Chapter 11
Landon
“Let’s go on a date this Saturday.”
I had to rub the tiredness out of my eyes to make sure it was Shay who was talking to me after theater rehearsal.
I was walking out of the school building when she came jogging up to me.
She seemed to go well out of her way to avoid interacting with me during the school day and now during our rehearsals.
Truly, the only time she’d given me the time of day was when I was Romeo and she was Juliet.
She was a hard book to crack open, that was for sure.
That didn’t mean I was going to stop trying.
Every second I got to give her a little flirty attention, I slid it in.
But still, I was so thrown off by the date topic.
I stood stunned by her words. “A date?”
“Yes, a date. You and me. Let’s do this. Say . . . this Saturday?” She wiggled her eyebrows in anticipation.
I gave her a stern glare. “You really want to go out this Saturday?”
“Yes.”
“With me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She laughed. “To make you fall in love with me. Duh.”
She was up to something because she had the goofiest grin known to mankind on her lips. She looked like a damn five-year-old holding the secret that she didn’t brush her teeth before going to bed or something.
“What’s up your sleeve, Gable?” I asked.
She widened her eyes in surprise, then rolled up the sleeves on her coat jacket, revealing her arms. “Just skin.”
I studied her smooth, tan color for a second before moving my eyes back to hers. I flicked my thumb across my nose. “What did you have in mind?”
“It’s a surprise. Don’t worry, I’ll pick you up and drive us there. One in the afternoon. Be ready.” She began walking away from me, and then she spun around, holding the straps of her backpack. “Oh, and Satan?”
“Yeah?”
“You did really great today during rehearsal,” she said before she turned and walked away. As she did, something happened to my heart in my chest. It tightened. It skipped. It beat in overdrive?
I wasn’t used to my heart doing anything other than following its mundane pattern. Then along came Shay Gable, and she went ahead and messed up my rhythmic cycle all because of a nice compliment.
Was she being sarcastic? Was her comment genuine? Was she screwing with my head?
Open your damn book for me, Shay.
Damn . . . Was my heart falling for my sworn enemy?
What the hell was that?
* * *
What the hell is that?!
I sat in Shay’s car as we pulled up to the location of our date. I should’ve known there would be some kind of dramatic crap when Shay asked me out on a date. I just didn’t think it would have been this.
Of Reps and Men was the clever name of the building sitting in front of us. It was a building filled with animals I had no interest in. Through the window, I saw a guy holding a snake around his shoulder blades.
“What the hell is this?” I barked out, my skin beginning to itch from the thought of walking inside that place.
“It’s like a petting zoo for reptiles and things. I thought it could be fun.” Her tone was so matter-of-fact, and I swore she could see the fear dripping down my forehead. “A little birdie told me you loved reptiles.”
“A little bir—” I stopped my words and groaned. “I’m going to kill Raine.”
“Oh, come on. She owed me after she told you about the auditions for the play. It’s only fair I get a fact about you, too.”
“Well, good for you. You know I hate reptiles. Awesome.” I slow-clapped. “But there’s no way in hell I’m taking one step inside of that place.”
“What’s the matter, Satan?” she cooed, pursing her lips together. “Scared?”
“No. I’m just not an idiot who finds enjoyment in playing with creatures that aren’t meant to be played with. That’s not a damn black poodle in there; it’s a boa constrictor, an animal that can physically squeeze a person to death if it pleases.”
She smiled. “Sounds exciting. Come on, let’s go.”
She opened her car door, climbed out, and I stayed exactly where I was. There was no way in hell, heaven, or any other made-up location that I was going to unbuckle my seat belt and climb out of that car.
Shay laughed when she saw me. “Are you telling me the bad boy of small-town Raine, Illinois, is really deathly afraid of a little spider?”
“Those are tarantulas! There is nothing little about a freaking tarantula, Shay.”
She giggled. “You’re sweating.”
“I’m not,” I replied, knowing it was a lie. The backs of my knees were sweating, my toes were sweating, and my balls were pretty much sitting in a puddle of my damn nerves.
