I smoothed a hand down the bed of the truck and announced into the night, “I hereby christen thee Hendrix.”
Suddenly my hand was caught in Jake’s and my eyes drifted back up to his as he rubbed his thumb across my knuckles. “You named my truck,” he murmured.
“You can un-name it,” I muttered back unsurely.
Jake shook his head. “We’re in too deep for that, baby.”
My hand tightened in his and he felt it. His fingers flexed and he threaded them through mine. “I’m not too sure about the deep. I breathe better in the shallow.”
“Not true,” he whispered. “You hate the shallow.”
I finally let go of the breath I was holding and turned my head to gaze back up at the starry sky. Keeping hold of my hand, Jake asked me what my favorite color was.
“Green.”
“Me too,” he replied quietly. “But I like black too.”
“Is black a color?”
“As opposed to a shade?”
“Yeah.”
“Does it matter?”
“I guess not.”
“What’s your favorite song?”
And so began three hours of questioning back and forth. By the end of the date, I think Jake Caplin knew more about me than I even knew about myself.
As Hendrix pulled up to my house, the murmurings of butterflies in my stomach turned into a full-blown riot. This was it. This was the kissing part.
But Jake didn’t lean in for a kiss. Instead he moved around the truck to help me out. He took my hand and I followed him up to my porch. Quieted by my anticipation, I let Jake turn me and clasp me by the nape of the neck again. He pulled me in close and ducked his head to hold my gaze. “You’re going out with me next Friday.”
I blinked, coming out of my anticipatory fog. “You’re not even asking now?”
Jake shook his head solemnly. “I can’t take the chance you’ll say no.”
Okay, he had to stop with the perfect words before I melted into goo. I smiled up at him, my hazel eyes full of flirt. “Ask me.”
Jake took a deep breath and gave my nape a squeeze. “Charley … will you go out with me next Friday?”
I shrugged casually. “Sure, why not.”
Chuckling, Jake drew me close and pressed a sweet kiss to my forehead. When he pulled back, he winked and let me go. “See you at school on Monday.”
I nodded, standing there in a state of bewilderment as he walked away, got in Hendrix, and drove off. Without kissing me.
Huh.
Confused, I turned on my heel and walked inside. Mom and Dad were sitting in the living room pretending to watch television, covering up the fact that they’d definitely been spying on us.
“How’d it go?” Dad asked, his voice tight, as if he really didn’t want to know but needed to.
“You’ll be glad to know that Jake was the perfect gentleman.” Did I sound glum when I said that?
“Good,” Dad grunted.