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I was shocked, but I felt the smile creep across my face. All this stuff we’d been doing really was helping her. There was no question. The old Avery wouldn’t have been able to deal with this, especially not with a room full of people still watching her.
“Hell yes, I do,” I answered. I’d paid good money for that swimsuit after all.
She sighed. “Fine. But if I do, will you please refrain from perverted comments at my expense? I know you’re not very good at that, but I seriously ca
It was a reasonable request. I wasn’t sure I’d be capable of it, though. “I’ll try my best.”
When the girls all emerged in their swimsuits ten minutes later I about had a heart attack. Pamela was on the girl’s soccer team and Chloe was on the dance squad. I knew from personal experience exactly how in shape they were. Aside from Chloe’s lack of chest, they both had utterly perfect bodies. Pretty much every girl I’d ever dated did.
Then there was Avery. She wasn’t like them. Her body wasn’t perfect. You’d never call her chubby, like Libby—who really didn’t look too bad in the tasteful tankini she wore—but you wouldn’t call her ski
Avery was what I would call soft. She had shape to her—waist, hips, a chest I’ve raved enough about already that I don’t think you really need me to tell you exactly how perfect it looked tied up in that top—but you couldn’t see every muscle beneath her skin. Nor were her bones showing. Add to that her flawless, cream-colored skin, and you got a very inviting, smooth, soft body that practically begged for you to sink your fingers into it.
Avery was something new for me. I wanted to know how a body like hers felt. I wanted to touch her. I wanted to explore every inch of her. I wanted it so bad that Owen chucked a towel at me with a meaningful look.
“Your weeks of celibacy are starting to show.”
“It’s not the celibacy that’s doing it.”
Owen looked over at the girls all gathering by the door. After a minute he said, “Little Miss Crazytown doesn’t look as horrifying as I expected.”
My eyebrows flew up at that, even though I’d just thought the same thing about Libby.
“Actually . . .” Owen chuckled. “Geek One and Geek Two over there are the sorest on the eyes. Twenty bucks says neither of them has ever kissed a girl before.”
I followed his gaze to Brandon and Levi. Impossibly, they managed to fit the nerd stereotype even more perfectly in all their gangly glory. They had their shorts pulled up dangerously high on their waists, and Levi even had on prescription goggles.
No, I am not kidding. Prescription goggles.
They were elbowing each other and whispering as they both tried to discretely check out Pam and Chloe.
I laughed. “Same twenty says they’d both have asthma attacks if they ever got close enough to a girl to try it. Come on, dude, let’s go. I need to hit the pool.”
Owen smirked. “I hope for your sake the water’s really cold.”
Down at the pool the strangest thing happened. Once we were all in the water, Chloe dunked Owen and started a massive water fight. The weird part was, the fight instantly turned into boys verses girls, and somehow the lines of social status were blurred. For a while we weren’t cool kids and geeks. We were all just friends of Avery having a good time. Never tell anyone I said this, but it was kind of cool. The science nerds can be pretty entertaining.
Eventually the girls raised the white flag and suggested we move the party to the hot tub. I squeezed in next to Avery, of course, and laughed when Libby pushed Brandon out of his spot in order to be by Owen. The fearful look on Owen’s face was classic.
When everyone settled into the crowded space, the differences between the cliques slammed back into place. Before the silence could get awkward, I exaggerated a stretch and dropped my arm over Avery’s shoulder. It got the laugh I hoped for.
“I know you said you weren’t ready to be my girlfriend, Aves, but would you still be my sweetheart?”
“What do you mean?”
The Valentine’s dance was next weekend. No doubt Pamela and Chloe had been talking about it for at least two weeks, but being asked to a dance was so far off Avery’s radar that she didn’t recognize what I was doing.
I smiled at her confusion. “Will you be my date to the Sweetheart Dance next weekend?”
“Oh!” Avery gasped. Her eyes got really big, and her face flushed bright red. No doubt she was remembering our last dance and imagining what a whole night together could be like. I know I was. I wasn’t sure I could survive that much torture, but I was looking forward to trying.
“Oh, um, actually Libby and I were going to go to the revival theater this weekend. They’re doing a Nicholas Sparks movie marathon.”
I didn’t see how that was appealing, but before I cold say so, Libby said, “No, it’s okay. Go to the dance. I’ll just make Brandon go with me.”
“No way, Libby,” Brandon immediately argued. “I can’t subject myself to such rubbish.”
“I’ll let you put your arm around me in the theater,” Libby negotiated.
“Will you let me feel your boob?”
“Are you serious?” Pamela asked, offended on Libby’s behalf.
“You ca
Owen and I both choked on laughs, but Libby ignored Pam and Chloe. She took a moment to seriously consider it. “I won’t rule out the possibility,” she finally said. “There is a chance that with Ryan Gosling on the screen, I will be in the mood to make out.”
“Fine. For that, I will sacrifice my manly dignity and suffer through some of the sappiest movies ever made.”
Wow. There was no end to how much the nerds continued to surprise me. Owen, either, for that matter. He was staring at Libby like she was an unsolvable equation.
“There,” I said, turning my attention back to Avery. “Libby’s all taken care of.”
“Yeah, sounds like she’ll be in good hands.” Owen snickered.
Libby gri
The nerds all snickered, as if this statement didn’t shock them at all, but Pamela and Chloe gasped. Owen floundered for a moment and then snorted. “You are insane if you think I am ever going on a date with you.”
Libby rolled her eyes. “Your loss. I happen to have the spirit of a wildcat. I could take you places sexually you never knew existed.”
This time even the nerds gasped.
“Libby!” Avery cried.
“What? When a girl knows what she wants, she should go for it.” Libby waved a hand at Owen. “Look at those abs! Libby definitely wants.” She glanced up at Owen. “Can I feel them?”
“What?”
Libby didn’t give Owen the chance to say no.
Owen was too shocked to stop her as she placed her hand on his chest and slowly dragged it down his six-pack. She let out this tiny squeak of excitement, which sent Owen scrambling from the hot tub so fast I wondered just how low her hand had gone.
“Whoa! Avery!” he yelled as he snatched up his towel. “Tell your crazy cat friend to stop objectifying me! I’m not a piece of meat!”
That sent Pamela and Chloe into peels of laughter. “Karma, Owen,” Chloe gasped, clutching at her stomach from laughter. “Maybe next time you start to objectify a woman you’ll think twice!”
After that, we all went back upstairs. I caught Avery’s hand and linked our fingers together before she could take off ahead of me. “So?” I asked her. “You never gave me an answer. Will you go to the dance with me?”