Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 57897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 232(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
She was wildly different from any girl I had ever even met before, much less gone on a date with. I was absolutely enthralled. The pink shirt only continued the theme from the day before, and for some reason, that was what did me in the most. Few girls could pull off pink and still look smoking hot while doing it. Beth Ann was special in that way, apparently.
I felt wildly out of my league. I was wearing a borrowed flannel shirt from my cousin and the same white T-shirt as the day before, just washed and re-worn. None of my heavy-metal band T-shirts seemed like they would work. And just a plain white T-shirt seemed underdressed. But even still, I felt like I was kind of half-assing it. Especially when I saw how incredible Beth Ann looked.
“You ready?” I asked.
She nodded, and I held out my hand. She didn’t flinch, just took it, and we walked to the truck. I felt warmth rush through my body at the sparkling electricity of her touch. I opened the passenger’s door of the truck and held it for her as she stepped up. A streak of mild disappointment went through me when she let go of my hand and I shut the door behind her, only because I wasn’t actively touching her anymore.
Though the view of her backside as she climbed up and into the seat made it a little more palatable.
I shook it off and took a deep breath. I was going to need to keep my composure, or else this was going to either be a very long night of me struggling not to put my foot in my mouth.
“How far is this place from here?” she asked.
“Not far. About fifteen minutes or so, I think.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize there was somewhere that close,” she said. “The pizza I ordered last night was the closest place I could find.”
“You ordered pizza?” he asked. “And they delivered all the way up there?”
She laughed.
“Yeah, I was surprised too. Place called Sergio’s.”
Shit.
“Sergio’s?” I asked.
“Yeah, have you heard of it? The pizza was ridiculously good. Like, I was sure Tennessee mountain pizza joint was going to be some cardboard with canned marinara on it, but it was really, really good.”
“I’ve heard of it alright,” I said, suddenly deflated. “That’s actually where we’re going.”
“No way. Really?”
“Yeah, my cousin goes there all the time and says there is a classic Italian restaurant on one side and a bar on the other. The bar is pretty much the only place to hang out in town with alcohol.”
“Oh, how funny,” she said.
“Sorry,” I said. “If I had known you just ate there…”
“No, don’t worry about it,” she said. “I don’t mind.”
She smiled so genuinely that I believed her. The electricity was still there. I hadn’t imagined that, at least.
I turned on the ignition and backed up so I could spin around and then began the long drive down her property. As we passed the house again, it stood out against the night, overlooking the valley below it and looking every bit like a vampire’s mansion in the waning light.
“Good Lord, that’s creepy,” she said.
“It’s kind of cool, though,” I replied. “I mean, prettied up, it would be one hell of a view.”
“True,” she said as we passed it. “For right now, it’s just a view of what postapocalyptic Tennessee will look like.”
I laughed.
“You could always offer it up to Hollywood. Let them shoot zombie movies in it.”
“Not a half-bad idea,” she said. “Is that what you’re into? Zombie movies?”
“I don’t dislike them,” I said. “I’m more of a sword and sorcery guy myself.”
“What’s that?”
“Like Game of Thrones, Conan the Barbarian, that sort of thing. I like dragons and swords and all that geeky shit.”
“Interesting,” she said, grinning and sitting back in the seat.
There was a brief pause before I looked back over to her, pursing my lips to one side.
“So, you want me to go ahead and take you back now, or…”
She laughed and touched my arm with the fingertips of her left hand. I felt my stomach tie itself in knots.
“No,” she said. “Not at all. I think that stuff’s cool too. It was a trick question, actually. I love zombie movies.”
For reasons that I had no idea how to verbalize, that turned me on more than anything else so far. The way she grinned and giggled as she said it, the way her eyes seemed to sparkle at the thought of silly B-horror movies, it had an effect on me like nothing I had ever experienced before.
“Well, if there was a theater in town, I’d say we should go see the new one that’s out,” I said.
“Maybe some other time,” she said. “I read that there’s a mall at the edge of town. Technically for the next town over, but I bet there’s a theater there.”