Playing His Game

Chapter Twenty-Six | Start Me Up

The sheer black tights and knee high boots made me feel better, but I still had doubts.

There was the sound of footsteps, and then Lauren was opening the door. "Jesus, Audrey, come on!"

My head whipped away from the mirror, a guilty smile taking hold of me. "Sorry, sorry. Let's go."

...

The car ride wasn't bad.

I feared for the worst when Grace and her group of friends asked to ride to the restaurant with us. Sure, Grace was cool, but what about the rest of them?

I was squished tightly in the expedition between Grace, Allison and a blonde named Sophia, while Lauren and Carly blissfully rode up front. Meanwhile, Lily, the traitor, took one look at our carload and decided to ride with the guys.

Instead of an awkward silence like I'd expected, it was weirdly...fun. There seemed to be no weird feelings between me and Ally about Austin and, the whole ride there, we gushed about the cute boys they'd seen while skiing and sang along to songs on the radio. By the time we got there, I was beginning to think I'd severely misjudged them. Maybe they weren't so bad after all.

Regardless, it was still hard to move, or even breathe, so I clambered out as fast as I could when we parked.

As we turned the corner I noticed that the lit-up sign read "Darla's Dive-in". I assumed It was a local place, since I'd never heard of it before.

We met up with the guys at the front entrance and it became apparent that the girls were the only ones worried about dressing up. The guys were all wearing jeans with various jacket and shirt combinations.

I had a brief moment of embarrassing panic when I couldn't spot Trent within the group. I turned my neck from side-to-side, trying to remain inconspicuous as I looked for him. Carly sidled up to me, wrapping her arm around my waist. "Come on, dude. Loverboy's inside holding the table for us."

I turned sideways to glower at her, grateful none of our friends heard her comment. We followed our friends into the restaurant, Lauren and Tyler leading the way. I quickly became distracted by the strings of twinkling lights hung every few feet, giving the otherwise dim room a warm glow.

We finally made it to where a long table was taking up most of the room, beyond big enough to seat all 13 of us. It only held my attention for a moment, as I soon became captivated by the dark-haired boy sitting on the left end.

Trent grinned as we all started to sit, doing the weird half-hug guys use as a greeting with Tyler.

The guys gravitated to the side Trent was already sitting at, leaving the other half of the table for the girls. It wasn't until I had pulled out the chair directly across from him, preparing to sit, when Trent finally noticed me.

His dark eyes assessed me up and down, unreadable in the dim light of the restaurant. I smiled shyly, slowly sitting down as he continued to watch me.

"I am so feeling some spaghetti," Lauren's voice broke through. "I haven't eaten properly since we got here, I swear."

"I know, me neither," I laughed, tearing my eyes away from Trent and grabbing one of the laminated menus.

I scanned down the list of dinner options, considering what to get. I was never much of a steak person, but a salad just wouldn't be enough..maybe some form of pasta?

"Can I get you started with a drink?"

A male voice interrupted my internal struggle. I looked up to see a waiter staring down at me. With prominent dimples and styled blonde hair, he was relatively attractive. "Me? Oh, I'll have a Cherry Coke, please."

The waiter gave me an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, we don't have that...how about a regular Coke? Or a Shirley Temple?"

"A Shirley Temple would be perfect, thanks," I nodded, smiling politely.

He flashed me a bright smile. "Great."

"I'll have a Coke."

The waiter's smile dimmed at Trent's order. "Sure, and for the rest of you?"

As he moved on to the others, I faced forward to look at Trent, who was watching the waiter with narrowed eyes. When they came back to me he raised an eyebrow, challenging me to say anything.

I bit back a smile and went back to studying my menu. I finally decided on Chicken Parmesan, placing the menu in front of me and sitting back.

"I'm kind of sad we're leaving tomorrow," Carly commented, her hand moving to make sure her high ponytail was still in place.

"I'm not," her boyfriend, Sean, snorted with a shake of his head. "Five days in a row is enough skiing to last a lifetime."

I grinned. "I have to agree with Sean on this one, I'm pretty much over it."

"Same here, all the girls are covered up in baggy snow-clothes, it blows." Soon after he said this, Tyler hissed in pain and jerked back.
Lauren, who was sitting next to me, faced him with a glare. "And by girls, I mean no one besides my girlfriend, of course!"

His nervous laugh made me hide one of my own. I was afraid if I showed any type of amusement, Lauren would kick me, too.

"Oh great, Abercrombie's coming back," Trent grumbled under his breath.

I didn't have time to do anything in response before the waiter was back, balancing a tray of drinks in one hand.

"Here you are," he addressed me with a grin, slowly placing the glass in front of me. "A Shirley Temple, I made it myself."

"Thanks," I murmured with a small smile. Lauren holding back a snort almost made me burst out laughing. I took deep breaths, holding it in until he had distributed all the drinks and was walking away.

I hadn't noticed before, but he'd put my drink down with a small napkin underneath. Something was written on it in sharpie, but the bleeding of the ink made it hard to read. I held in front of me and struggled to read the messy scrawl.

"No way," Lauren said loudly, making me jump. She leaned in close, silently reading the note along with me.

Call me sometime!
760-414-9009
--Chris ;)

I barely had time to process the words before the paper napkin was snatched out of my hands, Lauren gasping as she read it again. "Jesus, this guy is so desperate. Carly, look at this!"

She handed it to Carly, who fell into a fit of laughter after reading it, and soon it was being passed around the whole table.

Austin gave me an encouraging smile after he read it, making me almost roll my eyes. Will, Jake and Tyler all laughed and started teasing me.

Trent was sitting on the end, so the note reached him last. I watched him closely as he scanned over the words, eager and a little nervous to see his reaction.

He looked back up at me, a stormy expression on his face. He looked like he was about to say something, but didn't get the chance.

The waiter, Chris, was suddenly back to take our orders. Trent cleared his throat, gaining his attention. My eyes widened as he made a point to show him the napkin, making sure he saw what it was before he closed his fist around it and crushed it.

Lauren elbowed me in the side, but I was speechless. It was going to be an interesting night.

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Hey all!

It's been a while, but here's an update for ya! Kind of shorter than usual but I hope you liked it anyway! And, obviously, you know I live for votes and comments ;)

Oh...P.S...that number I used for the waiter? Something I came up with totally randomly, so don't call it...

Okay?
Okay.