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Chapter Thirteen

"I should never have taught you my trick to putting," Garrett complained as we crossed the street to Pizza Hut.

"I think you let me win on course two," I teased. Garrett grinned.

"No, as much as I hate to admit it, you won fair and square."

My hand felt warm and cozy in his. We had swapped kisses throughout both games we had played. I was absolutely happy. And to top it all off, I hadn't seen one paparazzi the entire time I was playing. Sure I had signed a couple autographs, but I could handle that.

"Man, I'm starving," Garrett said. He opened the door and the smell of sauce and cheese invaded my senses. My stomach growled. The few bites I had taken of that chicken salad sandwich was long gone.

A waitress led us to a booth. The restaurant was dark. Low hung red lamps cast a low light over the tabletop. We both ordered a Diet Coke and picked up a menu.

"So you're a pepperoni girl right?"

I smiled. "Right."

"Breadsticks?"

"Love 'em."

Garrett leaned over. "You need to share your secret with all the other girls in the world."

"What secret?"

"Well, I hate girls that order a salad every place. You need to tell all those other girls how to eat normal food and still have such an amazing body."

I blushed. Badly.

"I don't really..."

"Yeah. You do."

Luckily the waitress came with our drinks. Garrett ordered and then it was just the two of us. I took a big sip of my drink.

"So how's our basketball team doing this year?"

I had hit paydirt. Basketball was Garrett's favorite subject.

"We're doing awesome. I can't believe the season's already half over." He took a sip of his Coke. "You need to start coming to our games. I need all the good luck I can get."

I smiled. "I don't know about me bringing good luck."

"You'd be surprised how much better some of the guys do when their girlfriends come to a game."

Woah. Was Garrett putting me in the girlfriend category?

"Well, if you have a game on Monday or Wednesday I can go," I said.

"We have one next Wednesday," Garrett said.

I smiled. "I'll be there."

Our waitress came with the breadsticks. We both grabbed one from the basket and dunked our stick in the marinara sauce at the same time. We laughed.

"Y'know, if we get to the semi-finals we're having a school dance," Garrett said. He took a big bite. I tore off the sauce portion of the piece and popped it in my mouth. It was amazing.

"Really?" I asked after I had swallowed.

"Yeah," Garrett said. He took another bite. "If that happens do you wanna go with me?"

Most of the school dances were reserved for the Juniors and Seniors. Because of the first album and touring, I had yet to be to a dance.

"I would love that," I said enthusiastically.

Garrett grinned.

We ate through the breadsticks in companionable silence. By the time we were done, our pizza arrived.

"So what amazing hit single did you record today?" Garrett asked. He lifted a slice of pizza out of the pan and put it on my plate.

I wrapped my finger around the lingering cheese and broke the lock it had on the pan. I brought my finger to my mouth and nibbled it.

Delicious.

"I spent the entire day doing a duet with Trevor Tylers," I said.

Garrett put a piece of pizza on his plate. He looked at me in surprise.

"Trevor Tylers? I thought you didn't like him," Garrett said. He was frowning.

Uh-oh.

"We're on the same label. My producers made me do this stupid song. I have no many other awesome songs I want on my album that I don't think it's going to make it on the record. I just did it to keep everyone happy."

Garrett popped a piece of pepperoni in his mouth.

"So you were stuck with him all day?"

I decided that maybe pity was the way to go.

"Yeah," I said dramatically. "It was a long day. Of course, I was looking forward to tonight."

I was rewarded with a smile. "Me too."

The rest of dinner went well. We talked about a little bit of everything. Garrett told me a story about one of his recent basketball games where he hit a three-point shot at the last second to win a game. By the time I looked at my watch, it was nine thirty.

"Garrett, I have to be home in a half hour," I said with a sigh.

"Seriously? It's that late already? Damn," Garrett said. "Alright."

We boxed up the rest of the pizza and headed to his car.

"I was wondering if you wanted to get together after school Monday?"

"I'll have to check with my mom and dad," I said. "My homework time is limited right now."

"Tell them we're getting together to do homework."

"Are we?"

Garrett glanced at me and smiled. "Sure."

I knew that Garrett wasn't a great student, but the thought of hanging out with him was too tempting.

"I'll ask."

Garrett pulled up to my house with five minutes to spare. I looked at him. His face was masked in the shadows of evening. He leaned over and kissed me again. I felt his fingers slide into my hair.

I kissed back until I figured that dad was probably watching and if I didn't get out of the car in thirty seconds, he might come out to see what was going on. I pulled back.

"Thanks for a fun night," I said.

"I'll walk you to the door," Garrett said.

He got out and opened my door. I hopped out of the car and we walked hand and hand to the door.

"Have a good night," Garrett said softly.

"You too," I said.

We kissed again. He stepped closer to me and it suddenly felt a lot warmer than March. But not in a bad way. In a good way.

The front door opened. A flood of light spilled out over us.

"Hi sweetie. Goodnight Garrett," dad said.

I pulled away from Garrett and with a wave, slid past dad. Dad must have stared him down all the way to his car. I heard the engine roar to life and the front door closed.

"I don't like boys that kiss on the first date," dad said. I smiled.

"Technically this was our second date," I said.

Before dad could say anything, mom laughed. She was lounging on the couch. The sight of the bandage made me want to cry. My mom was beautiful and right now she looked mangled.

"Nick, there's no way in hell you ever waited until the second date for a kiss," Liv said. "I know you didn't with me."

"Well technically we never dated," dad said with a smile.

I left them to playfully discuss the whole 'kiss-date' thing. I headed upstairs and drifted into my room.

I just wanted to replay the whole date over in my head.

And after I did that I wanted to call Kayleigh. For once, I had a story to tell.