Page 25 of Grease Monkey
“I do, but I like it,” she says, standing at her full height, which is pretty tall for a girl. Setting her hands on her hips, she puts on her best authoritative voice as she warns, “Now, ground rules, pretty boy. I expect you to bring my girl home no later than eleven… actually, twelve. But that’s the latest.”
Teddy steps forward, the corners of his lips turning up as he towers over her. “Is Ana ready?”
“I’m here,” I say, joining the pair in the doorway. Shay spins, grinning ear-to-ear as her eyes bounce between Teddy and me.
“Fuck, Ana, you look…” Teddy’s eyes dance down my body, staring at the tight-fitted top peeking through my unbuttoned jacket. He takes another step closer, bypassing Shay, and slips his hand under the coat where he rests it on my waist. Dropping his head, he kisses my cheek and whispers, “Un-fucking-believable.”
I feel hot and tingly all over. Surely, this isn’t how dates are meant to start. I thought they were meant to be awkward and unsure and stealing glances at each other. At least that’s how I’m feeling, but Teddy appears to be his usual confident self, as he’s completely unaware of how his large hand is currently burning through my clothes and straight to my skin.
“Bye, you two. See you when you get home,” Shay says, almost pushing me out of my own home.
“You’ll still be here?” I ask, glancing over my shoulder. I assumed she’d be leaving now too.
“Uh-huh, got to make sure he doesn’t take advantage of the fact your parents aren’t home.”
“Your folks aren’t here?” Teddy asks, eyeing Shay from the porch.He turns to me and smirks. “You sure she needs to stay?”
Maybe not. Maybe you could instead of her.
Shay widens her stance, planting her feet firmly in the doorway.
“Looks like she’s not going anywhere.” I laugh, relief as well as disappointment dripping into my stomach.
Teddy chuckles and leads me toward his car, his hand on my lower back.Opening the passenger door, he calls out to Shay as he helps me inside, “Have a good night, cockblocker.”
Chapter Ten
Morgana
When I ask Teddy where he’s taking me, he mimes locking his lips and throwing away a key.
“Just tell me!” I laugh. “I hate surprises.”
“Really? I love them.” He turns on a playlist of old rock bands and joins the freeway. “Good thing we don’t have that far to go then, huh?”
What’s within driving distance that won’t take a while to get to? The beach isn’t miles away, nor is the arcade—although I suck at all those games, so I hope it’s not there. We’ve not been in the car for long when we pull off the freeway and eventually into a parking lot. Looking up at the building, it’s the last place I’d have thought he would plan a first date.
“The planetarium?” I ask, craning my neck to take in the dome-shaped building lit up in blues and greens. “I didn’t know it was open so late.”
Not that eight p.m. is late or anything.
“Tonight they are,” Teddy says, finding a space and shutting off the engine. He grabs two glossy tickets from the cupholder and fans them in my direction. I scan the information printed in black ink and look up with eyes so wide I swear they could fall out of my head.
Roger Waters presents The Wall.
“You got these for me?” I ask, fingering the corner of a ticket. Then I frown because— “What is it?”
Teddy chuckles. “A laser show—I’ve been to a few back home and they are epic. It’s a light show in time to an album. Creating the story to the lyrics, but with lasers and sometimes holograms like they’re doing tonight.” He taps on the smallhologramin italic text. “After you said you loved seventies rock, I thought you’d enjoy this.”
I can only stare at Teddy. This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me.
“It’s pretty cool, too, because in multiple states around the U.S., planetariums are playing this show at the same time.” He unlocks his phone and pulls up the Twitter app, typing in a hashtag and searching. He shifts, leaning over the center console and scrolling through his feed. “See? Right now, some dude in Arizona is getting ready to watch it, and it’s six p.m. This guy”—he points to another post—“he’s in Anchorage right now, and that’s what? Four hours behind us? So, when this starts, we’re all going to be watching the same thing together. It’s insane.”
I surprise myself by pressing my lips to his. It’s short and light, but I still feel it all the way to my toes.
“Thank you,” I whisper as I pull back, but his hand curls through my hair and brings us close. His mouth is back on mine, his tongue swiping along the crease, wanting access. I open, and he delves in, one flick, then another against my tongue before breaking the kiss.
“You ready?”
