Nerds Are Lovable

4: Nerds Are Loaded

I walk out of my house at 4 o'clock on the dot. I yell a goodbye to my dad whom I probably won't see till tomorrow morning. He's always out late when he goes out with friends and I usually can't be bothered to stay up that late waiting for him or, on the rare occasion, I'm at a party as well.

"You found it," I say, sliding into the passenger seat.

"Yeah, you were right, I am smart."

I smile at his comment, buckling myself in. He looked like the type that wouldn't start the car unless everyone was safely seated. Both of his hands are on the wheel, 10 and 2, and he checks all the mirrors and makes sure my seatbelt is on before reversing out of my small driveway. Told you he's precautious.

"Where are we going?" I ask him.

"Thirty minutes out to the shopping center."

"You mean to your shopping center."

He nods, his cheeks flushed pink again. I'm starting to think his cheeks are just naturally that shade because it seems like he's always blushing. I stare at him for a little while, trying to see if he's embarrassed that he's taking me to his own shopping center or proud that he has a shopping center to call his. I can't tell through his glasses that ripple the view.

The car ride is silent and I take it as time to just think and stare out the window. This is probably one of the weirder situations I've been in. Me getting driven around by nerd boy here who I still haven't figured out. He's a nervous mess sometimes and actually a funny guy at others. Usually people are easier to pinpoint, they are easy to read. Most of the time they're all annoying know-it-alls that can't keep to themselves. But Jayden, he seems to keep to himself more than anything. He doesn't seem interested like other people are about the social dynamics of high school.

"We're here," He tells me as he parks and turns off the car.

I focus back to reality and look at the shopping center before us. It's modern, clean, classy, all you would expect from a fancy shopping center.

Jayden gets out of the car and quickly runs to my side to open the door for me. I smirk a little, thinking he's taking my comment that this was a date a little too seriously.

"Where to?"

"That way," He points to the far side of the building.

I nod and start making my way. As we walk side by side, neither of us say a word. That is until I see a stuffed animal shop.

"We're going in there!"

"But what about,"

I cut Jayden off, "Fuck that, there's stuffed animals!"

As a kid, I had what one would call an obsession with stuffed animals. My dad used to travel a lot for work, and on his way back his souvenir would be the nation's animal in stuffed animal form. I'd built quite the collection over the years, and still had it in my room. Sadly, since my dad didn't travel anymore, the collection had stopped growing.

By the way, if you don't have stuffed animals, please leave. I don't like you.

I run off into the store, smiling as I see the tons of fluffy animals all around me. Oh, to be a child again. Jayden walks in moments after me. The girl that's manning the store must know him because she flashes a smile and greets him perkily. God, I'm already annoyed with her, but I brush it off.

"Jam, look!" I point to a huge penguin in the back, "It's giant."

He walks up beside me, looking at the penguin, "You're a stuffed animal fan?" There's humor in his voice and I can tell he's surprised that I'm so worked up over a fluffy bird that doesn't fly.