What if Samantha was the one who set this whole thing up?
Before I have time to decide if that’s right, I dart into the bathroom. Then I look in the mirror at my reflection and gasp at everything coming together.
I know who my admirer could be.
It’s my mom.
The truth seems so obvious now. Why haven’t I figured this out yet? She’s the one who wants me to get back out there, and she knows me better than practically anyone. Of course it’s her!
Any guilt I had before about possibly falling for Andy while some other admirer was sending me paper hearts washes away, and I can finally admit the truth to myself: I’m falling for everything about Andy. His face. His dimple. His humor. His mind. Him.
And for once, I’m grateful for something I didn’t plan.
I return to the theater and Andy has found our seats in the middle where I left my coat. I sit down next to him and this time I don’t resist the urge to grab his hand. His eyes widen for a second but he squeezes mine back and then lets go, only to put his arm around me. I breathe in his cologne and rest my head on his shoulder, eating popcorn with chocolate, which ends up being more delicious than I expected. Each bite melts in my mouth.
When the lights go down, it suddenly feels like we’re slipping into an actual dream. The movie starts with the opening credits of Pride and Prejudice. My favorite. I’ve seen it plenty of times, but never with Andy. I feel his chest move every time he laughs or his heart speeds up.
When the movie ends, the credits start rolling and I finally lift my head off his shoulder. He grabs my hand and leads me to the aisle. I think we’re leaving, but he stops me before putting his hand on my lower back.
“What’re you doing?” I ask.
“Be spontaneous with me,” he whispers in my ear. “Dance with me in an empty movie theater. It’s kind of like a fantasy for me. I hope you don’t mind.”
“I think it’s one of mine too, but I didn’t know until just this second,” I say, smiling.
We sway back and forth to the music as the projector shines down from above, making me completely breathless. Before the song ends, he dips me like you see in the movies and gives me the most utterly perfect first kiss I could ever imagine.
* * *
Andy pretends to get lost as he drives me home so we can have more time together. It becomes a running joke and he keeps making wrong turns, both of us laughing more than we should each time he does it. At one point we have to stop for gas and he comes back to the car with more snacks than the two of us can eat. Once we hit the road, Andy gets “lost” again. I tell him the joke’s going to grow tired, and he just looks at me and says we’ll never grow tired of each other. It’s only after he says it that I realize we’re driving by the bridge where we had our first unofficial date. They say time flies when you’re having fun, but I have a feeling the memory of today will last forever.
When I get home, my mom’s at the kitchen table like she always is when she’s waiting up for me. She pretends she isn’t, though, reading some medical journal. I kiss her on the cheek before heading upstairs and not giving away that I’m on to her.
Chapter 20
I’m still on cloud nine on Monday and it feels like nothing can bring me down, even the fact that nobody has been able to stop talking about the Valentine’s Day Dance.
“So who do you think is going to ask you?” Katie asks Jess at lunch. My group of friends always sits at the table closest to the window. There’s no assigned seating, but tables are pretty much declared early on. Carmen got to the cafeteria early the first day to snag the best one, since, according to her, she wasn’t going to leave one of the most crucial elements of our senior year up to chance. Just like she’s not going to leave Jess’s date up to chance now.
“I’ll tell Anthony to get Connor to ask you,” she declares.
“Isn’t he dating that girl Lizzie?” she asks.
“No, they’re dunzo.”
Katie plays with the bracelet on her wrist. It’s what she does when she disagrees with what Carmen’s saying.
“What?” Carmen demands. Clearly, she has picked up on this habit too.
Jess shakes her head. “I just don’t know if Connor would want to go with me.”
Carmen smiles. “Of course he will. Anthony is going with me and Pete’s going with Ella. Now we just need Connor to go with you and find someone for Katie.” She turns to her now. “What do you think of James?”
“You suggest Connor for Jess and James for me? Rude.”
“Not everyone can go with Pete Yearling,” Carmen says, winking at me.
I let it go the first time, but I know I need to correct it now.
“I’m not going with Pete,” I say.
Carmen shakes her head. “You’ve been going on actual dates with him. He’s obviously going to ask you to the dance too. He’s not a moron.”
For a moment, I glance at Pete across the cafeteria. He’s eating a sandwich while his buddy Vince is telling him some sort of story, waving his arms in excitement. Pete nods. Maybe it’s just because he’s between bites, but he’s not smiling, the way he normally is. I hope he’s not still bummed about us. Just because he’s not a great guy for me doesn’t mean he won’t be a great guy for someone else.
“No, I’m actually not going with Pete,” I say again, looking down at the table. “We ended it…whatever it was.”
“What happened?” Carmen exclaims. “I thought everything was going great….”
“It was. I just wasn’t into him.”
Carmen’s eyes widen. “You’re telling me you ended things again.” Katie and Jessica give each other looks. I can feel my cheeks burning.
“Yes,” I answer. “But he knew something wasn’t right. He was the one who brought it up.”
Carmen nods like she’s trying to understand, but there’s a hint of anger in her eyes, like the time some new girl tried to sit at our lunch table after winter break.
“So who do you plan on going with now?” she asks.
“I don’t know.” I shrug. “I haven’t really thought about it.”
That’s the truth. Besides, the only person I’d really want to go with is Andy, and he’s not allowed to come. Dances are for Arlington High students only. But Carmen continues to glare at me so I offer a new suggestion.
“Maybe we can just go as us girls. I think we’d have way more fun anyway.”