Page 26 of I Accidentally Summoned A Demon
The moment Jason parked in front of the restaurant, Kat jumped out. He looked at her curiously but smiled, offering an arm. Kat laced her arm through his as they walked into the Italian restaurant, a small but romantic place with white tablecloths, candles, and a single rose at every table.
The hostess led them to a table in the corner, and Jason pulled out Kat’s chair, sliding it in as she sat. He took the chair across from her, and they thanked the hostess when she set menus in front of them.
“Have you been here?” Jason asked. Kat shook her head, and he grinned. “Me either. It’s always fun trying new things. I saw you got the part of Elizabeth. Are you excited?”
“Yeah.” Kat lifted a menu. “I mean, it’s a small part.”
“You’ll shine. You’ll get the bigger part next time.”
“If I can manage to get through it without stuttering.” Kat laughed, running her finger along the edge of the menu.
“I’m sure you can.” He reached over and set his hand on hers. “Hey, everyone gets stage fright. Don’t be embarrassed. I’ve stammered my way through plenty of auditions. You can’t expect to get the big part your first time, right?”
“I guess so.” Her heart fluttered as his fingers grazed her knuckles before he took his hand back. “You get stage fright?”
“Oh, yeah.” Jason chuckled, opening his menu. “I don’t know anyone who doesn’t. Ash does, too.” Kat nodded and dropped her gaze to the white tablecloth. Jason frowned. “Sorry. I know you guys aren’t friends. I didn’t mean . . .” He ran his hand through his blond hair. “Sorry. What a great way to start a date, huh?”
“It’s fine. You and Ashley are close?”
“Uh, close?” He made a face. “I don’t know thatcloseis the right word. We’ve known each other a long time. I know she can be rude, but she’s not always like that. It’s this whole thing with her dad.” He rolled his eyes. “So, I try to be patient with her even when she’s being rude or making stuff up because, trust me, Ash likes to make stuff up if she thinks it’ll make someone nervous. Kinda like she did to you at auditions. Sorry about that, by the way. I told her to stop doing that.”
“Why does she do it?”
“It’s her dad.” He unfolded and refolded his cloth napkin. “She comes from a family of performers. Theater, musical theater, indie movies. That kind of thing. Her dad’s a big player in the musical theater world. He puts a lot of pressure on her to always be the best and get the biggest parts. Ash is good enough to do it without messing with other people, but she doesn’t think so. Instead of focusing on trying her best, she often tries to ensure victory by messing up other people. Like I said, I know she’s not a great person a lot of the time, but I also know how she grew up, so I try to be patient. I’m sorry she’s been awful to you, though.” He frowned. “After auditions, I told her she needs to cut it out, or she and I can’t hang out anymore. Especially because you and I are dating. She said she’d back off. Let me know if she doesn’t, and I’ll take care of it.”
Even though Kat didn’t like Ashley, she could understand how hard it was to be put under pressure, how it made people desperate to measure up. It didn’t excuse her behavior, but it made more sense.
“Look, I’m sorry.” Jason rubbed the back of his neck. “I shouldn’t have brought her up. You make me so nervous I started babbling. I don’t want to talk about anyone but you and me right now. Can we pretend I didn’t say something stupid and start over?”
Kat’s mouth fell open. “I make you nervous?”
“Yeah. Are you kidding? I’ve been trying to work up the nerve to ask you out for months.”
Kat fiddled with the edge of the tablecloth. How could someone like him be nervous to ask anyone out? “Why were you nervous?”
“Well, I approached you once, like two weeks after school started last year. You were so wrapped up in a book you didn’t notice me.” He laughed.
“What?” She did get wrapped up in books, but she didn’t think she was capable of not noticing Jason. She’d had a crush on him from the first moment they spoke.
“It’s true. You were reading Oscar Wilde. Well, you’re almost always reading Oscar Wilde,” he added. “You kept coming to school with different books and were so quiet I didn’t know how to approach you. I planned to after Christmas break, but you seemed different after that. You missed a lot of classes. Did something happen?”
Kat stiffened. Him knowing her parents were gone was inevitable. Him knowing there was an accident where she was the lone survivor was inevitable. Still, it was the last thing she wanted to talk about. “I had some family stuff going on,” she said. “Was I that bad?”
“Bad? Not at all. You seemed sad, and I didn’t know how to help. I tried to be nice, but you didn’t seem interested, so I backed off.”
Those first few months after the accident were a blur. She spent so much time angry, hurt, and lost. She didn’t put it past herself to have shut him out while she was shutting everyone else out.
“I’m batting zero tonight, aren’t I?”
Kat glanced up, realizing she’d been lost in thought for a while. “No, sorry.” She smoothed her napkin over her lap. “I zoned out a little. What made you try again?”
“Honestly?” Jason leaned back in his chair. “You auditioning for the main part in this play. You were uninterested in being around anyone, but it changed when you went after that part. You really put yourself into it, came to more gatherings while we prepared. It showed me maybe you didn’t want to be as alone as it looked on the outside. That, and I have a fresh take on this semester.”
“A fresh take?”
“My last couple of semesters, I didn’t push myself to go after anything.” He rubbed his chin. “I didn’t know what I wanted, or I thought I didn’t. Turned out I did know what I wanted, but I was too chicken to admit it to my dad. The last thing anyone’s father wants to hear is that their son is going into theater.” He clasped his hands together on the table and leaned forward, his fingers stretching toward her. “But you inspired me. I decided this semester I wouldn’t be afraid to admit what I want. So, I finally got the nerve to tell my dad I was in theater and asked the prettiest girl in school on a date.”
Kat blushed, her lips pulling up. “Thank you.” She lowered her gaze to her lap, then brought it back to him. “What do you mean I inspired you?”
