How to date a Nerd

Chapter 12

Why do I try to make things better? I suck at it.

I pull on a bright pink hoodie to cover my shirt. I'm still wearing my tight jeans, so no worries this time about going over in just my underwear.

Snatching her pants off the floor, I peek out the window to see if her's is open.

It's not. Damn it. Guess I'll have to go over the traditional way, even if that means getting a door slammed in my face.

After knocking, I shove my hands into the front pocket of my sweater. I think there's a sensor or something on his porch that increases heart rates. My pulse beats out of my neck.

Mrs. Jauregui answers, wearing her security uniform.

"Camila!" She exclaims. "Hi, Clara."

"Come in, please." The smell of pumpkin spice tickles my nostrils and sends waves of memories into my brain when I get inside. Mrs. Jauregui makes the best pumpkin cheesecake.

"Two days in a row," she says her eyes beaming. "I take it you're reconnecting again with my little Lolo?"

Am I that transparent? Is "I'm friends with a sexy nerd" written all over my body? I attempt one of those half smiles Lauren does, but I feel a little queasy.

"You know..." She pulls me under her arm and taps a finger across my nose. "I used to be envious of you two."

My eyebrows shoot upward and I wish she'd pull back. Nothing like a fresh wave of guilt to top off the nausea.

"I never had a friend who lived so close to me. Well, at least one I had so much in common with." She squeezes my shoulders. "Lauren is lucky she has someone like you to talk to."

There goes my stomach falling into my butt again. Yeah, she's sure lucky to have someone like me. Someone who will hop into her room when no one is around, but the second she senses someone laughing at her for talking with her, she calls her a stalker and tells her to leave her alone. I'm a real good buddy.

"Um..." Yeah, that's all I can get to come out my mouth. Maybe puke if she keeps talking.

She giggles as she leaves my personal bubble. "I'll go get her."

She doesn't yell up the stairs like normal moms do. She actually goes and gets her. I take another big inhale, letting the spice fill my nostrils. Ah, I miss this house. I miss feeling comfortable here. If it was back in the day, I wouldn't have even used the door. Lauren's window would've been open, and I'd impress her with my ninja window-jumping skills, challenge her to a two-hour Dr. Who trivia session, and any fight we may have just had would be long forgotten. I shuffle my feet in the entryway, trying to shut off the thing in my nose that allows me to smell. But that just makes me sneeze.

"Bless you."

Lauren takes her time going down the stairs, like she's afraid I'm going to suddenly bite her or something.

Yeah, I don't blame her.

"Thanks."

"What do you want?" She seems to ask that a lot. And I never give him an honest answer.

"Uh, here," I say, holding her jeans out.

She cocks her eyebrow in that awesome sexy way and takes them.

"You washed them already?" Crap. "No, sorry." She shrugs and tosses them down the hall toward the laundry room.

"That all?" She tucks her hands in her back pockets, her plaid overshirt opening to reveal her Team Fred and George T-shirt.