Bad Boys & True Love

“Oh…my God,” I moaned, leaning back against the booth and rubbing my content stomach. Drew gave me a lazy grin and mimicked my position. It front of us was two completely empty plates and what was left of the best dessert of my life; that would be gone too, if only I already hadn’t eaten twice as much as I normally did. “You weren’t kidding.”

Drew laughed. The rain pattered down hard on the window and thunder rumbled somewhere not too far off, but I was perfectly content where I was. “It blew your mind, didn’t it?”

“Very much so,” I replied and nodded reassuringly. God, talk about good food. I even ate off of Drew’s plate because my chicken fingers hadn’t been enough.

I stretched out, my joints popping loudly (not that he seemed to care), and smiled. I could have taken a nap with a happy tummy at that moment—if only it hadn’t meant my dinner with Drew wasn’t over.

“Must…finish…” he gasped, holding a fork of double-chocolate cake an inch from his hand. It quivered in his hand before it set it back on its plate. “Can’t do it.”

“Wuss,” I teased.

He shot me a look and I giggled. Then a clap of thunder sounded and I jumped. My senses came back to me and I remembered the fact that I hadn’t responded to my dad so he’d have no clue where I was—which meant my mom was probably tripping shit while I was having the best dinner of my life. “Shit, what time is it?” I dug my phone out of my pocket. We’d been at Abel’s for nearly an hour and a half. “Fuck.”

“You okay?”

I blinked and nodded. “Yeah.” I looked up at him. “So…how’re you getting home.”

“My bike,” he answered simply. My eyes certainly popped out of my head but I didn’t say anything. Like motorcycles weren’t already dangerous enough…

I chewed on my bottom lip for a moment. “Well, I should probably get back home…but this was fun.” I let a shy smile peek through. We both scooted out of the booth and he walked me to the door. He even grabbed my hand and held it in his until we were outside under cover. I thought for sure the sun would peek through the rain and shine down on the glorious moment.

He bent down and gave me a soft kiss that I savored with every molecule in my body. I only hoped this meant that I was off the market finally…but with Drew I could never tell. And no way could I ask him—that was humility waiting to happen.

“Sure you don’t want me to give you a ride?” He gave me a teasing grin.

I crinkled my nose in a way that I hoped looked adorable. “Not a chance. But maybe some other time when everything’s not so…wet.”

He laughed. “I’m going to quote you on that. Do you want me to wait for your ride with you?”

I squeezed his hand in mine tentatively. “I just don’t want you to drive away in that accident waiting to happen.” The words replayed in my head and I realized how overprotective-girlfriend they sounded; too bad it was too late to take them back.

Drew surprised me by swooping down and crashing his lips to mine, his hand snaking around to the back of my head and cradling me. It made me smile into the kiss to feel so precious. No wonder he was a lady-killer. He pulled away just far enough to whisper, “I promise to be extra careful,” his breath warming up my face deliciously.

My nerves tingled and my head suddenly felt fuzzy. “Okay.”

We separated and I Drew try to conceal a cocky smirk. I slapped his chest playfully and growled, “Cocky asshole.”

He only laughed again. “Sorry. I just love seeing that look on your face.”

I self-consciously touched my face and felt the heat radiating from my cheek. “What look?” Geez. I could only imagine.

Drew shrugged with a glint in his eye. “See you later, kitten.” He kissed me once last time before walking into the rain and mounding his bike.

I watched him go before reaching for my phone again. I immediately scrolled down through my contacts and decided it was best to call Christina, killing many birds with one stone. I found her number—which was labeled “Slut” because she always stole my phone and looked through it even though it pissed me off to no end—but stopped dead-cold when I saw the name above it.

Sean.

A smile crossed my lips automatically. I remembered him twiddling with my phone at Tony’s that one night but it had never crossed my mind he would give me his number. My heart did a fist-pump in my chest.

I pressed call before rational thinking got the best of me. I was just so thrilled that I didn’t even consider the cons; I was concentrating on the fact that Sean wanted me to have his number.

He picked up quickly. “Hello?”

“Hey,” I chirped. I stepped back inside so the pitter-patter of rain wouldn’t overpower the sound of my voice. “Um, you’re not busy, are you?”

“In this weather? My plans were to wash my car and play C.O.D.,” he replied with a huff.

I giggled despite myself. “Great! Well, I mean, that you’re free—unless videogames count and I really don’t think they do,” I realized I was rambling and hurried to my point, “so then perhaps you could pick me up…? I need a ride.” I chewed on the inside of my cheek.

Of course it wouldn’t be a big deal if he said no, but I wanted him to. I shouldn’t but I do.

He paused. “Um…yeah—totally. Where are you?”

“This place called Abel’s. Do you know where it is?”

“I…believe so. The diner like five minutes from Orange Leaf, right?”

I shrugged out of habit. “Hell if I know. So you’ll really pick me up?” I grinned unabashedly. “That’s great!”

“Anything for you, Stells,” he responded like in was the most casual thing in the world—which I guess it would be to anyone else. But this was the boy I used to daydream about talking to. And for him to be saying that he’ll do anything for me, be damned how casual, it wasn’t unusual for my insides to be flipping around.

I bit my lip and held the phone closer to my ear. I didn’t particularly want to hang up.

What’s wrong with me? Had I not just spent an entire afternoon with a certain delicious dark-haired boy? I would bet money that if it had been a date with Sean, not God himself could distract me from obsessing over every single detail, evaluate each minute, with not a single other person on my mind. I very obviously could not say the same for Drew.

“So I’ll see you in a few minutes,” he said, not sounding in a rush to get off the phone either, which I liked.

“Yeah.” I sighed contently. “If you hurry then I’ll love you forever.” I giggled into the receiver. I was pretty sure I was flirting, but that was as harmless as it could get.

“Consider me there.”

“But don’t talk on the phone while driving,” I instructed. “Watch the road. Be safe.”

“Yes ma’am,” he said smartly and I could hear the grin. “I’ll see you in a few.”

“Bye,” I sang. We hung up after another pause. I almost thought it was going to be one of those gooey love moments where they both tease each other about hanging up and I grinned to myself. I could never be one of those couples, thank God.

He didn’t lie about being quick. It only took him a few minutes, five tops. I guess it was closer to the house than I thought. When I saw his Mustang sitting in the rain I ran over to it, beaming like a little kid being handed the best Christmas present ever. I jumped in and slammed the car door closed in my excitement. “Hi.”

Sean smiled back, flashing a glimpse of his pearly white teeth. I briefly wondered if his lips felt any similar to Drew’s. “Hey, Stells. Who’d you have dinner with?”

I shrugged off the question and he dismissed it thankfully. Shame on you, I scolded myself.

We started driving back and I stared out the window. It was still raining and it was starting to worry me. “You don’t think it’ll flood the neighborhood, do you?” I mumbled, more to me than him. “My dad was flooded in at work. It hasn’t rained this much in a while.”

It took him a moment to respond. “Our neighborhood is a little bit higher up than other parts of town, so I’m sure we’re fine. Plus you and I practically live on a hill. We’ll be good.”

His words were reassuring but I resumed chewing on the inside of my cheek anyway.

I felt a velvet-soft touch on my hand and looked with wide eyes at our entwined hands. My heartbeat sped up a little and warmed up my entire chest. I looked at him from the corner of my eye to see his reddish lips pulled up in a soft smile. He caught me observing him and quirked a dark blond eyebrow. “I’ll protect you.”