“You are. I’m amazed, I guess. In an odd turn of events, it turns out I’m not the chicken in this hateful relationship, after all—you are.”
“I’m no chicken,” I barked.
She leaned in toward me and puckered her lips together before saying, “Cluck, cluck, cluck . . .”
The hairs on my forearms stood straight up.
She drove me mad, but—so annoyingly—she still kind of turned me on.
OK, Chick. Game on.
I unbuckled the seat belt, climbed out of the car, and slammed her door shut. “You really want to do this? Fine, but don’t come complaining to me when you need a tetanus shot in your ass because you decided you wanted to pet a damn tiger-striped spider.”
She smiled and walked in front of me toward the building. It seemed like lately, she was swaying her hips even more than normal in an attempt to hypnotize me.
It was working, too—right up until we walked inside the building and I felt an instant need to turn around and run. But I knew I couldn’t punk out in front of Shay. That was exactly what she wanted me to do.
“Laffy Taffy?” she offered, holding a piece of candy out toward me. I went to grab it, and she paused. “Just don’t chew it up and put it in my hair again.”
“I remember your hairdo from back then. Trust me, I was doing you a favor.” I snatched the candy from her hand, ripped the package open, tossed it into my mouth, then chewed it quickly and swallowed it whole.
Her mouth gaped open. “What was that?!”
“What was what?”
“The animalistic way you ate that candy. You don’t stuff the whole Laffy Taffy into your mouth like that. You savor it. What you did was very beast-like.”
“Well, I’m sorry, Beauty. Please, show me how to eat a piece of Laffy Taffy properly.”
She pulled out another piece of candy from her purse and opened it slowly, peeling back the wrapper from the yellow candy.
“Banana is the best flavor, so I like to take my time with it,” she explained.
“And then, you nibble at it, taking small bites so it’s not gone in an instant.
You don’t rush the process. You take your time. ”
“You’re insane. Just shove it into your mouth and eat it.”
“No. The best things in life are worth savoring, like Laffy Taffy.”
“Just swallow it, Chick. I’m sure you have some experience with that,” I joked.
She rolled her eyes and playfully shoved me in the arm. I liked that. I liked when she touched me even if it was followed by the words “You’re such a pig.”
“Yeah, but I’m sure you like bacon.”
She smiled, that dimple deepened, and she nibbled at her Laffy Taffy like a gerbil.
“Come on. Let’s go meet some friends,” she said, walking up to the front desk. Before we were able to go into the back area with the animals, we had to sign waivers.
Red flag number one.
We were also led into the room with all the creatures and told to never reach for the animals on our own due to their temperaments.
Red flag number two.
Then we were told to take off all jewelry due to some animals grabbing onto certain items.
Red flag number freaking three.
“This is a terrible idea.” I grimaced.
Shay kept nibbling at her banana Laffy Taffy. “You’re being dramatic. This is going to be great.”
I snatched the Laffy Taffy from her hand, balled it up, and popped it into my mouth.
Without any hesitation, she reached into her purse, unwrapped another piece of candy, and began nibbling again.
Nibble, nibble, nibble. Bite, bite, bite.
It seemed she was Willy Wonka, and her purse was the chocolate factory with unlimited supplies. She must’ve gotten that trait from her grandmother. Maria always had pockets of candy.
Our tour guide for the afternoon was Oscar, and he seemed too excited to wrap a snake around my neck. “Don’t worry,” he said, patting me on the back as we headed toward the snake cages, “they don’t bite, and if they do, you’ll probably be dead so quick you wouldn’t even feel a thing.”
It was meant to be a joke, but I didn’t laugh.
I was too busy being tense.
Oscar grabbed one of the animals, and without a thought, I took a step back.
Shay laughed at my retreat, but she didn’t step any closer to the creature herself.
She seemed as nervous as I was. Good. Equal playing field.
She was acting all confident up until we were finally in the room with the beasts.
Now she was more wide-eyed and concerned as she slowly chewed her candy.
“Ladies first,” I offered, gesturing toward Charlie—the garter snake.
