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Chapter 7: Cue the Cheesy Classics—What, No Rose Petals?

I wrapped Luke's sweater tighter over my body as I applauded with the rest of the crowd. Alec had just run his third homerun this game. He was a phenomenal baseball player. It was no wonder he was team captain.

"Geez, I didn't know you were such a baseball fanatic," Luke commented.

"I'm not; I just want to support my team, that's all."

"Mhm, okay," he said, unconvinced. "Or you want to catch the eye of a certain Alec Jennings."

"You're just as bad as Emma," I chastised, elbowing him.

"It's cold. We should've just stayed in and watched movies."

"You didn't have to come. Do you want your jacket back?"

He shook his head. "Then you'll be cold and I can't my little Charlie shivering, can I?"

Or you can cuddle me and we both would be warm and I'd be extremely happy. I really needed to stop talking like this. It made me sound clingy and desperate—a total turnoff.

Two hours later, we had won. Now I had to go tell Alec that I wouldn't be joining him for an after-game dinner.

"You did great out there," I complimented Alec.

"Oh, thanks, it was nothing. So are you ready to go eat?"

I half smiled. "Actually, no. You see, Luke wants to have dinner, just the two of us. So I'm going to have to take a rain check."

He let out an easy laugh. "No worries, but I'll be holding you to your promise."

"In the meantime, you can go sleep with that group of girls trying to flirt shamelessly with you."

"I'd rather sleep with you...but if you insist."

I made a shooing motion. "Go."

"One last thing, since you went on a date with Beckett, does this mean you're taken or do I get a chance?"

"Are you asking me out?"

"As a matter of fact, I am. So is that a yes?"

Should I? It's not like I was cheating on anyone. "It's a yes. So are you going to tell me where we're going?"

"Nope, just wear something you can move in. And if that happens to be nude, I'm okay with that."

I suddenly felt a bit nauseous and unsure about this date. Where was he planning to take me? More importantly, what was he planning to do?

"I'm kidding. You really don't get my sense of humor, do you?"

I laughed nervously. "Just paranoid."

"Alright, well Luke is sending me death glares, so I should probably leave. See you later?"

I nodded and went to rejoin Luke, who was waiting by the car. "What is your problem? Why were you glaring at Alec?"

"I don't like him."

"Why not?"

"Because he seems fishy."

I sighed. "You think everyone that I 'date' is fishy."

"I don't think I'm fishy."

"We're not dating."

"Do you want to?"

Duh. "No."

And on that awkward note, we went to have Chinese at a tiny restaurant downtown. Greasy noodles, crappy fortune cookies, and spending Friday night with my overprotective, maybe jealous, best friend; what a good way to end the week.

***

"He's so looking at you!" Emma squealed, giggling like a giddy schoolgirl.

I tapped her shoulder lightly. "He is not. He's looking at Margaret Snyder."

"He so is. Why would he be looking at her? She's not even pretty."

"Emma! That's so mean! She's practically wearing nothing. Of course he's looking at her."

"You know what I think, Char? I think you have a crush on Tyler Bradshaw."

"I do not. Now stop talking and let me concentrate on my history paper."

She rolled her eyes and snatched my research away from me. "This is much more interesting than what you're doing."

"What? Spying on Tyler?"

"Yes! Look, he's looking. Oh crap, he saw me. HIDE!"

She ducked behind me as I tried to shake away her tight grip. She was a lot stronger than I thought. "Emma, would you stop it? You're acting so immature right now."

She smiled. "But he's looking at you now."

I glanced over at Tyler. He was indeed looking at us. "That's because you're making a scene."

"Well then it's a good thing I did. Go talk to him!"

"Why are you encouraging this?"

"You need to start building a relationship with him; you have ones with all the others."

"I don't need Tyler."

"But it'll be fun, don't you think?"

"I think you're delusional."

Emma had this thoughtful expression on her face. "I wonder why he hasn't tried to get you to sleep with him."

"Maybe he's grown up and realized that this competition that he's partaken in is childish."

She looked at me like I had grown a second head and quickly dismissed the idea. "No, that's not it. He's probably waiting for you. Yeah! That's it!"

"Okay, enough about me and this stupid game. Have you figured out who the jerk that took your innocence was yet?"

Emma shook her head sadly. "I don't think I'll ever know."

"We'll find him and cut his balls off, okay?"

