The Wedding Boyfriend, page 9
He felt sick—love sick. That had to be what was happening. What other excuse was there for the unsteady feeling in his chest? What else could explain his unsoundness of mind when he typed in Katie’s email address and pressed send?
17
Katie
* * *
Katie was printing out the poetry entries in her bedroom when Sara knocked on her door.
“Have you got them all?” Sara asked plopping down on Katie’s bed with a large bowl of popcorn, per Katie’s request.
Katie glanced back at her computer screen to the lone email she hadn’t printed. There were nine in total in her inbox—one more than there should be. Katie knew it was trouble before she’d even opened the message and read the beautiful words Nick had written. She knew it was from him. His email address was his name and birthdate. So original, Atwood.
Katie quickly hit delete and gathered the papers fresh off her printer. “Yep. Got them all right here.”
Sara grinned. “I still can’t believe you got eight boys to write me poems.”
Nine, Katie’s subconscious screamed. She pushed the thought away. “No, you got eight boys to write you poems. They’re for you Sara, not me.”
Sara beamed at Katie as she took the poems. Katie couldn’t help thinking back to an old family photo hanging in the hallway. It was one where Sara was smiling wide and bright, just like she was now. That photo had been taken on Christmas morning when Sara was only seven. Ten years was too long to go without smiling that bright.
Katie knew her book-savvy sister would love the poetry idea, but she hadn’t realized just how much. Sara’s hand went to her mouth as she read the sweet words of the first poem. Her eyes were already watering and there were seven more to go.
Seeing Sara so happy was all the reinforcement Katie needed to know she was doing the right thing by keeping Nick’s poem from her. Sara was happy and she deserved to be happy. Telling her about Nick would only ruin the rare joy lighting Sara’s features. She really was beautiful. Katie had always thought so, and she was glad that her shy sister was finally letting her beauty shine.
Katie picked up one of the poems Sara had already read and grabbed a handful of popcorn. She pushed all thoughts of Nick from her mind. Too little too late, Atwood.
18
Nick
* * *
For the first time in a week, Nick was excited for lunch. There was a bounce in his step as he moved toward the cafeteria with purpose. He’d been checking Sara’s dating site all day to see if the winners had been chosen yet. The most recent update said the selected bachelors would be announced at lunch.
When Nick pushed through the doors he stopped short. There were already three guys standing at Sara’s new table, where she was actively applying the last red rose boutonniere. Nick hit refresh on his phone and was struck with a sudden urge to throw it across the cafeteria when he saw the names of the guys she’d chosen listed under Phase Two. His was not one of them.
How was that possible? There was no way Sara wouldn’t have chosen the Jane Austen quote. Had he gotten the email address wrong? He quickly checked. No, everything lined up.
There had to be some other explanation. Maybe the poems weren’t anonymous after all. Maybe Sara had known Nick was the one to send the Austen quote. Maybe she didn’t want to choose him. A bitter ache crept up his throat. Was this what rejection felt like?
Nick looked back at his phone in awe. He’d been so sure Sara would choose him. Maybe he didn’t know her as well as he thought? Especially if she picked Spencer Stevens and Logan Price over him. Nick didn’t know the other guy, Julian Clarke, but the aforementioned guys put the douche in douchebag. There was no way Sara could actually want to date them. Logan had actually used an entire Edgar Allen Poe poem as his submission. The idiot probably thought The Tell-Tale Heart was romantic just because it had the word heart in it.
As if things couldn’t get worse, Logan caught Nick’s glare and mistook it for an invitation. He jogged over to Nick, flicking the rose pinned to his chest when he got closer. “I got a date!” Logan said, all smiles and arrogance. “Thanks for the help, bro. I couldn’t have done it without ya.”
Nick scowled.
“Got any other tips for me?” Logan asked, with a wink.
Nick wanted to punch the wink off his face. He was about to tell Logan where he could go shove his rose, but the kid never shut up. He just kept plowing ahead with his one-sided conversation.
