Secondary Characters (Novella) - By Rachel Schieffelbein Page 0,6
dessert?”
“Yes, I’d like a malt with two straws,” Lance says and we all turn and stare at him. Prolonging this meal is the last thing any of us want. Not to mention that there is no way I’m sharing a malt with him. What is this, 1950?
Unless he’s thinking Amber will.
“You prefer chocolate, right … Nick?” He looks at Nick with one eyebrow raised and that obnoxious grin on his face again.
Nick laughs. “Shut up, jackass.” It relieves the tension, for a moment at least.
I let out a sigh and Amber laughs. We tell the waitress we’re done and get out of there as fast as humanly possible. In the parking lot I’m half-tempted to say my stomach hurts and we had better just head home.
“We’ll see you at the theater,” Lance says too quickly, and the guys jump into their car.
I turn to Amber and stare at her, crossing my arms over my chest and jutting out my hip. I’m trying to give her my best “what the hell where you thinking?” look, but I’m having a hard time not smirking at her. She’s pinching the bridge of her nose, and her mouth is so tight her lips have all but disappeared. Serves her right for dragging me into this.
“I don’t want to hear it,” she says, putting her hand in the air before sliding into her car and slamming the door. I get into the passenger seat and keep my comments to myself.
The guys beat us to the theater and buy tickets to some scary movie. I hate scary movies. When we watch them at slumber parties I’m the one who always ends up with a blanket over her head and her hands over her ears. I would object, but they’ve already bought the tickets. Besides, I don’t want to look like a big, fat chicken.
We find seats in the middle of the theater. I sit down next to Amber, and Nick immediately sits on the other side of her. Lance hesitates for just a moment before sitting down next to me.
The lights go down and the opening music fills the theater, and I can already feel my body tensing up.
Lance leans in real close to me. “If the movie gets too scary,” he starts to whisper but I cut him off. I hate all that macho, caveman, I’ll protect you crap.
“I think I’ll be fine,” I say curtly, even though the truth is I’m not really sure of that at all.
“Oh, I know. It’s me I’m worried about,” he says, putting his hand to his chest. “I hate horror movies. They totally freak me out.” His eyes are wide with pretend fright and I smile back in spite of myself.
He glances around the theater like he’s looking for spies, then leans closer, putting his hand next to his mouth, and whispers, “I wanted to bring my teddy, but Nick said it wasn’t very manly.”
A small laugh bursts out of me and I quickly cover my mouth with my hand. The movie’s started so I put my finger to my lips to “shhh” him, but I’m smiling. He winks and then turns back to the screen.
Chapter Four
The theater is dark, but there’s enough light coming from the screen to light up Mabel’s face. She looks amazing. I know Nick is drooling over Amber, but she’s kind of boring-pretty. There’s nothing really unique about her. Mabel, on the other hand, has a warm, earthy sort of beauty to her. Her dark, wide-set eyes are totally gorgeous. With her delicate features and her cute little freckled nose, she kind of looks like a wood nymph.
There is no way in hell anyone could think she looks like Sarah Jessica Parker. Besides, I was just joking anyway, but now she probably thinks I’m a complete jerk. If she didn’t already.
At least Amber will talk to me.
Thank God for that, too, or dinner would really have been silent. It’s hard to believe, but I think Nick is actually doing worse than I am on this date. And that’s pretty damn bad.
I try really hard not to stare at Mabel’s profile during the movie so she doesn’t think I’m a psycho, but it isn’t easy. I love the curves of her face, the slope of her forehead, the way her nose turns up, the pout of her bottom lip.
I’m all tense and my heart is pounding like crazy. I think hers is, too. Unfortunately, I don’t think it has anything to do with me.
She