She smiled. "We don't have to be that harsh."

"Oh yes, we do. Don't worry, Em. We'll figure out who he is. It wasn't one of the Top Four, was it?"

She shook her head. "I don't think so. But who knows, I was so drunk, anything could've happened."

"That's why you don't drink under aged," I tutted.

"Oh, hush. Not everyone's a goody-goody like you."

"I am not a goody-goody."

"Yeah, you are!"

"I went to a party, remember?"

"Yeah, but it's not like you did anything."

The memories of that night quickly came flooding back. I unintentionally shivered. Then I realized, I had never told her what happened to me. I didn't really want to think about it anymore than I had to, but she was one of my best friends. It felt wrong to keep it from her, but she didn't need to know. It's not like it would've made things better.

"Right..."

She took my arm and dragged me towards the bathrooms. "I need to go potty," she sang, skipping merrily into the tiled gossip chambers.

Once she did her business, we parted our separate ways. When I got into Lit, Ian was sitting on my desk, flirting with Heather Winkles. Annoyed, I stomped over there and stood with a hand on my hip expectantly in front of him, blocking his view of Heather.

He checked me out. Perv.

"Hey gorgeous," he greeted. "If you wanted to get me to notice you, you didn't have to stand in the way. It's not like ol' Heather here is competition."

I heard a 'hmmph' noise from behind me and angry footsteps retreating. "Can you please get off my desk?"

"Only if you get on mine."

What did that even mean? "Please?"

"Look, now I've got you begging."

"Ian!"

"Kitty!"

"You have three seconds until I—"

"I love seeing you angry, kitty. It makes you hotter."

"IAN!"

"Ah, screaming my name in class. Try to keep it PG, babe."

He was seriously getting on my nerves now. I attempted to push him off, but that didn't work out too well. Like I said before, I'm not strong. I threw my hands in the air. "I give up. Sit there. We'll just trade seats. I'll have Rob to keep me company."

"You mean Runny-Nose Rob?" Ian snorted.

"I'll get him a box of tissues."

"Like that's going to help. Just sit in Heather's seat. Then we can be even closer together."

"Or, you can go back to your seat and I can sit in mine!" I cried with fake enthusiasm.

Our Lit teacher finally sent him to his seat, much to his dismay. He even tried bribing him, which didn't work out too well. Geez, Ian really did like using his money to his advantage. But if you had enough money to throw around, why not, right?

When the bell rang, Ian was by my side before I could escape. He pulled me closer to him, grabbing me by the waist, but didn't try to tread lower into the forbidden zone. "So," he began, "I've been hearing you've been going out on dates with other guys..."

"And...?"

"I want you to accompany me on one."

"But I already went on a date with you!"

He wagged his finger. "Technically, you said it wasn't a date. So you owe me."

"I don't owe you anything!"

"It'll be fun. I promise."

The time I spent with Ian, besides his brazen flirting, was actually quite enjoyable. And if there was a promise of free food, I was there.

After mulling it over a bit, I decided that I'd agree to go on dates with these guys, see how capable they were of actually "dating" someone. "Fine, I'll go."

"I knew you'd say yes."

"Don't get too ahead of yourself. I can always back out."

"But you're not going to."

And the sad part; he was probably right.

***

"Ian, I promise I won't look!"

"You will look," he chided. "Besides, it's funner this way."

"More fun," I corrected.

"The point is my hands are staying on your eyes."

Ian's hands were blocking my vision, saying he wanted our location to be a "surprise." When we were in his limo, he threw a blanket over our heads, claming he wanted to build a fort. I was getting really impatient, wanting to know where he was taking me.

"Why can't I know?" I whined.

"Would you shut up for a second? We're almost there."

I sighed. Arguing with him was tiring, so I stopped. Just as he promised, we were at our location moments later.

"Alright," he said, letting the light come through to my eyes. "Open your pupils."

The first thing I saw was a grassy field way below me, and the opening blue sky surrounding me. If I had known what was going on, I probably would've enjoyed it, but since I didn't, I screamed.

"Why are we not on the ground!?" I shrieked, sinking down into the box, feeling claustrophobic.

I could hear him chuckle. "That's because we're in the sky."

I glared at him. "No need to be smart."

"Stand up. I planned this out for you."

"You didn't do a very good job. I'm scared of heights."

