The Summer I Became a Nerd - By Leah Rae Miller Page 0,56
you would anyway.”
Is he baiting me? Getting me all riled up, basically calling me a coward, so maybe I’ll run to Logan?
I don’t know if he’s crafty or if he’s just a jerk, but it’s working.
“I wanted to go. But I made important plans for that day I can’t bail on. And he wouldn’t listen to me even if I did go over to the shop. I had my chance.” I try not to picture Kelsey dressed as a dark fairy, hanging on Logan’s arm with that sneer on her face.
“See, here is where my knowing him like I know the Star Wars prequels comes in handy. You are, like, his dream girl. If you go explain, be honest about all this ‘stuff’ or whatever that’s going on with you, he’ll get over it. I know it.”
“I just can’t, okay? I don’t want to hurt him anymore.” I head back toward the stairs to go up to Dan’s room for my flip-flops and phone.
“So Kelsey was right when she said you don’t really like him? That you’re just using him to make your boyfriend jealous?”
I pause, one foot on the bottom step, and I can feel my cheeks heat up.
I knew it. The dreaded ex was badmouthing me for no good reason. While I was standing there in my blue tights waiting on Logan, she was slandering my good name. And I don’t like it.
#20
She doesn’t deserve him, and if I’m honest with myself, neither do I. But I’m not going down without a fight. It’s funny what one snotty, evil fairy and an overbearing, foul-mouthed dwarf can incite in me.
My phone beeps when I pick it up. Eric called while I was downstairs. Seeing this makes my heart plummet. Terra must have told Peter, and now Eric’s sitting up and paying attention to the fact that he was dumped for another guy. The last thing I want to do right now is to talk to him, but I’m tired of all of this.
So, I call him back.
“Hey, babe. I’m back in town, just about to head over to Mes Amis. Want to have lunch?”
My mouth opens and closes a few times. Lunch? Why can’t we do this over the phone? Heck, I’ve already taken care of the messy part. All he needs to say is, “I understand, Maddie. You like this nerd boy better than you like me. Can we still be friends?” Not like that’ll happen. He probably wants to yell at me for embarrassing him in front of Peter. I can handle it, though. Once this is over, we can go about our lives until school starts back up, and everything will go back to normal.
And if I’m extremely lucky, normal for me might—fingers crossed—include Logan.
“Sounds great,” I lie. “See you in a bit.”
I hang up and turn around to leave, but Dan blocks the doorway with his arms crossed.
“Listen,” he says in a low, serious voice I never imagined he was capable of. “Logan is a really good guy. He has a lot on his shoulders with the shop going belly up and his brother and sisters and his parents doing everything in their power just to make ends meet.” He takes a deep breath and looks down. “If you’re not serious about him, if you don’t like him as much as he likes you, if you can’t be honest with him, then don’t even bother, okay? The guy has been practically in love with you ever since ninth grade. It would totally destroy his existence if, you know, you ended up not… Well, you know.”
“Really?” I know this is not the earth-shattering proclamation of love Dan hopes to hear from me, but it’s all I can say. The idea of Logan pining over me was shocking enough, but to find out it’s been even longer is freaking me out. Ninth grade is before I started keeping an eye on him because of his silly, porn-that’s-not-porn shirt and his fraying laces.
“Yeah, man, really.” He steps aside. “So don’t jerk him around, okay?”
Dan and I have our own moment then. Our goals are the same. I think he realizes this when I look at him and nod my head because he pounds his chest with a closed fist and says, “Go get him, elf.”
…
On the way to Mes Amis, I run through what I’m going to say to Eric, but I keep coming up with the same old, tired lines.