True Love and Magic Tricks by Cassie Mae Page B

or blushes or something normal for him soon. Or you know, give me a
compliment other than something that sounds like it’s an
advertisement for fast food.
    I put on a big smile and kiss his
cheek. It has to be nerves. So I’ll try to reassure him. “Thanks,
that’d be great.”
    Lexie turns to Ryan with pouty lips
and bats her eyelashes. The girly reaction makes me laugh.
Especially when Ryan groans and says, “Bacon burger. I
know…”
    “ Extra, extra
bacon.”
    Ryan’s nose crinkles, and Nate leans
in when he sees my half-confused, half-amused
expression.
    “ Ryan’s a vegetarian. She
does this to him all the time.”
    I flick my eyes to meet Nate’s, and my
stomach hops on a downhill slide. He sounds like normal Nate.
Normal, sexy, adorable, yummy—
    His lips slam on mine with
no warning, no how-do-you-do, no prelude music. My eyes are still
wide open when he pulls back, and his cheeks are splashed red when
a shaking hand taps my rear-end. “Go get our table,” he
orders. Orders. If I hadn’t had such a great time with him… well, every other time we’ve
been together, I would smack that mouth for doing what it just
did.
    “ Oh-kay.” I share a look
with Lexie and Ryan who seem just as dumbstruck as I feel. “Could
you get me a—”
    “ I got it,” he
sputters.
    “ But you don’t know what
I—”
    He places a trembling hand over my
mouth, then attempts that awful smirk I saw in the car. “Trust me,
‘kay? Promise I’ll get you something good.”
    The back of my eyes start to prickle,
and before I can let him see just how disappointing this date is so
far, I grab Lexie’s wrist and yank her to the dining booths. I
don’t look back once, afraid if I do I’ll see whoever that jerkwad
is that decided to possess Nate’s body tonight.
    “ Please tell me he’s not
like this usually,” I whisper-yell to her the second we sit
down.
    Lexie taps her pink nails on the
napkin holder. “I think he’s nervous. I’ve never seen him rev the
engine on that car since he owned it. And um… sorry, I wouldn’t
know if he’s into PDA so I don’t know if that’s normal.”
    “ I don’t mind him kissing
me if it’s like… I don’t know… not so rushed and sloppy and isn’t
followed by a smack to my butt and a ‘get our seats,
woman!’”
    “ I’m sorry. Give him a bit.
Knowing Nate he probably ‘date studied’ all night by watching
movies. He’s just trying too hard to be like those guys.”
    I cluck my tongue and nod
at the tabletop. “I want him , though.”
    She shrugs. “Then tell
him.”
    Holy balls, she’s totally right. I
don’t have to tolerate this nonsense! I won’t embarrass him in
front of his friends, but if he keeps it up, I’m so spilling in the
car on the way to the movie.
    “ Thanks, Bestie,” I say,
and even though her eyebrows rise at the name, I don’t care. She’s
on my side here, and I’m stealing her as my new best friend. Or I
should say my first best friend… outside of Mr. Pippi.
    “ Here’s your cow gut and
pig spine,” Ryan says, and trays slide under our noses.
    Lexie’s face brightens as she unwraps
her bacon loaded burger. She takes a massive bite and says, “Thank
you, buh-ddy.” Then she puckers up like she’s going to kiss his
cheek with all that food in her mouth, and Ryan shoves her face
away.
    Nate bumps into me as he
sits, throwing me a nervous grin. “I got you my normal… it’s amazing .” He pushes the
burger in my direction. It looks good, but I can already tell it’s
not going to be my thing with all the stuff piled on it.
    “ Thanks,” I say anyway. I’m
a big girl who can try new things… after I pick off the tomatoes
and onions and pickles and wipe the mustard off. He makes a
derisive noise with his mouth when he sees me reorganizing my
burger before taking a bite. My lips purse together to keep from
telling him he would’ve known all this if he’d let me order my own
dang food.
    To keep the attention away