“I pretty much only take girls to watch me play ball, but I have a feeling Sara won’t be into that. She doesn’t seem like the sports type.”
Nick scoffed a laugh, about to reply with, ‘No shit,’ when a better idea popped into his mind. Dumbass Logan was giving Nick the perfect gift—a way to sabotage their date.
Sara hated sports, especially baseball. She’d once told Nick she’d rather watch paint dry. If Logan took Sara to a ballgame she’d hate it. She’d probably spend the entire time reading a book on her phone, and not getting to know Logan.
Nick put his arm around Logan’s shoulders and steered him out of the cafeteria. “Ya know, I think I do have a few tips for you, Logan. But keep it quiet, okay?”
Logan winked again, bringing his fist up for a bump. This time, Nick bumped him back.
19
Sara
* * *
Sara flopped back on her bed in disgust. Her date with Logan Price had been a complete disaster. He’d taken her to see Tampa’s minor league baseball team play. The problem was, Sara hated baseball! Then, as if it weren’t already a less than ideal first date, Logan ordered them ‘dinner’ at the stadium—hotdogs, nachos and cheese and two extra large Mountain Dews. Sara was a vegetarian, she didn’t classify liquid cheese as food and she despised soda.
Somehow, Logan had managed to pick out everything Sara hated and roll them all into one miserable super date. If that didn’t prove they weren’t a good match, the fact that he tried to shove his tongue down her throat and hand up her shirt when he dropped her off did.
At least it was over. Sara ended up slapping Logan for the kiss-turned grope and running straight to her bedroom to cry. Was it really so hard to find a boy with manners? Maybe Nick was right. Maybe books had given Sara an unattainable expectation of romance. But still, she refused to believe there wasn’t at least one boy out there who she could share a decent date with and have it end with being walked to her front door instead of groped in a car.
She sighed and squeezed a fluffy white throw pillow to her chest. The only good thing to come of today was that Sara had certainly narrowed down the field of potential dates for Drew’s wedding. She definitely wouldn’t be taking Logan Price. After how things ended there was no way she’d consider going on another date with him. Now, Sara just had to find a way to break the news to Katie.
Katie had been pulling for Logan because he was friends with her boyfriend, Josh. Before Sara left on her date Katie had been gushing about planning a double date if things went well. Sara could practically see her little sister already plotting matching outfits for them.
Sara rolled over onto her stomach and groaned into her pillows. She wanted to scream to rid herself of the feeling of crushing disappointment. She’d been so excited about going on a date with Logan. But that excitement had been flushed down the toilet by Logan’s abysmal date, killing all hope Sara had for the remaining two dates. If they went as bad as Logan’s . . .
No, she wouldn’t let herself go there. Sara mustered her romantic optimism, determined to see the world as glass half full. She still had two dates left. Things could still work out. Perhaps jocks just weren’t Sara’s type. But that was okay, her next date was with Spencer Stevens and he wasn’t a jock. He was one of the most popular boys at Harbor Prep. He had to have some redeeming qualities to have so many friends. Then, there was Julian Clarke. He would be Sara’s third and final date. She didn’t know much about him other than he was a transfer student. He was a bit of a mystery and that was intriguing. Sara decided she’d have much better luck with them.
Just then, there was a knock on Sara’s bedroom door and Nick poked his head in. “Hey,” he said. “Your mom told me to come in. Hope that’s okay.”
Sara sat up quickly. “Oh, yeah. Sure.” She picked up her cell phone, curious if she’d missed a text from him.
Nick gave her a crooked half grin. “Don’t worry. You didn’t forget anything. I was just in the neighborhood and saw you fleeing Logan’s car like he just told you he had herpes or something.”
“Oh.” Sara felt her cheeks flush. Talking about dates with Nick was foreign territory.
“So, how’d it go?” he asked.
“We don’t have to talk about it, Nick.”
