A Piece of Heaven (Allendale Four 1)

I nodded but didn’t admit it was driving me a little crazy too.

*

Needing to boost my wardrobe, I took my birthday money and hit the thrift store. My selection of sexy clothing was limited and to get this right I was going to have to suck up my fear of fashion and go with it.

The shop was fairly empty, the racks full of unappealing clothes, but I’d looked online for a few ideas and managed to luck out.

The following day, I knew I’d hit my mark when Hayden stopped dead in his tracks in the parking lot, nudging Jackson in the arm.

I fought a smile at my success.

After my research I figured I could stay within the dress code while pulling off a sexy look. Today was a ruffled shoulder-revealing shirt matched with a denim skirt with a frayed hem. Black booties covered my feet. I found a pair of big hoop earrings in my mother’s jewelry box.

The minute the soles hit the pavement, a pair of hands pulled me from the car and slung my bag over his shoulder. My stomach dipped, wondering if Oliver had found me. When I turned, I plastered a smile on my face the minute I saw it wasn’t any of the boys I’d hoped to see.

“Oh, hi, Garrett.”

Garrett was tall and had light brown hair. I could see broad shoulders hidden under his flannel shirt. He wore thick-rimmed glasses and had a scruffy beard that made him cute in that hipster kind of way.

“Hi, Heaven.” He was shy and artsy. Everyone knew it. We had all been to school together forever. Garrett and I were not friends, but we weren’t not friends either. He opened and closed his mouth like he was preparing to say something, but no words came out.

“So, what’s going on?” I asked, walking toward the building.

“I, uh...”

I stopped in the walkway, other students jostling me out of the way. “What’s going on, Garrett? I’m going to be late.”

“Can I talk to you—in private?

Oh, god. Not again.

My eyes bugged. I knew they did. I could feel it but this was my goal, to stir the pot and get people talking. I sighed and grabbed his arm, pulling him over to a picnic table in the school lawn. “I’ll talk to you, away from everyone else, but not alone.” Stupid Eric. Learned my lesson with that one. “What do you want?”

“Yeah, okay,” he said, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck.

“Spit it out,” I said. “Fine, look, are you gay? Because that I was not expecting.”

His brown eyes snapped to my own, “What? No. No. I am not gay.”

“Okay then what?”

“I thought maybe, um...”

“Tick tock, Garrett.”

“Will you go out with me?”

“And by ‘go out’ you mean...” I prompted. It was pathetic that I had to ask.

“Out. Like for coffee or something.”

I eyed him for a minute. “And by coffee do you mean have sex? Because I am not having sex with you.”

“What? Oh my god, Heaven!” He looked around to see if anyone was listening. Surprisingly, no one was.

“Well, you can’t blame me. You’ve heard the rumors.”

It was his turn to look suspicious. “Yeah, rumors.”