Open My Eyes

{Ch. 12} Sounds Like a Date ✓

          "So," Iggy said, stuffing his hands back into his pockets, "do you want to know your category?"

"What?" I shook my head, leaving my daze.

He grinned. "Your category. I have a mature face, but you don't know what kind of face you have."

"Oh, right!" I pressed my hands to my burning cheeks. "The big forehead category? The dimpled chin category? The acne freak-out category?"

He shook his head as he chuckled. "No, none of those. The pretty category."

If I wasn't lightning, then I was fire.

"What?" I spluttered.

"You have nice features. Soft. My hands think you're pretty." His eyebrows lowered and his lips puckered. "That's a weird come-on, isn't it?"

"No, it's nice. I like it. I mean—" I pulled in a sharp inhale, wondering when I became such a stuttering mess. "Thank you."

His smirk grew into a grin. He scooted forward on the bench and said, "You're entertaining when you're flustered." He stood up and sauntered backwards to the doors. "Later, angel-cakes."

As I sat frozen in my seat, I wondered aloud, "Does he know I have a crush on him or something? His spidey sense can't be that good, can it?"

__________ __________

"I KNEW IT!"

I just about threw my phone away from me, to get some distance between me and the screaming teenager. Thank goodness my screen didn't crack.

"My god, Sam," Kae complained, "you're going to blow my eardrums out."

"Don't expect me to apologize for being right." A beat. "Or for being so excited for my best friend."

With hesitant hands, I pulled my phone back to me and tapped the screen. I checked the percentage in the top right corner. Regular phone calls could drain my battery if they lasted too long. But three-way phone calls drained my battery like no other. But to talk to two of the most important people in my life, I could sacrifice my battery life.

"Thank you, Sam." I patted my cheeks, as though that had turned them red rather than my recent confession that I had a crush on Ignatius William Koehl.

"So tell me, lover, how were your finals?" Sam asked. In my head, she twirled the bead in her hair as she batted her eyelashes playfully at him.

My brother whooped. "Finally done."

"And you can't make it to Angie's birthday?"

"No promises, Sam."

"You really suck ass. You know that, right, Kae?"

"Believe me – I know."

I released a slow sigh. "On a different note. Which of my socks in my collection would you never ever wear?"

Kae laughed, and Sam scoffed. I had to smile.

"None," my big brother answered after a pause. "I mean, I'd wear all of them simultaneously for the right sum of money."

Now I laughed.

Sam hummed, followed by a snap of her fingers. "You know, he makes a good point. If someone paid me to wear those hideous socks with the toes in them, then I'd be a bit more willing to wear them."