Operation Prom Date (Tactics in Flirting, #1)(7)
“Isn’t that where the Spring Festival race is going to be anyway?”
“Yeah, but if I practice against the current in the river, I’ll kill it on the lake—or say it’s windy, it won’t be a big deal.”
“Where does Mick practice?”
“It depends on the day. It’s not like I ask him.”
“Well, how am I supposed to get his attention if he’s at the river and I’m at the lake, or vice versa?”
Of course I hadn’t given a second thought to where Pecker might be training today, or if he even was. I hoped he wasn’t, and that he was wasting time playing football instead. Then again, it’d be more satisfying to beat him if he’d given his all. “Trust me, we’re going to get him to notice you. The training is only one part of my plan.”
She spun to face me, the green scenery blurring in the window behind her. “Oh, good, so you actually have a plan. I was starting to think you just needed a boating partner and I was a sucker.”
I froze, then did my best to smother any trace of guilt that might’ve crossed my features when she hit a little too close to the truth. I didn’t have a solid plan for her crazy scheme—or operation, as she’d chosen to call it. That’d require giving thought to it. I’d been far too focused on my relief over finding a temporary fill-in to train with. But I didn’t think Kate was a sucker. Now, thinking she had shitty taste in guys, on the other hand…
Realizing that her arched eyebrows must mean she wanted me to explain my grand plan, I turned down the radio as if I were about to say something super profound. “Remember how you’re supposed to be playing it cool? Stop stressing. Just leave the planning to me.”
There. That should buy me at least a night to come up with something.
“Playing it cool and being clueless are two different things,” she said. “In order to even relax enough to fake the blasé attitude that comes so naturally to you, I need to know there’s a plan.”
“Blasé attitude? That’s how you think about me?”
“Yeah. You’re like Mr. Cool, nothing gets to you.”
I wished I felt that way. I supposed at school all I cared about was getting good enough grades that my parents wouldn’t call me in for a meeting. School was easy enough. Home was where I walked on pins and needles.
“I’ve actually envied it a bit before,” Kate continued. “I remember two summers ago, when you were usually off by yourself in your boat, and it didn’t seem to bother you in the least. And that night when everyone told you they didn’t care about constellations so to stop pointing them out, you just shrugged it off and kept on stargazing.”
“Well, you were nice about it.” Honestly, it’d stung a little—how was I supposed to know not everyone found the universe over our heads fascinating? But Kate humored me for a few minutes, doing her best to act interested. “You even let me show you the constellation app I’d just downloaded.”
“I thought it was kind of cool. But I couldn’t say as much, because back then I had all that street cred.”
I laughed. “Sorry I almost screwed that up.”
“Clearly I didn’t hold on to it for very long. I think it was just the new girl allure. It wore off quickly.”
“I haven’t thought about that summer in a while.” All those nights when we were too young to drive anywhere and college was forever away, so we just ran around the lake, getting into what trouble we could with whoever we ran into. At the time, it was mostly Donovan and Amber, because they lived on either side of me. And Kate, because she was always at Amber’s. “You and Amber were connected at the hip back then.”
A flash of hurt crossed her features. “Things change.” She picked at a thread on her jeans. “In the end, I wasn’t cool enough for Amber—and apparently, I’m also too serious—and you got all tall and ripped and moved up to Mr. Cool and Confident.”
I turned down the road that’d take us to the dock nearest my house.
“I want to focus on how you said I’m ripped…”
She shot me a look.
“But I’m going to point out that I didn’t say you’re too serious. All I said was that your more serious nature was probably why Pecker hasn’t asked you out.”
“It’s not like he’d have any competition, though. Which brings me back to me.” She dropped her head in her hands. “Maybe this whole thing is stupid and I should just give up now.”
“Hey, no giving up.” I parked and looked across the cab of my truck at her, trying to find the right pep talk to give. I just didn’t have much experience in anything remotely close to this. In rowing, there were lots of cheesy sayings like “when you feel like you can no longer row with your arms, row with your heart” or “medals last longer than pain.”
None of those would work, so I went for the truth. “Most of the people we go to school with are idiots who need to be knocked over the head in order to pay attention to anything besides themselves. Me included.”
She glanced up, part of her hair still covering her face in a way that framed her eyes and lips.
Most of the girls at school had that cookie cutter type look, a lot of them pretty, but so similar they blended together. Kate stood out. Honestly, why weren’t guys asking her out? I’d considered it a few years ago, during that summer we’d spent time together. If I thought she was even a little interested, I might’ve. The night under the stars when she’d let me show her my constellation app, pity was the main vibe I got. Even when we’d ended up in my boat together by default, her attention was on Amber and Donovan in the other boat, and when I suggested veering in a different direction and leaving them behind for a while, she said we’d better not.