Double Clutch - Реинхардт Лиз - Страница 36

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Just looking at it made me feel light and bubbly. I put it in my book as a bookmark, not wanting to leave it out in case Mom or Thorsten came in for something. There were a lot of reasons I didn’t want to talk to them about Jake, but a really major one was I simply didn’t know how they’d feel about me having a boyfriend at all. So I took the path of least resistance and didn’t mention him.

Mom and I ate a small dinner in the living room, our plates on the coffee table. We watched some detective show Mom had gotten addicted to, but I could never follow. Then she stretched and yawned and told me she had a good book and was heading to bed.

“Love you.” She kissed me. I told her I loved her too, and waited a minute before I switched off the TV and put the plates in the dishwasher. Then I went to my room, trying not to hurry too much because I wanted to savor this time before I called him. It was almost torturous. I washed up and got my pajamas on, and sat on my bed, staring at my phone until I couldn’t wait one more second.

“Brenna.” His voice sounded sleepy already.

“Hey Jake.” I snuggled down in my bed. “How are you?”

“Pretty great. I got this amazing girl to agree to date me today.”

“Really? Was she super desperate?” I teased.

“Oh, yeah. She couldn’t keep her hands off of me during the whole date. Poor thing. I think she’s obsessed.”

I liked the fact that we could joke about being together. I was dreading the idea that it might get too serious or too sappy. I really didn’t know anything about dating or having a boyfriend. Every single thing was new for me. “You sound tired, Jake.”

“Not too tired to talk to you,” he said and yawned.

“I think you’re too tired to be awake at all.” I flipped open my book and traced the picture of him smiling at me in black and white.

“You took too long to call me,” he accused, his voice sweet.

“I wanted to savor it,” I said quietly, now embarrassed.

“You’re pretty seriously adorable.” The need for sleep made him suddenly punchy.

“You’re quite deliciously irresistible yourself,” I whispered. “Bedtime, Jake.”

“Tell me you can’t live without me,” he insisted.

“I’m having trouble pulling in a breath unless I’m looking at your picture,” I lied, but it wasn‘t a huge lie.

“You have a picture of me?” he asked, surprised.

“The one from today. From the movie theater lobby.”

“The one with my big ol’ chipped tooth?” His voice was slurred with drowsiness.

“That’s the one.”

“You like that picture?” He sounded astonished.

“You look good.”

“Brenna.” My name was a sigh on his lips. “How do you see good when you see me?”

“Because you’re good,” I said simply. “And that’s it. Good night Jake.”

“If I’m good, you’re a thousand times better than the best,” he said sleepily.

“Good night, Jake,” I repeated, thinking about his head on a pillow, the phone loose in his hand.

“Good night, Brenna. I’ll be there tomorrow.”

“Okay. Me too. Sleep.” I clicked my phone off.

Chapter 8

And just like that, my world started to spin slowly around Jake Kelly. He was my boyfriend, but more than I’d ever thought a boyfriend could be. Because it wasn’t all about being physical, even though I loved that aspect, and Jake was always respectful of my lack of experience and my wariness to go farther, to the places he’d been so many times without really thinking about it much at all. School centered around looking forward to Jake and avoiding Saxon.

After the weekend at the movies, Saxon was completely quiet and cold to me in school. We didn’t walk to class together anymore, and the only reason I still sat at his lunch table was that it was too awkward to try to find other friends to sit with. I didn’t know that many people in the school, and since most of the kids had already clumped together in their strangely unbreakable clans as soon as the year began, they weren’t very willing to change.

The best part of my day was just after lunch when I got on my bike and headed to Tech, even though the weather was increasingly colder and the wind bit angrily through all of my layers. I pushed my feet against the pedals, willing my body closer to Jake. Unlike Saxon, Jake was someone I could work with easily. I loved when the two of us sat across from each other in companionable silence, grinning whenever our eyes met across the rough shop tables. Sometimes he would catch my leg under the table with the top of his boot and rub the rounded top of the boot along the bottom of my calf, up and down. He never looked at me when he did it, which made it even more adorable. I liked the feel of his slightly hard boot sliding up and down the soft curve of my leg.

He walked me out to my bike on a freezing Thursday afternoon. “It’s cold.” His teeth chattered a little.

“It’s not bad once you get going.” I tied my scarf firmly around my mouth and nose and pulled my hat down over my ears.

“You look like a snowman.” He reached out to tuck loose hairs back under my hat.

I knew he was worried about me, but that seemed so ridiculous. He was the one with the threadbare coat and holey hat. His boots were scuffed and the laces were fraying, and the denim of his pants was so soft it felt silky. I had no idea how he got to work or home, and I had no idea what his house was like once he got home. I didn’t know where he slept or if he even had his own room. Or bed. For all I knew he might be camped on his couch. Or worse.

I blinked those thoughts away, forcing a laugh at his joke. I was glad he couldn’t see much of my face with my entire anti-cold outfit on. “This snowman had better get going before Mama Snowman brings out the icy fury.”

“I can’t believe your mom is still cool with you riding to school,” Jake stalled.

I sighed. “C’mon, not you, too. I like it. It makes me feel very independent.”

“This winter is one of the coldest we’ve had in years, Brenna. You should hear the Zinga brothers bitching about the crops that got frosted. I can’t wait until I can drive you home.” He squinted at the sky. “It looks like snow. It smells like it too.” He gave me a worried look.

“Mom forbids biking in the snow. If it snows tomorrow, I take the bus,” I promised.

“It’s going to snow now,” he said, his legs spread over the front wheel of my bike, his hands gripping the handlebars. “Go home now.” He pulled the scarf down and kissed me, lightly, then with a little more hunger.

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