Meet Me at Midnight - Jessica Pennington Page 0,82
been on a first date, right?”
“Several.”
We step onto the faux green grass of the first hole. “First dates are the worst.” I drop my ball onto the grass. “But you’re starting strong, Marin.”
At the little podium next to the sidewalk, Asher has one arm on the miniature clipboard.
“Trevor tried to convince me that I should take you somewhere fancy for our first date. Your comment about his basement really sunk in, apparently.” He sounds like he’s looking for confirmation that I wouldn’t rather be in a dress at a restaurant with cloth napkins. That’s what Caleb had thought I wanted. “But clearly this was a great choice. I feel like I brought you back to your homeland or something.” He taps his club against the strip of green running under our feet and smiles. “Seeing how excited you are to come here is almost as rewarding as that time I put coins on you while you were tanning and made the little solar system on your back.”
A sharp laugh escapes me. “I miss the pranks a little.” I wince at the words. “Is that a totally psychotic thing to admit?” I peek up at Asher and his mouth is tipped up in the promise of another smile, but he doesn’t say anything. I shuffle my feet and try to line up the shot. There’s a row of fake corn stalks along the far end of the hole, and between them, an arched tunnel. Based on the dark circle at the bottom of the giant bushel basket on the right side, I’m guessing my ball will shoot out there.
“Just to be clear, first-date rules do not apply to our game.” I shoot him a serious look before returning my eyes to my shot. “If you let me win, I’ll smother you in your sleep.”
“You don’t care about winning?”
“Oh no, I totally do. But I want to win because I’m awesome. Or because you’re horrible. Not because you were afraid I wouldn’t make out with you if you beat me.”
“You’re gonna make out with me?” I can hear the smirk in his voice.
I keep my eyes on my ball. I couldn’t look at him right now if I wanted to. My stomach is tied in the worst kind of knots and I wish I hadn’t brought up kissing Asher, because now it’s all I can think about. And I don’t need him to know that I’ve thought several times about pulling him behind the giant windmill and just calling it quits on this whole game. His ego does not need that boost. But kissing Asher is like eating something amazing for the first time—I had no idea how much I’d like it, and now it’s all I’m thinking about. I want it for all of my meals. He can’t know that, so I just shrug. “We’ll see,” I squeak out, my voice not nearly as aloof as I’d been hoping for. “Now stop distracting me so I can kick your butt.” I square up my shot.
“And celebrate by making out?” Asher says, just as my club makes contact.
Asher
Sid’s ball veers to the right, careening into the wall at what is definitely not the angle she was going for, before ricocheting off of the edge of the giant basket and returning back to where she started. She makes a sound that I can really only describe as a growl. This is where I die; bludgeoned on a mini-golf course. She turns her eyes on me and I can’t help but laugh. Her mouth is squeezed into an angry slash and her eyes are narrowed to slits. But I’ve seen Sidney pissed, and she looks too cute right now to be as mad as she’s going for. I’ll live to see another day. I don’t bother telling her I wasn’t trying to distract her, because I know she won’t believe me. I’m not sure if I’d believe me.
I raise my hands in mock surrender. “Mulligan?”
Sidney uncrosses her arms, and her whole body relaxes. She straightens up a little, and there’s a hint of surprise on her face. She thought I was going to put up a fight. Repositioning her ball with the head of her putter, Sidney squares back up to take her shot. And just before she makes contact, her head swivels back to me slowly. Quietly, she says, “Thank you.”
DAY 30
My fingers hesitate over the buttons, because I’m not sure how to tell her that I’m spending my birthday with Asher. That