Page 8 of Clueless
Since my big sister was the strongest, bravest woman I knew, I decided to take her advice.“Okay, I’m gonna call him.”I slid out of the booth.“Be right back.”
I paced up and down the sidewalk, holding my breath as it rang three times before he finally picked up.That deep, gravelly voice made my heart race.I could almost hear him whispering in my ear while we were…
“Hello,” he snapped, making it obvious I’d been oblivious to his first greeting.
“Uh, Taz.It’s me, Grace.”
“Yeah, I know.Didn’t you get my text?I can’t make it.”
“Why?”
“Excuse me?”
I tucked a lock of hair behind my ear, trying to ignore the pair of guys checking me out from across the parking lot.“Your text just said you couldn’t make it, but you didn’t say why.”
“Do I need to give you an explanation?We just met.”
Ouch.There was probably a reason I didn’t pursue guys like him.They were assholes, with no manners.“Fine, forget I?—”
“I’m sorry.”He sighed.“You want to know the truth?I wouldn’t even know what the hell to talk to you about.I’d end up looking and feeling like an idiot and embarrassing us both.”
“What are you talking about?I?—”
“Hey, gorgeous.What are you doing out here all by yourself?”
Ugh.Those guys who were checking me out were now circling me, breathing down my neck.Great.Just what I needed to cap off my night.
“Who the hell is that?”Taz demanded.“Where are you?Are you alone?Where’s your sister?”
I faked a smile, trying to be polite without encouraging them.“Uh hi, guys.I’m just here for a coffee with my sister.I’m going back in as soon as I finish up my call.”
“Why don’t you let us buy you a drink?”the shorter one with sandy blonde hair asked.“There’s a bar right around the corner.Jimmy’s.You know it, right?”
Shit.I was terrible at shooting guys down.My sister told me it was because I was too nice and afraid to hurt people’s feelings.“Uh, yeah, but?—”
“Put me on speaker,” Taz demanded.“Right now.”
I blushed as I tapped my screen, and said, “Hello?”
“Listen to me, you little pukes.Get the hell away from my girlfriend because I’m about thirty seconds away from pulling into that parking lot and beating your asses.You understand me?”
Both guys held their hands up and backed away without another word.
I half-laughed as I tapped my screen again and brought the phone back to my ear.“Thanks for that.They’re gone now, so you can drop the tough guy act.”
“It’s not an act.”
“Okay, well I should get back in there.Codie’s probably wondering what happened to me.”
“You’re just around the corner from Jimmy’s, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Meet me there in twenty minutes.”He didn’t even wait for me to respond before he hung up.
What the hell was with this guy?And why was I so anxious to find out?
Taz was already seated at a corner booth in the back of the bar when I showed up twenty minutes later.He stood when he spotted me, making me smile.He didn’t strike me as the kind of guy who practiced chivalry, but I appreciated the effort.