His eyebrows rose. “That bad?”
Sara laughed. “Is it that obvious?”
Nick smirked. “Running from his car kinda tipped me off.”
Sara laughed again, her shoulders slumping as she relaxed into the easy familiarity she usually shared with Nick. He was still her best friend. They just needed to find a way past the awkwardness that had grown between them. Maybe picking on Logan Price’s terrible charms was it. Sara pulled her knees up to her chest. “It was like Logan looked into my worst nightmares and managed to put them all into one date.”
Nick snorted a laugh and came the rest of the way into Sara’s room. “This, I gotta hear,” he said, making himself comfortable in her overstuffed reading chair.
And just like that, things felt a lot better.
* * *
Nick
* * *
Nick tried to hide his grin as Sara recounted the details of the nightmare date he’d helped Logan plan. It had worked perfectly. Sara had absolutely no interest in ever dating Logan again. One down, two to go.
Nick wasn’t happy to hear Logan tried to kiss Sara, but knowing she slapped him helped a bit. And as an added bonus, talking to Sara about how awful Logan was had become neutral territory and things finally felt better between them.
Nick stood up and stretched his tired muscles. He’d spent the entire afternoon working on the old sailboat he’d been rebuilding. It was the only way to keep his mind busy while Sara was out on a date. The progress he was making on the old boat was possibly the only positive outcome of his estrangement with Sara. He’d had more time than usual to work on it over the summer while she’d been avoiding him. And now, with Sara spending all her free time working on finding a wedding date, Nick continued to throw himself into working on his boat. The physical labor was a good outlet for the emotional turmoil that racked him whenever he thought about Sara dating someone else.
Nick yawned and walked across the room to perch next to Sara on her bed. “Well, I’d say there’s only one way to remedy such an epically awful date,” he said, slinging an arm around Sara’s shoulders.
She leaned in, looking up through her long lashes. “Donuts?” she asked with a hopeful grin.
Nick smiled back. “Donuts.”
Nick sat across from Sara at their favorite bad habit; The Donut Experiment. They’d gotten addicted to the made-to-order donut shop when it opened up freshman year. They used to go and try to create the craziest concoctions they could think of and make the other eat it. By accident they created the ‘Bomb Diggity’, a caramel glazed donut with coconut, bacon, chocolate chips, sea salt and cinnamon sugar. Nick and Sara ordered it so often, the shop added it to their menu as a local favorite.
Currently, Sara had just polished off her second ‘Bomb Diggity’ and was now sipping on an iced latte.
“Thanks for this,” she said, looking at Nick.
“For donuts?”
“For the distraction.”
Nick smiled warmly. “That’s what best friends are for.”
“We are still best friends, then?” she asked quietly.
Nick’s brows jumped together with alarm. “Of course.”
“I wasn’t sure after . . .” Sara trailed off, but Nick didn’t need her to finish. He knew she was referring to his out of character behavior and their stormy kiss. But now that things were finally starting to feel normal between them again Nick was hesitant to bring it up. Instead, he reached across the table and took Sara’s hand. “Always.”
She smiled. “Thanks. I have to admit, I didn’t think I’d be able to talk to you about dating, but it’s actually been a huge relief.”
Nick squeezed her hands. “For me, too.”
“Really?”
“Well, I can’t say I’m wild about who you’re dating, but all I’ve ever wanted is to see you happy, Sara.”
“Me too,” she whispered.
“So,” Nick said, wisely changing the subject before things got too deep. “Who’s the next lucky bastard that gets to take my best friend out?”
Sara groaned. “You’re not going to like it.”
Nick played along. He already knew who it was and he had a plan in place. As soon as he’d seen how easily he could manipulate Logan, Nick had approached Spencer, who was now under the impression that Sara loved karaoke, and her favorite song was ‘Forgot About Dre’.
“Someone worse than Logan, the-jock-strap, Price?” Nick asked.
