Heart Starter by Michelle Hercules
DANNY
“You’ve been holdingout on me, Danny-boy,” Andy says as soon as we leave Sadie and her teammates on the side of the road.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You never said the girl who crashed into your car was one of the Ravens.”
“How is that important?”
He shrugs. “I guess it isn’t important. But that accent of hers? That’s hot.”
“Dude, you have a girlfriend.”
“I just said her accent is hot. That doesn’t mean I want to bone her. Jeez.”
I snort. “Yeah, that’d fly well with Jane.”
“Jane knows I’m one hundred percent devoted to her. Besides, I’m not telling her, I’m telling you, in case you want to do something about it.”
“Do what exactly?” I turn to him, glowering now.
He shrugs. “The tension between you and that girl was obvious. I couldn’t really tell if she was pretty thanks to all that crap covering her, but I’m going out on a limb here that she has a face to match that voice.”
I clench my jaw tight and look at the road ahead. I’m annoyed now for a myriad of reasons. The main one is that Andy was able to guess what was going on with me during only a few minutes of conversation. The second reason is that I do find Sadie attractive to the point that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her. As soon as I take care of my car repair, I have to avoid her at all costs. She’s a distraction I don’t need.
“Really? You’re not going to say anything?” Andy continues.
God, he won’t leave me alone now.
“The only thing I want from Sadie is money to repair the damage she did to my car. That’s all.”
“So when you said you’d be completely focused on football this season, did you mean you would turn into a eunuch? That’s not healthy, man.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Okay… then why are you so bent out of shape because of my comment? I didn’t say you should date the girl.”
“Why are you interested in my love life all of a sudden?” I ask.
“Dunno. Maybe payback for all the times you butted in mine.”
“You should thank me that I did.”
“Yeah, yeah. You did me a solid, and I’m never going to forget that. But anyway, when are you planning on taking your car to the garage?”
“Whenever you’re free. The sooner the better.”
Andy shakes his head. “No can do today. I’ve got to see Jane.”
“I’ll ask one of the guys, then.”
“Why don’t you ask Sadie to give you a ride? She’s the one responsible for the damage, right?”
I roll my eyes. “Will you quit trying to matchmake me with that girl?”
“That’s not what I’m doing, but whatever.”
If I tell him the reason why I want to spend as little time as possible with Sadie, Andy will never drop the subject. So I pull up my phone and text Paris to check if he’s available. His reply comes a minute later. He’s busy today, but he can do it tomorrow. Waiting another day wouldn’t be too bad if I hadn’t promised Mom to run some errands for her. I can’t drive around LA with a busted taillight. Getting a fine is not in the budget. The sooner I get my car fixed, the better.
Hell, if I can’t get a ride with anyone today, I can always take the bus back to campus.
Immediately, I feel better that I have a plan that doesn’t involve Sadie in any way.
* * *