"It's a really pretty view..."

"I'm okay down here. The uh...basket's really nice."

"C'mon Charlotte," he coaxed. "Don't be stubborn. You were so excited before, what happened?"

"We weren't in a giant balloon before!"

I don't know how long I crouched in the corner, only sneaking peaks upwards when Ian wasn't looking. I finally decided that I was missing a once-in-a-lifetime chance, so I dared myself to stand up and take in the breathtaking scene before me.

The horizon was no longer a sky blue, but an array of reds, oranges, yellows, pinks, dark blues, and purples. Sunset was my favorite part of the day and this was the reason why. I was suddenly glad that I had agreed to go on this date with Ian.

I leaned against the basket, my hands gripping the edge. I started serenely, all the negative things in my life—gone.

"Wow...it's so beautiful," I said, drinking it all in with my eyes.

"You're beautiful."

My heart jumped as I looked over to Ian. I forgot he was still there. His silvery eyes penetrated through mine; it was like one of those moments where you knew something romantic and life-changing was going to happen...but I glanced away and coughed like I had a severe case of tuberculosis or something.

"Whoa, are you okay?" Ian asked, patting my back.

I cleared my throat and smiled, not willing to make eye contact with him. "I'm fine."

"Yeah, you are," he said, winking.

I blushed. "Thanks for taking me up here. It's really pretty."

"As long as it puts a smile on your face, I'll do anything."

He seemed so sincere that I almost thought it was real. Almost.

He suddenly wrapped his arms around my waist and set his chin on my shoulder. I stiffened, but didn't yell at him to not touch me. It was a romantic gesture, and that's what I was aiming for, right?

As time went by, I started relaxing, and actually enjoying his arms around me.

And then I did something stupid.

I spread my arms out like Rose did in the Titanic. "Look!" I cried. "I'm flying!"

He lifted his chin from my shoulder and whispered, "We've been flying, kitten."

"Just hold me and pretend to be Jack."

I heard him laugh quietly, but did as I told him to. I breathed in the air—the scent of freedom.

"Would it be really cheesy to quote The Notebook right now?" I asked.

"You're already acting out The Titanic...but if I'm falling off, you better not let go, understood?"

"I doubt that you'll fall off."

"Promise me."

"Fine, I promise. But maybe Nicholas Sparks was right. Being a bird would be so nice...so free..."

"If you're a bird, I'm a bird."

I whipped my head back. "You've actually watched The Notebook!?"

He shrugged like it wasn't a big deal. "Sure."

I've never met a guy who would willingly watch a chick flick. "You're something special..."

"Right back atcha."

I think that underneath all the sexual jokes and the cocky rich exterior, was a genuinely nice guy who would make a girl very happy someday. That is, if he actually showed it. I could only see a glimpse of it today, but it still shined through. I was looking forward to seeing more of it. I had a feeling that Ian wouldn't be the type to give up on what he wanted, but you know what? Neither was I.

I let out a yawn and rubbed my sleepy eyes. Ian and I had sat down awhile ago—our legs were starting to cramp up from standing so long. I rested my head on his shoulder, my eyes threatening to glue shut.

"Tired?" he murmured.

I mumbled something incoherent and swatted my hand at his mouth. "Sssh."

I don't know if he responded to that or not, because after that, I was knocked out.

***

Something was shaking me. And I didn't like it.

"Charlotte, Charlotte! Wake up!"

"Five more minutes, Dad," I replied, smacking my lips as I attempted to drift back into dreamland and postpone reality.

"Kitty, it's time to wake up. We'll go get food after this."

Kitty? My dad didn't call me 'kitty'? There was only one person who called me...oh goodness...

My eyes creaked opened as I stretched my arms, trying to figure out where I was. My groggy senses finally sharpened and it all came back to me.

I fell asleep on a date.

Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.

"Where are we, Ian?"

"God, your voice sounds sexy when you wake up."

"IAN!"

"What? It's true."

"This isn't the hot air balloon."

"Nope, we're in the limo."

"How did I get here?"

"I carried you?"

How disoriented was I that I didn't even realize that I was being lifted out of a basket? Apparently very. I still couldn't believe that I actually felt asleep. He probably thought there was something wrong with me; some kind of lightweight.

"Hrm...well thanks?"

"Yeah, no prob. So, how should we feed that roaring dragon in your stomach?"