Chapter 10 Grady #2
The door swung open, revealing an older woman who must’ve been Cleo’s mom.
They looked a lot alike, except for the eyes.
Cleo’s eyes were dark and shimmered like sapphires beneath the Texas sky.
It’d been nearly impossible to ignore, especially not when they’d grown so wide during our conversations.
I smiled, dipping my chin in greeting. “Evening, ma’am. I’m here to pick Cleo up for our date.”
Her mom fought a smile as she ushered me inside. “Come on in outta the heat! It’s stifling,” she said, stepping out of the way. “I think she’s almost ready—”
“I’m here!”
I glanced up as Cleo rounded the corner and stopped sharply in front of us. If I thought she was pretty in nearly one-hundred-degree heat and covered in sweat, nothing could’ve prepared me for how beautiful she was all done up.
She was wearing a pale blue dress with little wildflowers all over it.
It stopped just below her knees, and there were thin straps over her shoulders holding it in place.
I couldn’t help but slowly drop my gaze, noticing her toned, tanned skin and freshly painted toenails that matched her dress.
The front of her hair was pulled out of her face, but it flowed down her back in soft waves.
Holy shit. She was beautiful.
A sweet pink hue filled her cheeks as she broke eye contact and looked at the floor. “Sorry to keep you waiting—”
“I just got here,” I said, cutting her off.
There was an awkward beat of silence before I remembered the bouquet clutched in my hand.
“These are for you. I know you said you loved daisies, so my mom made sure there were a couple in there for you. I’m not sure what the others are, but I could find out for you? ”
Cleo’s face broke out in a big smile as she took the flowers from my hand and brought the petals near her nose and inhaled their sweet scent. “They’re lovely,” she whispered. “You made this?”
I scratched the back of my neck, not wanting to lie.
“My mom, actually. She works at one of the flower shops in town and has her own garden, so she helped me throw something together.” When she didn’t say anything more, I panicked and started to ramble.
“It’s okay if you don’t really like them.
It’s just all we had, and the flower shop was already closed—”
“I think they’re beautiful, Grady. This is so thoughtful,” she said, turning to her mom. “Do we have a vase to put them in?”
“We should have one or two lying around somewhere,” her mom said, giving me a wink before taking the flowers from Cleo. “I’ll take care of this. You kids go have fun, now.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Cleo said, readjusting her purse strap over her shoulder. She walked to my side, still smelling like the flowers from the bouquet. There was the softest hint of something sweet beneath it all. Vanilla, maybe?
“Don’t forget curfew,” her mom called over her shoulder.
Cleo winced slightly. “Yes, Mom. I know,” she said through gritted teeth.
I couldn’t help but wonder how many times they’d had the conversation.
My parents didn’t care much when I came home so long as I didn’t wake them up coming through the door, and I was in bed before the sun rose the next morning.
“Alrighty then.” Her mom smiled, waving at me over the top of her daughter’s head. “Don’t get into too much trouble!”
The look Cleo gave me said she was itching to get out of here.
So was I, but probably not for the same reasons.
Mine were purely selfish. I couldn’t wait to be alone with her, even though I’d likely need to loosen her up to get her talking.
Every bit of her was rigid and stiff, like she didn’t know how to act or what to do.
She was nervous, which was so damn cute. Honestly, there wasn’t a single part of her that wasn’t.
I moved, gesturing for her to step into the balmy summer night. My hand found her back on instinct as we walked, guiding her to the passenger side of my truck. She faltered slightly, looking at me beneath furrowed brows as I reached across and opened it for her.
“I can get it, you know,” she said, climbing inside. She wrapped her fingers around the handle and tried to pull it closed, but I held it in place until she looked up at me. “What’re you doing?”
I kept my eyes locked on hers as I slowly let the door close. The window was open, so I braced my elbows in the empty space. That damn sweet floral scent wrapped around her must’ve been getting to my head because I couldn’t stop myself from leaning forward.
“I know this is your first date and all,” I said, smirking as her lips pursed tightly.
“But let me tell you how this is gonna go. If there’s a door that needs opening, I’m gonna do it for you.
When it comes time for dinner, I’m gonna pay the bill.
And maybe, just maybe, I’ll be lucky enough to give you a kiss if you want one at the end of the night. ”
Cleo stared at me for a minute, her lips slightly parting at my honesty. “You want to kiss me?” Her words were slow, like she didn’t really believe what I’d said. I hated that more than her thinking she should get her own door. Why was that so hard to get through her head?
“Sure do,” I said. “But I’m trying to play my cards right, so you’ll wanna kiss me, too.”
Before she could say anything else, I pushed off the door and rounded the truck. The moment my ass hit the seat, I reached over and grabbed the aux cord and plugged it into my phone. Hands Down by Dashboard Confessional filled the speakers, and I turned to Cleo. Her face lit up with recognition.
“I love this song,” she said. “I put it on all my summer playlists.”
I laughed, making my way down the long driveway. “Oh yeah? And how many summer playlists do you have?”
“Three, I think. No, wait! Maybe four,” she said.
A woman after my own heart. I loved the idea of creating a playlist for every mood, but not everyone else felt the same way. “Why so many? Can’t you just throw them all together and have one big playlist?”
Cleo looked over at me in horror. “Uh, no way. Like, I have a playlist for work, which has a completely different vibe than one I made for driving around the backroads with my windows down or sitting by the lake in the evening.”
“Okay, so that’s three. What’s the fourth then?”
She chewed on her bottom lip. “I guess I was wrong. There were just three.”
