Holding On

Chapter 1-3

By the time Jeff arrived a couple of hours later, I was ready to go. Dad was on the way home and Pamela was driving me nuts. If I had to hear her talk about the latest cute boy in her class one more time, I was going to retch.

Mom slipped me a twenty as I headed out the door at the sound of Jeff’s horn.

I gave her a genuine smile. “Thanks!”

“Have a good night. You two be careful.”

I rolled my eyes. “Just going to work and back, Mom. Love you,” I called as I ran out.

The music was low when I slid inside the truck. After I buckled up, I saw Jeff watching me. Intently.

“What? Do I have something on me?” I asked, glancing at my uniform.

He grinned. “Nope, you look good.”

I blushed. Was that a compliment? Or was he just being nice? Did he really think I looked good? s**t, now I was acting like my sister. “Thanks,” I mumbled.

“What, no compliment back?”

I saw the sparkle in his eyes. “Okay, let’s see…you look great.”

He gave me an exaggerated frown.

I rolled my eyes at him. “Fantastic?”

His brow furrowed as he pulled out of my drive.

“Amazing? Perfect?”

A smile tugged at his lips. “That’s all you’ve got?”

I groaned inwardly. He was being totally weird. “Fine! How about perfection in a movie theater uniform? Sexiest man in our class? Hottest guy on the planet? Does that meet your demands?”

He laughed. “Perfect!”

I shook my head and messed with the radio buttons.

“So, you think I’m sexy?” he teased, his voice low.

What the hell? I cleared my throat and tried to think of an answer. He laughed again and I turned to stare at him. “Dude, you are acting really strange tonight.”

“Oh, Aaron, Aaron, Aaron…you have no idea.”

Okay, was he losing his grip on reality? I shook my head again and watched him out of the corners of my eyes. He was smiling and focused on the road, but his cheeks pinked. “Um, Jeff, you okay?”

He turned those icy blue eyes on me for a second and my breath caught in my throat. He looked…confident. Something was different in his gaze. Now I was the one with cheeks heating.

“Yeah, actually really good.” He flashed me a smile. “You?”

“Um, yeah, okay…but you are…I mean, you’re acting…”

“Like what?”

I wasn’t sure what to say. “Never mind.”

We pulled into the parking lot of the movie theater and climbed out. As we headed in to work our evening shift, he clasped my shoulder. “Don’t forget we need to talk tonight.”

I nodded, trying not to focus on the way his touch made my shoulder also feel hot…or that I shivered when he squeezed. “Yeah. No problem. You know you can tell me anything.”

He stared at me a moment, his gaze intense, eyes searching mine. His hand stayed on my shoulder and I flushed, but didn’t move. I didn’t want to move away. “You can tell me anything, too. You know that, right?”

I nodded and swallowed nervously. He pulled away his hand and instantly I missed the contact.

A grin spread across his face. “Great, now let’s get this shift over with so we can see about jumping your piece-of-s**t car later!”

“Hey! I love that car,” I shot back, trying not to miss his touch.