Burnt Devotion (Imdalind, #5)(97)

“It’s not a date. Well...I guess it is. We’re just friends. He’s sweet.”

“Well, I’ll tell you, he definitely thinks this is a date and wants to be way more than friends, trust me.”

I bit my lip and he smiled sadly at me. “Really? I wasn’t trying to get his hopes up, I just wanted to do something and he’s asked me out a few times already. I just didn’t want to say no again. You know?”

He nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. His hair fell across his forehead and I wanted to fix it for him. In fact, my fingers twitched with wanting to, but I clenched my fist and mentally shook myself. I was not one of those girls who got all swoony over a cute guy. I wasn’t about to start being one.

“Well, I can walk you there since that’s where I’m headed anyway. Kyle will be happy to see you.”

He looked as disappointed as I felt at that prospect. I’d never been attracted to anyone but Chad before. And I was definitely attracted to mister blue eyes.

“Ok, but we’re just friends. I’ve never even been to his house before. You don’t think he’ll mind my just showing up when he said he’d text me, do you?”

“Positive that he won’t.”

“Ok.”

We started walking in that direction. I knew where Kyle lived but it was nice to have someone to walk with in the dark. “So, what year are you?” I asked to fill the silence.

“Heading into sophomore. I’m studying to be an architect.”

“Really? That’s neat. I guess that’s why you like geometry.”

He smiled and nodded. “What about you? Are you headed to school anywhere?”

“Uh.” I sighed. “To be honest, as lame as it sounds, I haven’t even thought about it. I kind of blew it this year with my grades and haven’t even applied to any colleges yet. I have no idea what I’m going to do. My dad, he…he kind of needs me right now. I work at the diner in town. I guess I’ll work there until I figure it all out.”

“Hey, taking care of family is just as important if not more than taking care of yourself. You’re doing a good thing, staying with your dad while he needs you.”

It was the first positive thing I’d heard someone say about anything I was doing all year.

“Thanks. Wow, I can’t believe how much I needed to hear someone say that,” I admitted and smiled bashfully.

He smiled back. Then he pulled me to a stop by a hand on my arm and pushed my hair back once more to inspect my head. I looked up to his face, refusing to look away no matter how much my cheeks wanted to flush. I refused to be swoony. He looked back down at me, his hand still in my hair, and I felt butterflies attack in my gut. He cocked his head to the side a little and seemed to inspect my reaction. I licked my lips nervously. His eyes flashed and he immediately looked away and dropped his hand.

“It looks better. I think you’ll be fine. Hey, Kyle, look who I found.”

I turned to see Kyle standing behind us. An irritated gaze latched onto his cousin. “I can see that. Do you two know each other?”

“Nope, but your friend here saved my life.” He looked back down at me and smiled. He looked back up to Kyle’s incredulous look. “Seriously, I almost got hit by a truck. She pulled me out of the way. I would be standing here dead, if not for her.”

Kyle looked at me with a new admiration. “Really? You did that?”

“Uh, yeah, it was nothing.” I waved off their flattery.

“Mags, I can’t believe you.” Kyle came and grabbed me in a hug that lifted my feet from the ground and I could tell he was just doing it because of what he saw between his cousin and me. His cousin could, too, from the way he rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. “Come inside. Wait until I tell Aunt Rachel what you did.”

“No, please don’t take me in there. I’m not really in the mood for a crowd.”

“Ok,” he said reluctantly. “I was just about to text you anyway. Sorry, the party ran a little late. We were waiting on a certain someone,” he looked pointedly over his shoulder, “to come back so we could eat, but now I see he was preoccupied.”

“Well, late’s better than dead, right?” I spouted and then winced.

Kyle raised an eyebrow at me, but his cousin burst out laughing from behind him. “She’s got you there, cuz.” He slapped him on the back. “And I’m glad to see you’re so worried about me.”

“Whatever. Are you ready?” Kyle asked me and I wasn’t.

I so wasn’t ready to leave the stranger I’d saved, but saw no way to invite him to go with us when I could see there was clearly tension between them. I looked at him and he was looking at me. I could tell he didn’t want me to go either and it made the butterflies worse.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” I muttered.

“Ok. I’ve already got the keys. Let’s get going.”

“Hold on.” I walked up to his cousin a few feet away. I looked up into his face, at least half a foot higher than mine, probably more. “I’m really glad I was there.”

“Me, too. Thank you. If you ever need anything; a new pair of rollerblades, a popsicle, a kidney, it’s yours.”

I laughed and tucked my hair behind my ear as he chuckled, too, and shuffled his feet. “Ok. I’m Maggie by the way.”