Double Clutch - Реинхардт Лиз - Страница 34

“So are you asking me on a second date?” He crossed his arms and leaned back, a huge smile on his face.

“Oh yeah.” I narrowed my eyes and gave him an evil grin. “But just as a charity thing. You know, take a clueless guy out and teach him how to order food at a restaurant. You’re practically community service for me.”

He laughed, and when the waitress set our glasses down, he blew the straw wrapper at me.

It was nice to eat with him, scooping things off of his plate across the table and showing him how to hold the chopsticks I’d requested. I laughed every time they leapt out of his hands and flew across the table.

“I’d starve to death in China.” He picked up the thin pieces of wood for the thousandth time.

“C’mon, you’re not so bad.” I watched him grab a piece of broccoli and open his mouth, only to have it slip out of the grasp of his sticks before he could get it in. I reached across the table and grabbed the piece tightly with my chopsticks, then lifted it helpfully to his mouth. He opened obligingly and ate.

“I might not starve if you were there to toss things in my mouth every once in a while.” He wiped some soy sauce off the side of his mouth with a napkin.

“I’d do it for you. That’s just how much I like you.” I pointed my chopsticks at him. “You’d better be willing to do something for me in return.”

I saw a gleam in his eyes that made me realize he was thinking something completely different than what I meant. “Oh, I think I’d be able to figure something out.”

“Maybe you can support us in China by being, like, a male geisha,” I suggested and raised my eyebrows.

“What’s a geisha?” His face was adorably suspicious.

“It’s like an entertaining woman, and they‘re actually Japanese. You know, the ones who wear the white face paint and kimonos. They hang out with important men and sing and joke and play instruments.”

“But they’re girls,” he said uncertainly.

“Yes,” I sighed. “But they’re supposed to be really attractive and people pay good money to have them around. That’s why you’d be a good one. Cause you’re a little bit of a man whore.”

He laughed. “Not anymore. Do geishas sleep with the guys?”

“No. I mean, they’re not nuns, but they aren’t expected to sleep with any clients unless they want to.” I placed the chopsticks neatly on the edge of my plate, empty except for a few grains of soy-sauce-soaked rice.

The waitress brought us the bill with two fortune cookies on top. I snapped it up, and knew I could afford it all with the tip because I had ordered everything. I put the twenty down and got up to leave.

“So what will you do while I’m a male geisha in China?” He helped me into my coat and wrapped my scarf around my neck.

“I’ll teach little Chinese kids to speak English.” I put my hat on my head and walked out the door Jake held for me.

“That doesn’t really sound fair.” He put his hand on the small of my back, keeping me from getting too close to the curb I was nowhere near too close to.

“Look, you have to shake what your mama gave you, in every sense. You’re the looks, so I’ll have to be the brains. Or the muscle.” I closed my fist and popped my tiny bicep. Jake squeezed it appreciatively.

“I guess you could take a few thugs out with those.” He wrapped his arms around me and his body blocked the cutting wind.

We were just about to kiss again when I heard Kelsie’s voice.

“Hey Brenna! Jake! What happened? Did you feel okay?” The Chinese food place was right down the street from the theater, and we must have timed our meal perfectly with the end of the movie.

“Brenna felt dizzy. I thought she might need a meal,” Jake covered for me.

“That was nice of you to watch out for Brenna,” Kelsie said, her voice overly sweet. I scowled at her. Her smile widened.

“No problem,” he mumbled.

“I know you guys ate, but we were going to head out and get something to eat at the diner. Do you guys want to come just to hang out?” I saw Chris and the other guy whose name I couldn’t remember. Kelsie noticed me looking right away. “Saxon and those two girls he dragged along left before the movie started. We thought they might have gone with you two, but I guess not.” She shrugged. “You two in?”

“I can stay longer.” Jake looked at me.

“I told Mom we might head out to eat after the movie.” I was still reeling a little from the news of Saxon’s exit. Did he see me and Jake leave? Did he have it planned from the start? Had I made a decision to outsmart Saxon only to get outsmarted?

I was more than a little disgusted. My point had been to not think of him at all and then gloat about it to his face.

We walked along the sidewalk, towards the diner. The guys discussed the upcoming Folly show.

“I listened to your album the other day,” I said to Chris. “I thought it was really good.”

“Awesome.” He pointed at me. “I hear you’re a crazy artist.”

“Maybe. I heard you need some designs.” I felt a swell of pride when I thought about myself as an artist. I liked it.

“Yeah, people have been asking for shirts at our shows. If you’ve even got a sketch or a digital image, we can get them screen printed, and we’d give you a cut of anything we make. Like royalties.” Chris pushed his glasses up onto the bridge of his nose, and I saw what attracted Kelsie to him. He was handsome in that lean, serious-faced, artistic way.

“I’ll have something to you by the end of the week.” A job! I had an actual job that I was excited about.

“Cool.” He looked at me like he had confidence in my promise to deliver. “I’ll introduce you to the band when we see each other at school.”

He responded to something Kelsie said, and I noticed Jake hanging back.

“You okay?” I took his hand in mine.

“Yeah.” He squeezed my hand. “You’re going to be famous soon, huh?”

“My design might be,” I said breezily. “Are you already buckling under the pressure of being part of a celebrity couple?”

Whoops. The words were out of my mouth before I thought much about them. Honestly, it was just a funny thing to say. I looked at Jake, wondering what I should say now. We were at the diner, and I motioned for Kelsie to go in without us.

“Are you asking me to be your boyfriend, Brenna?” Jake’s face was way too delighted for his own good.

“Nope.” I turned my nose up at him. “I never ask guys out.”