Nerds Are Lovable

5: Nerds Are Curious

"Why do you always wear that leather jacket?"

I've noticed that Jayden likes to ask a lot of questions. It must be the nerd in him, curious to learn more, expand his brain. He doesn't get discouraged by my short answers or lack of reciprocity when it comes to asking the same questions back. He just answers his own question after I've answered. It's kind of funny to see him so animated. He seems to have forgotten who I am, who he's talking to.

Letting his guard down, I get a peak at the personality that lies behind the nerd that is Jayden Monroe. I look at him intensely, my face showing no emotion as he talks to me. He has a light pink rink on his cheeks, his lips are constantly turned up in a light smile, his eyes are bright as he talks about what he cares about.

I let my eyes wander down. There's no way he doesn't work out. There's no way there's not abs underneath his Star Wars shirt. I quickly snap my eyes back to his, making sure he hasn't caught me looking. When I confirm he hasn't noticed, I curse myself for objectifying him.

You know better, Haley.

After buying me my new phone, he'd gotten a lot more comfortable talking to me. Probably the whole not being in my debt anymore really lifted a weight off his shoulders. Jayden was acting like we were long lost friends that had finally met up after years. He wasn't stuttering, wasn't watching his words, he still didn't make that much eye contact with me, but a work in progress.

"Can't I be a stereotypical bad girl?" I answer his question with a question.

"Sure, do you at least wash it though? You wear it every day."

I smile lightly at his concern for my hygiene, "Every weekend, don't worry."

The drive back is the same, he asks some questions, I answer shortly, he answers in paragraphs. I found out a lot about this mysterious Jayden Monroe. He has a younger sister. He wants to be an engineer, but his dad wants him to take over the shopping centers. His mom is a successful therapist, an author of several books, but nowadays is mainly a stay at home mom. He doesn't drink soda, hates tomatoes, refuses to eat grapes. Apparently, there's a weird texture to them, like they have a skin.

"Thanks for the phone," I tell him when we're parked at my house, "And for today."

He's turned off the car and unfastens his seatbelt, "Today?"

He's so curious.

"You're gonna make me spell it out?" I look at him, but he's just staring back confused, "I had a good time, nerd boy, geez."

"Oh, um," He looks down, returning back to his shy and scared mannerisms, "Yeah, no, me too."

Just then my stomach decides to give a very attractive grumble of hunger. Looking at the time, I realize it's almost 8:30pm and we haven't had dinner yet.

"Do you want some food?" I ask Jayden.

I hoped he would say yes and follow me inside. With my dad out, the house was empty and dark. So lonely. I didn't want to be alone tonight and since Jayden was already here...

Yeah, okay. We're just gonna leave it at that for now.

He looks to my house, then to me. His expression is an open book and I can immediately tell he's thinking about the worst possible outcome of him saying no, or worse, him saying yes. I raise my eyebrows at him, impatient that he always takes so long to decide things. He must make a lot of pro and con lists in that brain of his. Maybe one day I'll ask him about that, or just tease him.