My Undefined Romeo

“Okay, here you go!” Kara gently placed Nate’s Mountain Dew on the table and then practically threw my water at me. “Ready to order?” In case you probably didn’t guess, that question was not directing towards me.

Nate looked at her and smiled lightly. “Orange chicken.”

She quickly wrote it down on a pad and beamed. “You know, that’s my favorite too. Maybe we could hook up some time and eat it together?”

I blinked. Did she just…? No… She didn’t. Oh shut up, Emma! She just asked him out right in front of you! Quit denying it!

“Uh, you know,” Nate said to her. “There is someone else here. I’d really appreciate it if you’d do your job and do it appropriately.” He paused. “In other words: I’m not interested.”

Kara looked shocked for a moment. But then, it slowly dissolved into a smirk. “You got it. Okay,” she said turning to me. “What would you like?”

“Sesame chicken,” I replied with a smirk of my own. She just got rejected! Ha! I laugh in her face! She smiled politely, took both the menus, then left.

After she was gone, I reached forward and was about to take a sip of my water, but stopped. I stirred the ice with the straw and examined the water carefully.

“What are you doing?” Nate asked curiously.

I looked up from my glass to see him with his head cocked to one side and his eyebrows raised. My stomach did a little lurch. “Just looking for poison or something. I wouldn’t be surprised if she slipped something in here.”

A smile spread across his face, lighting up his bright blue eyes. “Well, I wouldn’t be surprised if she did either. But I also wouldn’t be shocked if she slipped something in my drink too…” He poked his Mountain Dew glass, making the ice crinkle.

I laughed. “Kill me, seduce you.”

Nate wrinkled his nose. “I’d rather die than be taken advantage of by her.”

I stopped laughing and frowned. “See, I just don’t understand you, Nate. I’m sure any other guy would have lovedto see a full view of her chest. But you… You didn’t even glance at her. Why?”

Nate’s smile spread into an honest and charming grin. “Because I have my eye on someone else. Someone much more respectable, amazing, and beautiful.”

For a second there, I thought he might have been describing me. But then my better half got the better of me. Why would Nate like me?! He wouldn’t. And anyways, I wasn’t any of those things. Not really. Or, at least, not to me.

“One orange chicken and one sesame chicken.” Kara placed our plates in front of us and placed her hands on her hips. “Need anything else?”

Nate shook his head. “No thanks.”

“Okay, well, call me if you need anything.” She looked directly at Nate and winked. “Anything at all.”

I scoffed once she left. Now I might be way out of line by thinking this, and I’m going out on a limb here, but she’s a slut. Hey, I bet her and Vicky would be best friends if they ever met! Maybe I could hook them up! Bitch with bitch.

I stabbed a piece of sesame chicken with my fork. “Call me if you need anything,” I mocked.

Nate chuckled. “She wasn’t thatbad, Emma.”

I swallowed the chicken and rolled my eyes at him. “Are you blind? Could you not see how she was practically having eye sex with you?”

“Emma,” Nate said slowly. He swallowed his food and looked at me weirdly. “Are you jealous?”

My mouth popped open but nothing came out. I wasn’t jealous… I just hated girls like that. But still, the feeling in my stomach felt a lot more intense than just anger. “No,” I said, sticking a piece of sweet chicken in my mouth.

Nate watched me eat. He leaned back in his seat and just watched me. Can someone say: awkward?

“What?” I asked finally. A slow smile spread across his face.

“You’re so different than I imagined…” he trailed off, thinking.

I leaned back in my seat, crossed my arms, and narrowed my eyes. He probably thought I was emo or something. One of those girls that sit in the back of class, sleep, draw doodles on their jeans, and listen to nothing but screamo music. It must have surprised him to find out that I actually had a brain.

“You’re just so…” he paused, searching for the right word. “Alive.”

I sat in silence. What was I suppose to say back? Thanks? Thanks for noticing me?

Nate leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table and grinned. “I mean, I’ve been watching you for a while now-”

That got my attention.

“What?” I snapped. “Wait, wait, wait. You’ve been watchingme?” What the hell?!

Nate froze. “Emma, it’s not what you thing… I, uh, you’ve always appealed to me. And at the last game I decided to act on it.”

I leaned forward too, and brushed the hair out of my face irritated “Appealed? I’m appealingto you?” What does it mean when a guy says you’re appealing? Does that mean you’re appealing because he finds you pretty? Amusing? Weird? A freak?

Nate shook his head frantically. “No, no, no. That’s not what I meant! I just meant that you’re… I feel attracted to you, Emma. Like there’s some sort of connection between us. I’ve felt it ever since I first laid eyes on you. I can’t explain it, but I know there’s something there. With us.”

My breathing was jagged, and I did my best to slow my heart beat. Nate just said he liked me. Nate Carter, most popular guy in school, just admitted that he likedme.

“I know I don’t’ know you that well,” he continued, “but I’d really like to. I mean, I can’t even begin to tell you how much I want to get to know you. I feel drawn towards you, Emma. And I know you feel it too.”

I closed my eyes. “No,” I whispered. “I don’t feel anything. I never have.”

What was the point in admitting that I felt the same way? It’d just end in heartache. Better to lie than to end up with a broken heart. And it’d be better this way anyways. Nate and I could not be together. It was impossible.