How to Date a Nerd

Chapter 4 - Black Benzes Are the Cars of Evil

I said, girl can I tell you a wonderful thing?

I made you a present with paper and string

Open with care, now I'm asking you please

You know that I love you, will you marry me?

--Terrible Things, Mayday Parade

Chapter 4 - Black Benzes Are the Cars of Evil

How do you get a universal remote with a rewind button? I mean one that could get you to undo even three seconds of your life. I needed one. So bad. Somehow, I wished the next few events didn't happen. But they did.

Nathan was laughing beside me, muttering under his breath. Nathan, Nathan, Nathan-the evil version of me with the most unstable frame of mind. I tuned him out, focusing on Freddy and Emma while they danced in the middle of the reception hall. Mellow instrumental music filled the room, giving me some form of distraction. But still, my mind was all over the place.

Brain check-I just had the craziest idea back in the chapel. I was trying to shake it off before my head could explode. Second, I had to do something about Camilla. Maybe I'd drag Nathan with me to London tomorrow, first thing in the morning to confront her about her involvement in the malpractice lawsuit against Sarah's mom. Yeah. I should probably do that, I thought wincing.

"Your little blond friend nearly poked my eye out with a drinking straw!" Nathan blurted out in between the chortles.

I had no idea what made a bendy straw so hilarious. But for some reason, he found it amusing that Reed and Chuck were doing a sword fight, using straws to stab each other. Reed and Chuck looked a lot alike-light blond hair that might blind you if the sun shined too bright on their heads, tall sinewy builds that might've belonged to contortionists rather than football players and heavily freckled faces-but they weren't twins. They just... looked a lot alike.

"So? Poke him back," I groaned.

As if it wasn't bad enough how I had to explain to the guys how I managed to conjure a twin brother out of thin air, Nathan just had to make up tall theatrical tales about how we got separated when we were still babies. Of course, most of it was true but he didn't have to broadcast all the drama to my buddies. My cover was supposed to be Leonard Dunn, full-time nerd. Not Sappy McWeepsalot.

Nathan rolled his eyes. "Fantastic idea. You've been improving," he said grinning, picking up his own bendy straw before engaging in a bendy straw battle with the dorks of the round table.

"Very mature, guys..." Larson commented on the blond brothers' sucky excuse for a past time, his already narrow eyes turning into slits as he tugged on his coat. I remembered him telling me that his granddad was from Korea, which explained his disappearing-eyes act.

"What?" Chuck glanced at him while parrying Nathan's fencing attacks. "Two against one? Not fair."

"All is fair in love and war, dude." Reed did a low stab. Cliché.

Nathan took an olive from the appetizers and lunched it with his spoon like a catapult. "Incoming," he grinned as the vegetable (is it?) hit Larson's forehead.

Ugh, crud. Why did I have to be friends with big dudes having nine-year old brains?

Drake and Becky were on the other side of the small round table, enjoying their own private world. They were kind of going out for some time now. Becky did a lot of dating with different boys these days. But as far as I knew, she didn't have a steady boyfriend since Matt. Speaking of Matt, where was he? Sarah was nowhere to be found too.