Hotbox by Delia Delaney Read Free Book Online

I’ll trust you. But I know people,” she warned with her finger.
    I laughed as w e both got in my truck, but this time she actually let me open the door for her.
    I walked around to the driver’s side and when I sat down she asked, “So you don’t mind that I’m delay ing our second date?”
    I shook my head and started the ignition . “Not at all.”
    “Okay good, because I really wanted you to come with us tonight, but I didn’t want it to count as our date that’s supposed to be ‘very much me. ’ ”
    She looked at me with a smile and it made my heart skip a beat.
    “Well, if it gives me an extra date from you , I’m all for it, ” I told her. “I would be an idiot not to.”
    She chuckled, but I think she was actually agreeing with me.
    We had both been pretty busy during the week. She worked all day and then taught music lessons on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings. I had classes until one on most days, and p ractice was every weekday from three to five-thirty if we didn’t have games. Most of our games were on Saturdays and Sundays, and they were generally double-headers because of the distance we sometimes traveled , or other teams had to travel.
    I’d spoken to Jayden on the phone everyday that week. We knew each other’s schedules (I had to write hers down since I could barely keep track of my own), so we’d try to call each other at the best possible times . I loved talking to her on the phone, but being with her in person was even better.
    We pulled into the movie theatre at nine- forty . We would be meeting several of Jayden’s friends t here, and I had to admit I was a little apprehensive. She ass ured me that they were all nice . She had described them to me, and none of them seem ed to worry me , but Jayden had implied that Chris held a disliking to me already. I assumed that there could be some sort of romantic history between the two of them, but I wasn’t sure. I knew that they practically grew up together, but I was too embarrassed to pry into that part of her life just yet.
    “So you guys do this once a month?” I asked as we made our way into the theatre.
    “Yeah, at the very least . But i t’s not alwa ys a movie. We do other things, too.”
    I wanted to hold Jayden’s hand that night , no matter what, but I didn’t want the awkwardne ss of making my move in the theatre—e specially with pe ople that might be watching. So as we were walking, I just reached for her hand . She smiled at me just as Cali came bouncing to us, putting her arms around Jayden and giving her a hug. It caused her to release my hand so she could hug her back.
    “You look great ,” Cali told her. “Nice shoes. Where’d you get ‘em?” Without waiting for a response s he looked at me a nd held out her hand. “I’m Cali and you must be Ty.”
    “I am. Nice to meet you.”
    “Nice to meet you, too.” She returned her attention back to Jayden. “Guess who’s here?” she asked.
    “ Wade ?”
    “Yes! How’d you guess?”
    “Because you said you were going to invite him.”
              “Oh, did I? He’s kind of sitting all the way down by Matt, which totally defeats the purpose of inviting him, but oh well. A nyways, you know where to find us!” She turned and disappeared into the theatre.
    Jayden faced me with a smile and said, “She gets really excited, really easily .”
    “Yeah, I ca n see that,” I lightly laughed. “ She seems pretty friendly , though.”
    “She is. Sh e’s the best. Come on, let’s go, ” she motioned with her head.
    With another smile she slid her hand back into mine, and we walked into the theatre together. I just followed her lead and walked with her as sh e headed up the stairs to the center of the v ery top row next to Cali.
    A nd Chris .
    Jayden introduced me to the five other people that were there and they were all very nice, except for Chris. He barely offered me a nod. We sat down next to Cali and she immediately began