat food with a boy and then he takes you to your door, kissing will occur.
