I busted out laughing. I hoped she was right. But at the moment, things didn’t look very promising.
***
“How did the soccer game go?” Mom said as she came into the kitchen, carrying her briefcase.
“We won again.”
“How many goals?” She kicked off her heels and tossed them into the closet.
“Two.”
“That’s great, honey. I promise Dad and I will make your next game. Work’s been crazy the last couple of weeks.” Her blond hair escaped the clip at the back of her neck. “Have you eaten yet?”
“Yeah, I made some tuna casserole. I put a plate for you and Dad in the oven to keep warm.”
“Drake said you and Rex broke up.” Mom grabbed a pair of oven mitts from the drawer and flung open the stove. She reached in and grabbed the plates out.
“Yeah, we did.”
“Are you okay?” Her brows knit together.
“I’m fine.”
“You sure? Because we can talk if you need to.”
“I’m good.”
She set the dishes on the table then put the mitts back in the cupboard. She turned back to me and gave me a hug. “Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find me.”
“Oh, Drake wanted me to let you know he’s at Chloe’s studying and that he’ll be home about nine.”
“He better be, or he’s gonna spend the next two weeks grounded,” Mom said under her breath.
With a grin, I left the room. I scampered downstairs, grabbed my game controller, turned on the TV and console, then flopped onto one of the bean bags. Time to take out some aggression. I slid Dwarves of Iconia in and loaded my last saved game. My mage came onto the screen. I touched the analog sticks and my player ran down a trail into a dark forest. A glowing tree came into view, so I veered off the path. My mage reached inside the hole in the trunk and pulled out a coin purse. My character veered onto the path once more. The music got louder as a troll stepped out from behind ruins.
It tossed large rocks at my mage. I clicked the x and y buttons and shot flaming orbs at it.
“Hey,” Kevin called as he walked into the room. “Your mom let me in.”
“Hi.” I hit the start button to pause the game. “I didn’t know you were stopping by tonight.”
He sat down beside me and grabbed the extra handle. “I wanted to come over and drop off my payment since I didn’t get a chance to this weekend.”
“You could’ve waited. I wouldn’t have minded.”
He smiled. “No, it’s cool. Besides, I wanted to thank you for everything.”
“You did all the leg work. I only gave the advice.”
“Either way, things are going good. I’m glad you pushed us into joining stuff. I actually love Astronomy Club—in fact, I’m taking Melanie out stargazing this weekend.” He ran a hand through his hair then clicked his start button to join my game. “I want to ask her to prom, but I’m not sure how I should broach the subject.”
Once Kevin logged in his character, I hit start on my controller too and he joined the battle against the troll. His mercenary took out his dagger of the sun and slashed into the beast. It instantly turned to stone.
“Be yourself—talk about whatever it is you normally talk about then mention there’s a dance coming up in May and you wonder whether or not she’d like to go.”
“You make it sound so easy.” He glanced at me.
“Because it is.” I nudged him with my shoulder. “You need to have more confidence. Embrace your inner man. Take the bull by its horns and all that crap.”
He snorted. “Is that your pep talk?”
“Why? Did it work?”
“I think you better stick to soccer.”
“Hey, I need a backup plan. I was thinking something along the lines of matchmaker to the stars or some BS like that.”
He chuckled. “Nice. With a catch phrase like that, you ought to get loads of clients. And speaking of clients, where’s Trey? He’s normally over here tearing up Dwarves of Iconia with you.”
My lips turned down and I focused on the TV screen. My mage slammed her staff into the ground, creating a lightning storm. Bolts struck the dark elves, pouring from the cave. “He’s been too busy lately.”
“With Portia?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I don’t like her,” Kevin said. “I think she’s a snob.”
Okay, why did he tell me that? Was my crush so obvious? “One thing’s for sure, we’ll have this game beat before he comes over next. Which means, we’ll win the bet.”
“We are abiding by the rules and only playing when another member of The Romeo Club is here. But he’ll be mad when he finds out we conquered DWOI before him.” Kevin kicked his shoes off.
“Then let’s do this.” I leaned back into the bean bag. If Trey wanted to spend time with Portia, then fine. But it didn’t mean I had to sit around sulking after him. I wasn’t sure if Kevin’s only reason for coming over was to pay me or not, but I was glad he decided to stay.
