me out because he liked me. Every single point made it easy to give my answer. “No.”
Damien didn’t respond right away, but to my surprise, he didn’t look the least bit surprised or disappointed. In fact, a half smile tugged at the corner of his lips, which—ugh!—I was paying way too much attention to. A slow country song pulsed through the dark towards us, a jarring but somehow fitting backdrop for this weird moment even though I couldn’t even understand the lyrics.
Finally, he took a deep breath and smiled. “Well, I guess I got the first no over with,” he said as he stepped over to the glass door and slid it partially open.
“Wait, what?”
“I’m not giving up yet, you know. I figured I’d have to ask a few dozen times at least before you agreed. Good night, Krista. I’ll talk to you later.”
It was a good thing he didn’t look back as he stepped outside and closed the door behind him. If he had, he would have seen my mouth hanging open—which totally would have killed my image.
And the scary part was, if he kept asking, I might be stupid enough to say yes.
Chapter Three
When I went to work the next evening, I was half way there before I remembered that my tank was empty. My hands tightened on the wheel as I looked down at my gas gauge, expecting to see the needle way past empty. Surely any second I was going to run out of gas. But it was on full.
“What in the world?” I asked out loud.
I was an airhead, but surely I hadn’t completely forgotten a whole trip to the gas station—especially not the part where I closely watched the meter to make sure I didn’t put more in my tank than I could pay for.
No. I hadn’t filled it up.
Thinking back to the night before, it had definitely been on empty when I’d gotten home. What had happened then? I’d parked at the end of the street and given Damien my keys to move it…
And he was gone for much longer than I had expected. Had he filled up my tank for me?
It was the only thing I could think of. But that was…a problem. Okay, it was super sweet. But now I had to pay him back for it, and I didn’t have enough cash to pay for a full tank. I still had to give him my rent check too. Which, dang it, I should have given him last night. Since I now had to pay the late fee, there was just nothing left. Not if I wanted to eat anyway. Guess I’d be eating ramen and peanut butter again.
Why did he even do it? I was just a delinquent renter to him. Then a thought occurred to me. Maybe he was trying to sweeten me up so I’d agree to go to that wedding with him.
Well, it wouldn’t work. I didn’t date—at all—but even going as a favor was out of the question. I would definitely end up embarrassing both of us. I didn’t know the first thing about being someone’s date to a wedding, not to mention that the whole thing would send me into a spiral of insecurity.
Honestly, it was one of the reasons I’d moved away from my mom—and not told her where I was going. She was always nagging me to do this and that so I’d be more attractive to men. “Come on, Krista. Try smiling once in a while—like Victoria.”
Ah, Victoria. My much admired but seldom seen stepsister with the glossy black curls, flawless teeth and complexion, and a figure that would make Barbie jealous.
Being compared to her had become a fun new level of torture in my interactions with my mom. As you can imagine, I didn’t react the way she wanted me to.
But it wasn’t just that. I’d sworn to never change myself for anyone. I’d endured years of watching her primp and flirt and change herself to get a man. She was like a chameleon, matching the image of whomever she was currently with. And where did it all get her? Three broken marriages and no idea who she really was anymore. If it was enough to give me an identity crisis to watch her constant metamorphosis through the years, I can’t imagine what it did to her.
I didn’t have much in the way of natural beauty, but at least I knew who I was. So if I didn’t have what men