Slamming Demon (Pounding Hearts 2)

He shook his head and my heart swelled with so much anticipation that I had to swallow it back down.

He didn’t mind. He totally did not mind acting as if he was with me. Did he like me? Had I been misreading him the entire time? Suddenly, I felt overwhelming excited to attend the party, as if just a moment ago I hadn’t been dreading it.

“Oh my god!” I gasped and tore my eyes away from him before I made an even bigger fool of myself. I attempted to mask my own excitement as excitement for telling Grace. “Grace is going to be over the moon! Thank you!”

My fingers flew across my phone as I told her yes, yes I’ll go. Her reaction was swift and full of pulsing hearts. I had to wait for two full minutes for my screen to settle down before I added. And I’m bringing someone.

Of course she immediately asked: Who?

Brett

I was shocked that Mandy wouldn’t want to go to a party, but then again as soon as she mentioned how much of a douche Eric was I could understand her hesitation. I wanted to make her smile though, and it just came out of my mouth without my brain really thinking about it.

“I’ll go with you.”

I still couldn’t figure out though why she thought I would just be acting like I was with her.

Fuck, I wanted to be with her and this looked like it would be a good way to get that to happen. Did she really think that I wouldn’t want to be with her? She was crazy. Half the guys in the school would give their left nut to be with the ice queen.

That was her nickname: The Ice Queen. And yep, each word was capitalized when we spoke about her. She wasn’t mean or a bitch to anyone at all, but she wouldn’t even give a guy goodnight kiss, let alone let them try to reach first base when they did manage to score a date with her. Every guy who went on a date with her came back with the same report. They tried to kiss her or even tried to just hold her hand but she wasn’t having any of it.

Shit, she was starting to get the rep that she might be a lost cause for guys because she might be batting for the same team.

Fuck me though, I had gotten further than any other guy in the school. She kissed me. Well, she kissed my cheek, but I wasn’t going to let semantics get in the way of the bragging I did with myself. That was where most of the guys in school went wrong with dating, they bragged about what they had done with whichever girl they went out with, and it was just embarrassing to the girls. It was a one-way ticket to not getting another date from her.

Me, though, I practiced being as silent as a tree when it came to talking about what I had or had not done with my dates.

So tonight, we were going to go to a party, and I was going to have to get her to understand before we ever left her parents’ house that I wanted it as a date. Not me just pretending to be her date so she could avoid Eric. If I was going to go with her, I wanted it on better terms than me just pretending.

I waited until she took a break from texting to try and get her attention. Her fingers were flying across her phone, and the sending and returning sounds were flying fast. After what felt like an eternity she finally looked to be waiting on a reply. It was my chance.

“Mandy?”

“Hmm?” she was still staring at the screen of her phone. I think she just might have forgotten I was even there.

“Mandy, you know this is a date right?” I asked her.

Still looking down at her phone. “Hmm?”

“Mandy, please look away from the phone for a moment.” I asked quietly.

Her head snapped up, and she looked at me with surprise. Surely she didn’t forget I was still standing there? But she might have the way her cheeks were blushing.

She apologized. “I’m so sorry. Grace was texting me and I kind of got wrapped up in talking to her.”

“It’s okay, I understand. But you haven’t answered me.”

She blinked for a moment in clear confusion. “Oh my god, I really wasn’t paying attention. What did you ask? I am so sorry.”

“I asked if you understood that this would be a date. I am not just pretending to be with you tonight.” Those beautiful blue eyes blinked at me before she blushed even brighter. Well fuck, maybe I misread this whole thing.

“A date?” she asked me tentatively.

I had already gone this far, so I nodded. “I will even be giving you a kiss good night when I drop you off.”

She just stared at me, and I could clearly see the thoughts racing across her mind through her expressive eyes. I swore though if she looked down to the fucking phone I would walk.

She nodded her head finally and smiled. “Okay.”