Beauty and the Dork

Shadow Kingdoms

She climbed on top of me like the night before, wrapping her arms around the back of my neck and pulling me to her lips again. I felt dizzy, acutely aware of her bare legs around me, tracing them softly. She pulled back, smiling at me as she brushed my hair of my face. I felt my face heat at her touch, getting goofy and dorky again as I wrapped my arms around the small of her back.

"I can't believe I'm kissing a princess," I teased. She groaned and rolled off me, throwing herself back onto her bed to glare at her ceiling. I rolled over and immediately started apologizing. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pushed it, I should have—"

"Eddie, take a breath," she ordered, setting her hand on the side of my face. I softened, lying next to her. She rolled over and looked at me, her hand still on my face. I reached out, my hand shaking, and started playing with one of her curls.

"Sorry," I repeated. She smiled and kissed me softly, making my heart skip.

"Don't be sorry. It's okay to tease me. It's pretty dorky," she assured. I felt my face heat and buried my face in the crook of her neck. She wrapped her arm around me, kissing me on the side of my face. How the hell had I gotten here?

"It's not dorky, though, it's, like, the coolest thing," I insisted.

I pulled my head out of her neck to look at her. She was beaming at me, so pretty and out of my league. I pulled her closer to me, wrapping one of her legs around my waist and tracing it gently. She kissed me again, smiling into my touch. I moved down her jaw, kissing it softly.

"No hickeys," I whispered into her neck before coming back to her lips. I kissed her hard again before pulling back. She traced my features, making my butterflies rage in my stomach. Before I could stop myself, I got dorky. "So, do you, like, know everything about Crown and The Shadow?"

She laughed and scooted closer to me, still tracing my face.

"Um, no, not really – I've not really read much. My dad always tells me about it, but I've been pretty removed from it," she answered vaguely. I wrapped an arm around the back of her neck and pulled her closer to me, looking up at the ceiling.

"I can't believe that E.J. Patterson is your dad. If he was my dad, I would ask him about every single part of the book – oh god, I bet you could even read early drafts of books before they come out," I realized, gushing about her dad again. "God, you probably know what happens to the Shadow Kingdom."

I glanced over at her and noticed she was watching me with a smile, and I flushed. I needed to cool it – Margot Patterson was not interested in my dorky tirades about her dad's books. I needed to try to play it cool and act like those popular guys that she always went on dates with. I cleared my throat and brushed my hair back, looking away from her.

"I mean, not that I care or anything, like the Shadow Kingdom isn't that big of a deal or anything."

---

I grinned, watching Eddie ramble on about my dad's books. I knew he was lying – the Shadow Kingdom was a huge deal in the books.

I don't know why I lied to him about not reading the books. I've read all of them – I'm the second person who reads every draft after my mom. But for some reason, I was panicked about Eddie suddenly judging me if I broke from the New Margot mask I always wore. And as much as Old Margot was at odds with New Margot, neither wanted to lose Eddie.

I got close to his face and brushed my nose against his. Old Margot wanted to do something to make him think I was worth it or cool enough to like.

"Do you want to know something?" I asked. He swallowed hard, flushed, and nodded his head quickly. "My dad's agent just gave him the go ahead on five more books."

"Are you kidding me?" Eddie practically shouted, wrapping his arms around me tighter and pulling me even closer. I laughed as he buried his face in my chest and shouting exclamations about how excited he was.

I kissed the top of his head, my butterflies soaring around my stomach and chest. I had never felt this way about any guy before, and New Margot was getting panicky about it. He pulled back, grinning at me.

"I think this is probably the best weekend of my life," he said quietly.

I smiled and he pressed his lips to mine, kissing me hard and deep. He always said things that threw me off – I couldn't figure out if he was a dork, some suave metalhead, or some mysterious guy playing me. It made my head spin, but his compliments always got the best of me. He rolled on top of me, still scratching my leg and kissing me even harder. I felt flush and dizzy, surprised by his sudden control. He moved to my earlobe, nipping at it and making me gasp.

This was really going to be a problem.

But as he kissed the shell of my ear, making me melt under him, I determined that it was a problem for Future New Margot.

We stayed there a while, kissing each other, and each of us getting flustered by the other one. He finally rolled off me, taking a deep breath and pressing his hand to his forehead. I rolled onto my side, setting my hand on his chest. I wanted to keep kissing him.

"You okay?" I asked, tracing the metal band design on his shirt. He looked at me, incredulous and his face flushed.

"Are you kidding?" he retorted. I shrank, suddenly questioning everything. He rolled onto his side and set a hand on my waist. "I'm incredible right now."

I grinned and set my forehead into the crook of his neck. We continued to kiss, and Eddie would break from my lips to go off on about another theory he had about my dad's books, speculating about the next five my dad was going to write. He would suddenly remember where he was and get bashful, trying to play it off like he hadn't just geeked out.

He took my hand in his, gesturing with it as he talked and making me laugh. He paused and started stroking my fingers, fixating on my pointer finger that had his ring on it. He brought it to his lips and kissed it quickly.

"I noticed your new jewelry today," he commented quietly. I smiled and my heart picked up in spite of New Margot. I looked up at him, channeling her energy.

"Pretty edgy, right?" I flirted, kissing his neck. He turned bright red and sputtered again. I grinned.

None of the popular boys reacted to me how Eddie did. They always played it cool and tried showing off to me. Eddie tried to do that, but it always backfired on him when he got too excited about something.

"I know, uh, I know you, um, said that, uh, you wanted to keep this q-quiet, b-but I was, uh, I was thinking that, um, maybe, we could, like, go to a m-movie or something?"

Old Margot's heart caught, and I beamed up at him. He couldn't look at me, he was so nervous. We could do a movie, right, New Margot? My mind was racing. I so badly wanted to go, but I was terrified of someone seeing us together. I wouldn't know what to do, and I had fought so hard to maintain this new image I had. My head flooded and he started rambling again.

"I m-mean, I was thinking a movie, um, because, you know, like, it's dark, and, um," he started, running out of breath.

"Eddie, Eddie – take a breath," I ordered, putting my hand on the side of his face and pulling him to me. 

He watched me, almost waiting for my rejection. I so badly wanted to say yes. I needed to come up with a solution. I kissed him softly and pulled back, an idea striking me.

"Would Shelob be available to take us to the drive-in?" I asked, making him split into the biggest grin yet.