I didn’t believe her. Not for a second. Not when she had that damn blush creeping along her cheeks and wouldn’t meet my eye. “Alright, fine. Don’t tell me. I’ll figure it out eventually.” I glanced down at her purse clutched tightly in her lap. “Even if I have to pry it outta of you.”
Cleo laughed, but the sound was somewhat hollow. She stared out the window at the blurred landscape as we flew toward the highway. “I feel like I’m going to disappoint you.”
I tried to keep my voice even as alarm bells began sounding in my head. “Why’s that?”
She shrugged. “I’m really not that interesting, Grady. There’s not much more to me than what you’ve already seen.”
“I guess it’s a good thing I like what I see, huh?
” I joked, but her smile didn’t return. “Besides, we’re always our toughest critic.
I’m willing to bet there’s more to you than you think.
” I tapped my fingers along the steering wheel as I drove, trying to melt the tension between us.
So far, I felt like I was fumbling this date harder than our football team during the playoffs.
We hadn’t even made it to the restaurant.
At this point, I wasn’t sure if we would.
“You barely know me,” she said, her voice a little stronger than before.
“I could actually be a horrible person. Maybe I’m just putting on a front since it’s our first date and all—” I burst out laughing, unable to contain myself.
Cleo whipped her head in my direction, narrowing her eyes. “What’s so funny?”
I glanced over at her, noting the scowl that seemed to be etched onto her face at this point. Up ahead, there was a little clearing off the county road. I pulled over hard, skidding to a stop. Cleo grabbed onto the handle as dust kicked up behind my tires.
“What the heck was that for? What’re you doing?” she asked, eyes wide. Her fingers had turned white from how hard she was clutching onto the flimsy plastic.
I didn’t answer as I got out and marched around to her side. She called my name, but I ignored her until I reached her door. I yanked it open, reached over, and unclipped her seatbelt, forcing her to turn my way.
“Grady, what—”
I put my finger over her lips, trying to ignore how soft they were or the fact that I now wanted to feel them against my own.
“I’m gonna talk, and you’re gonna listen, okay?
” She didn’t say anything as I pulled away, but she slowly nodded her head.
“Alright, first of all,” I said, holding up that same damn finger.
“I know you, Cleo. You may think I don’t, but I promise you I do.
We’ve known each other since we were kids.
We may not have talked, but we literally started school together.
Our graduating class will have—what? Fifty kids in it? ”
“Sixty-seven, actually,” she said, sitting taller.
“Alright then, sixty-seven kids. And correct me if I’m wrong, but most of us started in kindergarten together?” She nodded again. “Could you, in theory, name every single person and tell me something about them?”
Cleo watched me closely, clearly waiting for me to get to the point, but I was going to drag this out until she understood where I was coming from. “I’m on the student council—”
“Nope. Not what I asked. It’s a simple yes or no question.”
“Why don’t you do it then?” she snapped back. Her dark blue eyes sparked with subtle defiance, and there was something about it that got my blood boiling.
I shrugged, smirking as I began going through a list of names.
“Sara Baker. Her birthday is in June, along with her best friend, Allie Wills. Tanner Holstein just got a new truck after he ran his old one into a ditch at the beginning of summer. Jessie Chavez wants to get into bull riding so badly he lies to the event organizers and tells them he’s eighteen. And then there’s—”
“Okay, point made! You know people, but that doesn’t mean you know me.”
“You’re on the fast track to becoming valedictorian and student body president.”
I widened my stance and folded my arms over my chest. The way her eyes dipped to my biceps had me showing off just a bit. I flexed, enjoying the way her breathing changed ever so slightly.
“Everyone knows that,” she mumbled. “People have to be voted into the student council, and my grades aren’t a secret.”
“Alright, you want me to go past the superficial shit?” I blew out a breath, not waiting for her to answer.
Mom always said it was rude to cuss in front of a lady, but I think even she would make an exception right now.
“You bring your lunch every day, except for Pizza Fridays—which I’ve always found weird because it isn’t even good pizza.
Whenever you have to make a speech in front of our class, you always make it look easy, but I think it terrifies you because you always have at least one fist clenched at your side or on the podium.
” She stared at me, completely stunned by my admissions, so I continued.
“This is new, but I’ve noticed you do this little shoulder shimmy thing when you’re trying to pull yourself together—which would be so freaking cute if it didn’t mean you were hiding something from me.
And you blush every time you see me. Did you know that? ”
Cleo looked away, biting her lip to hide a smile. “No, I don’t.”
I stepped forward, taking her chin between my thumb and forefinger and forcing her to look at me. “Then why’re your cheeks strawberry red right now?”
“I don’t know,” she muttered. “Because you said all that stuff. I’m not used to it.”
“Not used to what?” I asked, chuckling.
Cleo’s face sobered. “Being seen.”
Without thinking, I let my hand slide along her jaw and ran my thumb across her cheekbone. My eyes dipped to her lips as she sucked in a breath. It was taking everything I had not to kiss her, to let her know just how much I saw her.
“What’re you doing?” she whispered.
“Trying not to kiss you,” I answered honestly. There was no point in lying. Not when there was so much tension lingering between us.
Her tongue darted out to moisten her plush lower lip, and I bit back a groan. “I’ve never been kissed before.”
“And I wanna change that,” I said hoarsely. “But I wanna wait until I take you home because if I kiss you now, I know that’s all I’ll want to do.”
Cleo swallowed, nodding slowly. “Yeah, I think that’d probably be best.”
She tried to pull away, but I didn’t let her. “You shine bright, Cleo. Brighter than anyone else I know. Remember that.” I let my hand fall away from her face, intentionally brushing my fingers along the exposed skin of her arm.