The Twelve Dates of Christmas by Catherine Hapka Read Free Book Online Page B

them—it would be rude.”
    Allie couldn’t argue with that. She’s known Cam a long time.
    â€œOkay,” she said. “But how do you know he’ll end up hanging out with Jaylene just ’cause you stood him up? There are probably lots of other people there he could hang out with instead.”
    â€œShe’s not exactly the bashful type, remember? Even if she doesn’t end up assuming he’s her blind date, she’s sure to spot him and go over and say hi, especially after all the time they’ve been spending together lately on the food committee and everything.” I grabbed the phone again. “Besides, I have a spy there to make sure it all happens like it should.” I hit a different speed dial button.
    â€œYo,” a familiar voice answered. “Lex? Mission accomplished. Was that you who called him a minute ago? I saw him answer his cell.”
    â€œIt was me.” I mouthed Nick’s name at Allie to let her know who was on the line. “So he’s with Jaylene now?”
    â€œUh-huh. She spotted him as soon as she came in and made a beeline straight for him. They’ve been sitting together for, like, ten minutes.”
    â€œGreat. So where are you? You have to make sure Cam doesn’t spot you, or he’lldefinitely invite you to hang with them, or—”
    â€œRelax, Lexi.” Nick chuckled into the phone. “Leave that to me,” he added, lowering his voice and putting on an atrocious attempt at a British accent. “Remember, I am Michaels.
Nick
Michaels.”
    â€œWhat?” Allie whispered as I rolled my eyes. “What’s he saying?”
    â€œIn case you haven’t noticed, my dear cousin is actually a ten-year-old boy,” I told her. “He’s living out his James Bond fantasies.”
    â€œHey, who are you talking to?” Nick asked.
    â€œJust Allie,” I said into the phone. “Listen, call me if anything happens, okay? I’ll be here all night.”
    â€œTen four.” Nick hung up, and I did the same.
    Allie still looked kind of confused. “So I still don’t get why Jaylene would assume that Cam’s her date,” she said. “I thought you convinced her you’d set her up with some hot mystery guy.”
    â€œRight. But I dropped just enough hints for her to assume that guy might be Cam.”
    This had been the trickiest part of the plan. Jaylene knew that Cam and I were a couple, of course. But I was counting on the fact that she hadn’t been around long enough—or paid enough attention—to realize just how serious a couple we were.
    This was how I’d figured it would go. Thanks to my hints and the lack of other eligible guys wearing a striped scarf at the concert, Jaylene would think that Cam was her mystery date and assume that I’d set the two of them up on purpose. If I knew Cam—and I did—he would figure out the mistake quickly, but would be far too polite to tell Jaylene the truth. He would naturally assume that she’d been stood up by her real date and wouldn’t want her to feel hurt and rejected. Besides, there wouldn’t be much time for explanations before the concert started.
    So he would play along, planning to figure out a way to let her down easy at the end of the evening. But Jaylene liked Cam—I already knew that. And she wasn’t the least bit shy. . . . If she assumed I’d set them up on purpose, I figured that the good feelings left over from their earlier “date,” along with the friendship they werebuilding on the food committee, would take care of the rest. It was sort of like mixing chemicals in chem lab. If you put the right ones together in exactly the right proportions, you got the result you wanted.
    Now all I could do was sit and wait to see whether or not I’d measured those chemicals right.
    Nick finally called at around ten thirty. I’d forced Allie to stay