The Name Game (On hold)

Chapter 10

668+ reads guys really?! Thank you for all your votes, messages and comments on the previous chapters!

This chapter is dedicated to @pirateplanet who votes on every single chapter I post. Thank you for your support!

_____________________

Chapter 10

Ike leaned back in his desk chair, opened a computer file, and thought about Allie. There has to be a way to get her to talk to him again. Sure, they agreed to be friends but how does he get past---

The phone rang and Tyler picked it up. "Sex Addits Anonymous Hotline. How may I help you?" he said then rolled his eyes at Ike. "Hey Debbie."

Ike shook his head.

"He's not here," Tyler said. "I think he's gone for the morning." He scowled at Ike, who sighed and leaned his head back to look at the ceiling.

"Lunch?"Tyler said. "Sorry, he's got a luch date. At Michelangelo's. With his NEW GIRLFRIEND."

Ike got up so fast his feet hit the floor hard. No, he mouthed while making suicidal gestures with his hands.

"So you don't have to worry about him being depressed over your break up," Tyler said. "He got right back up that horse."

Ike stood up, rage in his eyes, and Tyler said. "Gotta run," and hung up.

"Are you demented?" Ike said.

"Hey, it got rid of her, didn't it? And now you have an excuse to take Allie out to lunch." Tyler said. "I did you a favor." He frowned. "I think. The whole thing sort of came in a flash." He looked at Ike. "Bad move?"

"I don't want Allie to meet Debbie," Ike said. "And now I have to take her to Michelangelo's or Debbie will check."

"I don't see why," Tyler said. "If Debbie asks, you can always say you went somewhere else."

"I try to tell as few lies as possible." Ike said picking up his phone and dialed Allie's house, but she wasn't home.

He hung up the phone and saw Tyler smirking. "What?"

"Nothing. Your nose just grew a few inches." Tyler said humming the bridal waltz.

When the phone in the library rang, Allie thought Ike, and then kicked herself. He must have the power to cloud women's minds if she was thinking about him at 10 a.m. while going through the hospital's birth records.

"Oakridge public library. Alaric Hollis speaking," she said into the phone.

"Tell me about this man you're dating," her grandmother said.

"Oh for crying out loud." Allie leaned back on her chair, exasperated.

"He just called this morning to ask you for lunch," Rosario said. "I told him you were at the library."

"I'm not dating him. We had dessert and walked in the park and that's it." She wrote Ike's name in her notebook and drew a heavy red line through it. Gone. Gone. Gone.

"That sounds awfully like a date" her grandmother teased.

"Nana."

"Kate already told me all about it. He sounds very romantic."

"He lied to me and pretended to be my first love. It doesn't sound very romantic to me." Allie said as she wrote "Kate" in red ink. Then she wrote "Snitch" below it.

"You don't give men much of a choice with you going on about this soulmate nonsense." her grandmother was saying. "I know you're looking for him, but I just hate it. You have to let this notion go. I can't stand it if you get hurt."

Allie felt her throat close. "It won't be like the time I looked for dad. I'm going in with my eyes wide open this time. I just have to see if what I felt when I was a kid was still real."

"I just don't want you hurt," Rosario said, and Allie thought she heard her voice shake. "I want you girls to be successful when I'm gone and married to a good man who will not leave you because you're a little chubby."

Allie shook her head. "You had me until the last line." She drew three heavy lines across the hearts she had drawn beside her grandmother's name.

She spent a few more minutes reassuring her grandmother, and then hung up and went back to the files in front of her. She looked down at her notebook and realized that she had perforated it. She must have been stabbing it. "Great," she said ripping off the first 5 pages her pen stabbed through.

The smell of dark mocha latte hit her. "If you think giving me my favorite drink, will absolve you from telling Nana about Ike. It won't work."

"Good morning, Allie," Ike said and all the air rushed out of Allie's lungs. "Who exactly tattled about me?"

Breathe. Deep breaths. VERY deep breaths.

"Oh," she said her face glowing red as she realized she had just been caught talking about him. "Kate. Is that for me?" I don't care that he's here. I am totally unaffected by his presence. Her heart was pounding so loudly it wouldn't be a surprise if it popped right out of her chest.

"I didn't know what you wanted but I considered your addiction to chocolate" Ike said handing her the paper cup. " And this seemed like a good choice."

"It's probably not a good idea for the librarian to be caught breaking the library rules." Allie gesturing to the little fort she made with files and books behind the mahogany counter. "Come into my office."

"Sweet hideout. I even have a pack of oreos waiting in the car." Ike said. "I have a bomb ready to detonate it if you won't come to lunch with me."

"I can't," Allie said while every fiber in her being said, Yes, yes, YES. Thank God her fiber can't talk.

"We'll have chicken parmigiana for lunch at Michelangelo's." Ike went on."With white crusty bread and butter."

There's nothing wrong with a couple of friends going out to lunch. "Yes," Allie said, her heart starting to pound again. "I would love to have oreos and chicken parmigiana for lunch. Just let me pop in the washroom to freshen up."

She ran to the washroom and splashed some cold water on her heated face. She then looked at the her open palm.

She's been drawing hearts on it during her conversation with Ike, big whopping red hearts that threatened to leap off her hand.

"Oh no," Allie groaned.

__________________

Vote, Comment and share if you liked it!

Just read "How to be a Girl" by a_colorful_dreamer. Really great story!