There's Something About Sweetie(39)

Elijah stared at him like he’d grown a shark fin. “Yeah, that was kind of the point.”

Ashish shook himself off. Jeez, Ash, get a grip. “You’re right. I’m gonna go over there. She’s gonna love me. I’m Ash.”

He grinned, and Elijah grinned.

He waited, and Elijah waited.

Ashish stared. Elijah stared back.

“You’re not gonna go over, are you?”

Ashish’s smile fell off his face. “Nuh-uh. It’s fine. I’ll just talk to her on Saturday, when we go out.” His palms were actually damp. Not only had he lost his mojo again, his mojo was a distant memory, like it had belonged to someone else. How the heck had he ever approached girls? How had he ever done this so confidently, never even imagining that things might go horribly wrong? Then it hit him: It was because he’d never really cared about those other girls and they’d never really cared about him. But this already felt different. “You know, it’s better that way anyway. I mean, it’s not like we’re serious or anything. It’s not like I owe it to her to go—”

“Ash.”

“—over there and say anything. I mean, this is preserving the mystery. I don’t want to look all desperate anyway. Right? Right.”

“Okay, you have got to breathe.” Elijah took a deep breath. “Come on. Oliver taught me how to do this. You breathe in for the count of seven, and you breathe out for a count of three. Wait, or is it the other way around? Anyway, here we go. One …”

“Crap, crap, she’s turning around. Crap.” He grinned suddenly, still talking. “CRAP. She saw me.” He waved overenthusiastically, still grinning, and stood.

He heard Elijah snort as he began to walk toward Sweetie. “Good luck, man,” his friend said in a tone that suggested he meant, You’re totally going to screw this up, so, you know, all the best to you in your time of need.

Sweetie stepped out of line and turned to Ashish. Thankfully, Oliver and Samir hadn’t noticed yet, or he’d have them to contend with too. He and Sweetie walked a little distance away, close to a spinning card display.

“Hi,” Ashish said, looking down at Sweetie. His heart fluttered a bit in spite of his extreme discomfort.

She looked up at him through the thick fringe of her coal-black eyelashes. “Hi.” Holy crap. She had a faint dimple in her right cheek that he’d never noticed before. How was it that she just kept getting cuter every time they met? “How was your day?”

“Good.” He smiled a half smile. “Distracting, though. There’s something on my mind I just can’t stop thinking about.”

She dropped her gaze shyly for a moment before looking back up at him, and his head spun. SO. FREAKING. UNBEARABLY. CUTE. “Oh, yeah? What’s that?”

He stepped a little bit closer. Her body heat washed gently over him. He could smell her shampoo—something minty and sweet—even with the strong coffee smell enveloping them. His entire body, all five senses, were tuned completely in to her, like a satellite rotating to keep in the earth’s orbit. “Well, ever since I met this girl who challenged me to a race—”

“She challenged you to a race?” Sweetie said, quirking her mouth to one side. “That’s pretty strange.”

“Nah, I actually kinda dug it. She totally kicked my butt, too.”

A hint of a smile played at Sweetie’s mouth. Her full lips were lined in clear gloss, and Ashish tried not to stare. “Wow. She must be a pretty amazing athlete.”

“She is,” Ashish said seriously. “And see, now I kind of have a date with her Saturday. So I’m pretty nervous about making a good impression.”

“Hmm.” Sweetie pretended to consider this. “Well, I don’t think you should be.”

“No?”

“No. Because I think that girl probably feels the same way about you. So you can both just be nervous together on Saturday and it’ll be okay.”

“Yeah?” Ashish smiled.

“Yeah.”

They stood there, grinning at each other like fools.

“Is this who I think it is?” Oliver’s voice cut through the love haze like a knife. Ashish turned to see him and Samir approaching them with a tray of drinks. Oh, great.

Oliver grinned and continued. “Yeah, it sure is. You’re Sweetie, right?”

Sweetie blinked. “Um … yeah.”

“These are my friends, Oliver and Samir,” Ashish said, trying to make a surreptitious Go away expression at Oliver, who seemed completely oblivious as usual. He just kept beaming at Sweetie. Samir, meanwhile, just looked confused. He still didn’t know about everything that had happened over the weekend. That was going to be a fun conversation. Samir would totally gloat about Ashish taking his advice, even though this whole thing had squat to do with him.

“Oh, it’s nice to meet you.” Sweetie stuck out a hand, and both Oliver and Samir shook it.

“We’re all pretty much dying to hear how Saturday goes,” Oliver gushed. “Like, seriously. Elijah, my boyfriend, and I can’t stop talking about it, especially since Ash has been so down since Cel—”

“Okay, time to go,” Ashish said loudly. “Come on, Sweetie, I’ll buy you some coffee.”