“Oh no, I hand over new-kid status completely to you. But it’s pretty cool around here.”
“Not much happens, though,” Lesa added.
The conversation moved easily. Blake was super friendly. He answered every one of our questions and was quick to laugh. Turned out he had gym with Lesa and art with Carissa.
Every so often, he’d glance at me and smile, revealing a set of straight white teeth. It had nothing on Daemon’s smile—whenever he decided to grace our world with its presence—but it was nice. And it was also drawing the attention of the other girls. Their eyes kept darting back and forth between us. My cheeks were growing hotter by the second.
“We’re having a party Friday night.” Lesa flashed me a quick grin. “You’re more than welcome to come. Dee’s parents are letting us have it at their house while they’re away this weekend.”
Dee stiffened with the fork halfway to her mouth. She didn’t say anything, but I could tell she wasn’t happy with the invite. What was her deal? Half the school appeared to be invited.
“That sounds cool.” Blake glanced at me. “You’re going?”
I nodded, twisting the lid on my water.
“She doesn’t have a date,” Lesa added with a sly look.
My mouth gaped. Real smooth move there.
“No boyfriend?” Blake sounded surprised.
“Nope.” Lesa’s eyes sparkled. “You have a girlfriend you left back in California?”
Dee cleared her throat as she found the food on her plate to be of extreme interest.
Mortified, I wanted to hide under the table.
Blake chuckled. “No. No girlfriend.” He turned his attention back to me. “But I’m surprised you don’t have a boyfriend.”
“Why?” I asked, wondering if I should be flattered. Like my awesomeness was just so extreme that I couldn’t be single?
“Well,” Blake said, leaning in toward me. When he spoke, it was right in my ear. “That guy over there. He’s been staring at you since I sat down. And he doesn’t look happy.”
Dee was the first to look. Her lips formed a tight smile. “That’s my brother.”
Blake nodded as he leaned back. “Did you guys date or something?”
“No,” I said. Every muscle in my body demanded that I take a look-see. “He’s just…Daemon.”
“Huh,” Blake said, stretching. He nudged my arm. “So no competition there?”
My eyes widened. Boy, he was bold. His hotness level went up ten points. “Not likely.”
A slow smile crept over Blake’s lips. He had a fuller bottom one. Looked totally kissable. “Good to know, because I was wondering if you wanted to grab something to eat after school?”
Whoa. I glanced at Dee, who looked just as surprised as I did. I had every intention of finding out why she was acting so weird over Adam and then talking to Daemon about the weird stuff that had been happening.
Dee misinterpreted my hesitation. “We can get together tomorrow after school.”
“But—”
“It’s okay.” Her look seemed to say, Go out, have fun. Be normal. Or maybe that was my wishful thinking, because she didn’t seem very pleased with Blake’s interest in me. “It’s fine,” Dee adds.
I could wait one more day to talk to Daemon. I glanced over at Blake and our eyes locked. I found myself nodding.
Blake’s smile remained on his face the rest of the lunch. Toward the end, I caved and had to look because I could still feel him. Blake had been right. Daemon was staring. Not at me, but at the boy next to me. There wasn’t anything friendly in the hard line of his jaw or his sharp jewel-toned eyes.
Daemon’s gaze slid to mine. There was a flutter deep in my chest. I tried to draw in a breath, but I felt pierced. My lips tingled.
There was definitely no competition there.
…
Blake and I decided to go to the Smoke Hole after school. We took separate cars, and the wind was howling when we got there, tearing at the bare branches of the trees surrounding the parking lot as we rushed inside.
His cheeks were flushed under his tan as we grabbed a seat near the crackling fireplace. “I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to the wind here. It’s brutal.”
“Me, too,” I said, rubbing my chilled hands over my arms. “And I’ve been told to expect a lot of snow come winter.”
Interest lit up his eyes, making the specks of green stand out. Nowhere near as bright as Daemon’s, though. “Perfect snowboarding weather, then. Do you snowboard?”
I laughed. “I’d kill myself in two seconds. I went skiing once with my mom and it wasn’t pretty.”
Blake grinned and then shifted his attention to the waitress taking our orders. Surprisingly, I wasn’t nervous. There wasn’t a tipsy feeling in my stomach when our gazes met. My skin didn’t feel stretched too thin. And I wasn’t sure what that meant. It seemed so…normal.
He told me about surfing while we waited for my slice of cheese pizza and his cup of chili. I told him the closest I’d come to surfing was watching the guys down in Florida. I didn’t have that kind of coordination, and he tried to convince me it wasn’t that hard.
I laughed. A lot. We took our time eating. With him, I wasn’t thinking about aliens from outer space or the looming threat of the DOD or Arum. It was the most relaxing hour I’d spent in a long time.
Toward the end, he was ripping a napkin into tiny pieces while he grinned at me. “So, you have a blog?”
Surprised, I nodded and figured I’d get my geekdom out of the way. “Yeah, I love books. I review them on the blog.” I paused. “How did you know?”
Blake leaned forward and whispered, “I looked you up. I know, kind of a nerdy thing to do, but I found your blog. I like how you write your reviews. Very witty. And you’re passionate about it.”
Flattered and completely won over by the fact he actually read my reviews, I smiled. “Thank you. The blog is really important to me. Most people don’t get it.”
“Oh, I totally do. I used to blog about surfing.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “Yep, I miss the surfing and blogging—the whole connecting with people all around the world that shared the same passion. It’s a pretty awesome community.”
This guy was perfect. He didn’t make fun of me like Daemon had over the whole blog thing. Cool points for Blake. I took a sip of my drink as I glanced out the window. Dark, thick clouds blanketed the sky. “When I first saw you, I had you pegged for a surfer. You have that look.”
“What kind of look is that?”
“You just have the surfer-boy look going on. The hair, the tan—it’s very cute.”
“Cute?” He arched a brow.
“Okay, it’s pretty hot.”
He grinned. “I like the sound of that.”
He had one of those personalities, much like Dee, where I couldn’t help but feel comfortable around him. A welcome change from the pins-and-needles feeling I got around Daemon.
When we left the diner close to five, I couldn’t believe how much time had passed. The wind whipped at my hair, but I was still buzzing too much from my afternoon with Blake to care about the fact I hadn’t bought a jacket yet.
Blake nudged me with his elbow. “I’m glad you came with me.”
“So am I.” I twirled my keys as we stopped by his truck.
“I don’t normally put myself out there.” He leaned against the hood of his truck, crossing his ankles. “You know, just asking like that in front of an entire table of strangers.”
Brisk wind cooled my warm cheeks. “You seemed pretty confident.”
“I am when I want something.”