Shay took a deep breath, balled up her Laffy Taffy, and shoved it into her mouth.
Thatta girl.
She was quiet as she walked over to the snake. I watched as she flinched a few times as Oscar moved the creature in her direction, but she allowed it to be placed in her hands. She shivered and wiggled around.
My mind couldn’t even wrap my head around what it felt like. I was still eyeing the exit.
After a few different snakes, and me passing on holding them, Shay started clucking again. She even added in the chicken-arm movements, flapping her arms.
“Fine,” I groaned. “Give me the snake.”
The last one we met was Greta, and she was a freaking giant monster of a ball python.
Oscar had me hold my hands out.
“Shaking won’t help the situation,” he warned.
“Listen, this is the best you’re going to get out of me, so just put the snake in my palms, OK?”
I snapped at the dude, and I felt semi-bad about it, too. My nerves were getting the best of me. Sweat was dripping down my forehead, and my vision was blurring over. But still, I wasn’t going to punk out—not with Shay watching. That would’ve given her too much joy.
He lowered the snake into the palms of my hands, and within seconds, everything went black.
* * *
“Landon . . . hey, Landon. Wake up, get up,” a voice said as my head stirred. I opened my left eye to see Shay’s face hovering over mine. “Oh, thank goodness. I thought I killed you,” she exclaimed.
I pushed up on my hands to come to a sitting position. I rubbed my arm up and down. “What just happened?”
“Well, it didn’t just happen. You blacked out for five minutes,” she explained. “I was already planning out your funeral, but then, like the Satan you are, you rose from the ashes.”
I groaned and went to stand up. As I stood, I got extremely dizzy. I began stumbling, but Shay caught my arm, making me balance more.
“Easy,” she said, her voice low and almost sounding like she cared. “You should probably get checked out. You fell face-first.”
“I’m fine. Perhaps we should leave the reptiles alone, though.”
“Oh . . .” Shay nodded slowly and raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, we’re not really allowed back in this place, seeing as how, when you fell, you tossed Greta into another cage, and . . . yeah, we’re not welcome back.”
“Oh, man. That’s too bad. I was really hoping to come back and spend more money on this crap.”
“It’s not your lucky day, I guess.”
I studied her lips as she spoke to me. The longer I stared, the more focus I was able to retrieve. My head was still foggy, but I knew a few more seconds of staring at Shay would clear it right up.
“We should probably get you home so you can ice your forehead,” she commented.
I ran my fingers across it, and there was a big knot.
Great. I had Pinocchio’s nose growing out of my forehead.
I felt like shit, but I didn’t want her to know that.
I needed to act tough. I couldn’t have Shay thinking I had weaknesses—even though I’d just fainted in front of her.
I didn’t argue with the idea of going home. The sooner I was away from those animals, the better.
We drove in silence, and every now and then, Shay would find herself in a giggling fit.
“What is it?”
“Nothing, nothing . . .” More giggling. “It’s just . . . when you went down, you looked like a tree that was being cut down in the forest. Stiff and awkward, face down. It looked like something out of a movie. Timberrrrrr!” she called out.
“Well, I’m glad I could entertain you.”
“You really did.” She nodded. “Your butt in those jeans as you went falling forward . . .” She began giggling again.
I wanted to call her out on talking about my butt, but her laughing was annoyingly adorable, and I didn’t want to interrupt that sound.
I didn’t know you could learn to love a sound you once hated.
“Thanks for an awful first date,” I told her as we parked in front of my house.
She smiled brightly. “Anytime! Have a terrible night.”
“Yeah, yeah, you too.” I climbed out of her car and slammed the door shut. I began walking toward my front door but turned around when I heard Shay calling my name. “Yes?”
“That comment about your butt?” Her grin spread wide as her dimple deepened. “It wasn’t an insult.”
I almost smirked at her, but instead, I nodded once and walked toward my house, shaking my goods from left to right. That’s right, I was shaking my ass for Shay Gable after completely blacking out due to a snake in my hands.
And a part of me wasn’t even mad about it.