Two of Us

Chapter 3

“Where are you taking me?” I asked Ryan as he merged the car onto the interstate.

“Well, I thought we’d get out of Parkview and head over to Winnetka. Is that okay?”

It wasn’t okay; it was perfect.

Parkview was a small town, and there was a pretty good chance we’d run into somebody if we stayed. It wasn’t that I was embarrassed to be seen with Ryan, but when you’ve spent the last four months being the public face of a non-dating club, there was a chance some people might find the fact that you were on a date hypocritical. I didn’t want to have to watch my back or be self-conscious tonight.

We drove twenty minutes to Winnetka, and it was like any other time I’d hung out with Ryan: We’d banter flirtatiously, I’d tease him for the jock rock on his iPod, and he’d quiz me about all things Beatles. Except this time I really, really wanted to kiss him. We’d shared one kiss a couple of nights ago at the Club’s holiday party. It was nice, but too short.

Snow started falling lightly as we arrived downtown. We walked around and looked in store windows as we talked about our upcoming holiday plans. We didn’t have school for two weeks, and I planned on spending time with my family, the Club, and, hopefully, Ryan.

“Oh!” I exclaimed as I saw a bookstore. “Can we go inside for a second? I need to get my dad’s present.”

Ryan and I walked into The Book Stall, and I maneuvered us to the nonfiction section.

“Whoa,” Ryan remarked as he picked up the nearly one-thousand- page Beatles biography I was looking at. “That’s quite a history.”

“I made sure Dad wasn’t going to buy it for himself so there’d be something I could get him,” I said. “He reads every book that comes out about the Beatles, but spends most of his time criticizing it: what it’s gotten wrong, what stories aren’t new . . .”

“He should write his own book.”

I shook my head. “Yeah, don’t think he hasn’t thought about that. Please do me a favor and never mention it to him. He doesn’t need the encouragement.”

I took the book up to the cash register, happy to have one more item checked off my growing Christmas list.

Wait, does this mean that I should get Ryan a Christmas gift? Since we’re, like, dating and stuff? Or if I get him a gift, would that freak him out since we’ve only gone on one date? What’s the protocol?

I SWEAR I used to know how to do this.

“Have everything you need?” Ryan asked as I took the shopping bag off the counter.

“Yep,” I replied. Although I didn’t have everything. What I really needed was to not second-guess everything.

The Club wasn’t the only reason it took Ryan and me a while to finally get to this place. We weren’t in Parkview, so I didn’t have to worry about being “caught” on a date, even though I was allowed to date. So, of course, I had to let my mind start overanalyzing everything that could happen after this date.

Enough, Penny. Focus on the here, the now. THE DATE.

Holy crap, I’m on a date with Ryan Bauer!!

We walked a couple more blocks to a restaurant where Ryan did have reservations. (Of course, he wouldn’t have lied to my parents or me. He was the complete opposite of Nate the Jerk.) We were seated at a four-top next to a fireplace. It was cozy, it was intimate, and it was perfect.

Ryan pulled out my seat for me, then instead of sitting across from me, he went to the chair directly to my right. We were only inches away from each other. He pulled off his wool hat and shook out his wavy dark hair. I gripped my water glass tightly, resisting the urge to reach out to him, to touch him. Or, you know, make out with him.