The Romeo Club

I shifted in my lounge chair and stared at the large, white pillars and the huge wraparound decks of the house. Floor to ceiling windows spread out across the whole upper level, which gave a great view of the inground pool and its four waterfalls. Not to mention the football field his dad had built for him. Rex’s family was definitely loaded.

“Go, Mikah,” Kenadi cheered from beside me.

Thank God, her boyfriend was friends with mine so I didn’t have to sit here totally bored out of my mind.

“This wasn’t what I had in mind when Rex said he thought we should spend time together this weekend.” I scratched a bug bite on my ankle and sat up, adjusting my sunglasses.

Kenadi giggled. “Yeah, tell me about it. At least Mikah’s taking me out for pizza and bowling after this.” She rolled on her side to face me. “So what are your plans for tonight?”

“I’ve gotta meet up with the Nerd Herd for a movie outing.” I shielded my face from the sun. Beads of perspiration slid down my forehead and I wiped them back. So much for my make-up.

“Oh? Please tell me you’re not teaching them the art of a movie theatre make-out.”

My mouth dropped open. “Hell, no.”

“Hey, honey. Did you see that touchdown?” Rex bounded over, sweat glistened on his bare chest as he took his T-shirt off and scrubbed his face.

“Yes. You’re fabulous,” I said, then smiled up at him.

He bent down, perching on the edge of my chair, nearly sending me out of it. But he caught me in his arms, his mouth moved against mine. His lips held the faint trace of lemonade on them. Breathless, he pulled back. “I wish you weren’t busy later,” he said. “We opened the pool last night, and I’d love to have you over to swim.”

But his eyes said he probably wanted to do something more than just that.

Over his shoulder, I caught sight of Portia waving from next door. She was one of Rex’s neighbors. “Hey, I didn’t know everyone was coming over today,” she said.

I glanced at Kenadi and rolled my eyes. But Rex stood to greet her.

“Hi Portia, you can come on over if you want. We’re about ready to start the second half of our game.”

“Be there in a second.” She disappeared and moments later joined me and Kenadi as the boys resumed playing. “Do you two care if I sit with you?”

“No, go ahead.” I gestured to the empty chair on the other side of me.

She tugged her long, dark hair into a ponytail. Her flawless skin looked even more perfect up close. When she got situated, she turned to me. “I’ve been hanging out with Trey a lot lately, and he said you two are friends.”

“Yeah, we’ve known each other since we were, like, two.”

“Oh, kind of like me and Rex.” She smiled. “But anyway, Trey is really nice. He took me out to the movies this week and I had so much fun with him. Sometimes he gets kind of shy around me, which I think is adorable.”

A twinge of jealousy gripped hold of me. “Yeah, he is.”

Portia blathered on about how she and Trey had so much in common. I bit my tongue to keep from telling her the truth. That Trey hated Celebrity Dance Off, loved steak, and had a hard time finding things to talk about with her. This just made it more apparent that they totally didn’t mesh. At. All.

“You know, maybe we’ll have to double date some time,” Portia said. “We’d have a lot of fun.”

Kill me now. A full night of talking about nothing but sports and dancing? Definitely not my idea of fun.

“Yeah, that sounds great.” And I’m the world’s biggest liar.

***

My gaze flicked to the clock on the wall. It was almost eight already. “Where the hell is everyone?”

Trey shrugged. “I have no idea. You told us to be here by seven.”

My mage ran across the screen, fighting a swarm of dark dwarves in the Iconian Mines. I pushed the ‘x’ button on my game controller, letting an inferno of flames engulf my enemies. Trey’s elfin warrior stood beside my character and shot poisoned arrows into the crowd of armored dwarves.

“Watch the one with the battle axe in the corner, his weapon is infused with frost,” I said.

Trey maneuvered his elf further back to do a ranged attack. “Dude, this guy’s life isn’t going down at all. Do you have a disarming potion or something?”

I pushed the trigger button to bring up my inventory. “No, I used the last one when we faced that dragon at the mouth of the cave. Damn, I knew I should’ve bought more.”

“So, does Rex know you’re really a nerd like me?”

“No. I told you before, I keep this part of my life a secret. There are certain things Rex doesn’t need to know, this being one of them.”

“And your friendship with the Nerd Herd the other?” He glanced at me.

“I don’t keep our friendship a secret. If you don’t believe me, ask Portia, who I was forced to converse with during Rex’s flag football game today. In fact, you’re pretty much all we talked about.”

“Really?” He paused our game. “Did she mention our dates at all?”

“Yes.”

“And?”

“And she said she had fun with you. She also called you adorable and suggested we go on a double date some time.”