Sara laughed. “It’s Spencer Stevens, so maybe not worse, but equally out of character for me.”
Nick playfully raised his eyebrows. “If by out of character you mean boujee and wears more hair product than you, then yeah.”
Laughter peeled from Sara at his comment and Nick felt the tightness in his chest dissipate. For the first time since their rain-soaked kiss, he felt like he could breathe. He was well aware of how twisted it was that the only time he felt happy was when he was actively lying to his best friend while sabotaging her chances for finding a real date. But love was cruel, and it was time for Nick to fight back.
20
Katie
* * *
“You’re not serious?” Katie gasped.
Sara was sitting on her sister’s bed, wheezing with laughter, after yet another terrible date with one of her bachelors. This time it was Spencer Stevens who’d provided the hellish date.
Sara rolled her eyes. “Like I could make something like that up.”
“I don’t understand,” Katie said. “Why would he think ‘Forgot About Dre’ was your favorite song?”
“How should I know?” Sara groaned. “I’m beginning to think I have no idea how men think.”
Katie leaned back against her headboard in aggravation. These boys were ruining everything. “The problem is they’re not men. They’re boys.”
Katie couldn’t believe Sara only had one date left. Everything was riding on it. If Julian Clarke didn’t knock it out of the park, Sara would be going to Drew’s wedding alone. And that meant so would Katie. But it wasn’t her style to go down without a fight. Katie was used to getting her way. Perhaps she just needed to provide a little assistance to make sure the next date wouldn’t fail.
“Do you want to finish that episode of The Bachelorette we were watching last night?” Sara asked, pulling Katie from her scheming.
“Rain check,” Katie replied. “I just remembered there’s something I need to do.”
Sara shrugged. “Okay. I’ll text Nick and see if he wants to hang out.”
Katie paused. “How are things going with you two?”
“Surprisingly better.”
“Really?” That was surprising considering Nick shelled out five-hundred dollars to stop Sara from participating in the kissing booth and then tried to sneak his poem into the poetry contest.
All at once realization dawned on Katie. Sara’s dates weren’t coincidentally going terribly. They were being sabotaged. Only someone with inside knowledge of Sara’s dislikes could have orchestrated such outrageously terrible dates. And the fact that Nick was suddenly no longer acting like a jealous ex made perfect sense. He was behind the failed dates! Katie would bet money on it.
Two can play at this game, Atwood.
21
Nick
* * *
Nick’s sides hurt from laughing as Sara relived her tragically awful date with Spencer. “Oh, God,” he said between tears. “I can’t believe you actually rapped. I would’ve paid good money to see that.”
“Hey, when in Rome . . .” Sara smirked. “Though, I was surprised.”
“By what?”
“Dr. Dre is sort of a poet.”
Nick snorted. Only Sara could find poetry in Dre’s lyrics. “I haven’t laughed this hard since you got that eraser stuck up your nose.”
Sara scowled. “I was five!”
Nick howled with laughter as the memory popped into his mind. “It was still funny.” He stuck his finger in his nose and crossed his eyes mimicking what Sara had looked like, trying to see the stubborn eraser that had dared to stick itself where it didn’t belong.
Sara playfully kicked him and Austen jumped to his defense. “Traitor,” she murmured.
They were sitting on his boat, drifting in the calm water of sunset, polishing off a bag of donuts and reminiscing about failed dates and fun memories. It’d been a full day since Nick pulled off yet another dating disaster. Two down, one to go.
Julian Clarke was the last one left. Nick was convinced Julian would be an easy target. The kid was a total nerd. Nick didn’t know much about him before he started doing some research. It made sense that Julian wasn’t on Nick’s radar, the kid had only transferred to Harbor Prep last year. He was from England and from what Nick found out, Julian spent as much time in the library as Sara. It was odd the two of them hadn’t formed some sort of book club already. The thought jarred Nick. Should he be worried about Julian? He and Sara seemed to have a strange amount in common.
