Too Young (The Jewel Project #1)

Chapter 4.1 - Christine

Sam didn't answer for a few seconds, trying to come up with a better answer than 'yeah', but, strangely, he'd never discussed weather before. "Lucky, since ice cream is cold and everything." He should've stuck with the 'yeah'.

Christine laughed as though he found him humorous instead of a bumbling idiot. "True. It's my first ice cream of the year. What flavor do you think I'll go for?"

That was an interesting question. Sam sized her up, and the only sensible answer came to mind. "Black truffle."

Christine's amber eyes widened a little. "How did you know?"

Sam shrugged. "You seem like a black truffle type of girl. Do me now." He did not just say that. "I mean, what do you think I'll get?"

She smirked, but didn't comment on his atrocious choice of words. Then she narrowed her eyes as if trying to see right through him. "Chocolate chip."

Wrong. Dead wrong. He hated chocolate everything. "Not bad." He wasn't going to argue with her. He'd eat mud to be around her. He won't even tell her that between chocolate and vanilla, he was vanilla all the way, because that sounded almost as bad as 'do me'. "But since summer is coming, I'll go for something fruity."

"Pineapple," she said wisely, nodding.

Well, pineapple he did like. They reached the ice cream stand in the park and got their cones. As they ate, Sam loosened up a bit. Hanging around Christine wasn't that hard, he had no idea why he was so nervous in the first place. She was just a girl. A drop-dead gorgeous girl, but a girl nevertheless.

"How long have you been jogging?" Christine asked, licking away at her ice cream.

Sam did his best to keep his gaze on her eyes. "About five years."

"Wow, that's a lot of running." She smiled and waited, as if she expected him to have a reply. He didn't so he waited, too. "You must really like it," she finally added.

"It lets my mind wonder." That was true. He didn't enjoy the running as much as he enjoyed the clear head it gave him. The stamina couldn't be a bad thing either.

"You seem like the type who thinks a lot."

Was she calling him a geek? If she was, he took it as a compliment. "What do you like doing?"

Her smile widened as if he'd finally done something she fully approved of. "Not running, anyway." She laughed, but stopped abruptly, staring over Sam's shoulder with a frown.

Sam looked back to see a tall blond guy about his age heading for them, a nasty snarl on his face. Before he could turn to Christine and ask, the guy reached them, moved past Sam and grabbed Christine's wrist.

"So this is why you were late. Hanging out with some other dude."

"Let me go, Paul." Christine tried to yank her hand away, but Paul held on tightly.

"Another poor sucker, eh? How many of us are you going out with, then?"

"I told you I don't want to go out with you." She finally managed to break free. "Which is why I didn't show up. Get the message already."

Paul glared at her for a second then shoved her. Christine stumbled, but was unable to hold her balance. She let out a scream of surprise as she plummeted to the ground.

Sam had no idea when he stepped forward and slammed his fist into Paul's face. It didn't even hurt when his knuckles collided with the guy's nose. Paul fell to the ground, his hands darting up to try and stop the blood flowing down the front of his shirt.