How to Date a Nerd

Chapter 15 - How to Make a Truce with a Baby Cow

And in the end, he would still have to leave; that would be the end of me…

I stopped reading and gaped on the wall for a while.  I skimmed the pages in panic, realizing that I was reading Sarah’s diary. That was so not right.

One day to go and it’s bye-bye high school. And Leon’s still in LA. I miss him. I can’t get him off my head every single minute of the day. I mean literally. Every minute. What could he possibly be doing now? Perhaps he’s meeting super gorgeous girls in there—sexy, liberated girls with great personalities and especially not a glasses-wearing, chess geek and straight-A nerd like me. When he comes home here, I wish LA and Hollywood get annihilated by a target-specific nuclear missile just so he wouldn’t have to come back there anymore. Who cares about world peace?

I’m going insane. My frontal lobe hurts and I’m pretty sure I’m haemorrhaging internally right now. Honestly, I just wish I could just forget he existed so I wouldn’t have to act all paranoid like this.

I put the diary down. Just realized I wasn’t breathing. Sarah wanted to forget me. Now that made sense. Myrna—the nurse from Milford—mentioned something about self-imposed amnesia. Some people tend to forget things that hurt them. And I hurt Sarah that much. Enough to make her want to erase me from her brain.

Choking out a deep breath, I let my head sag on my hands. And here I was trying to make her remember all those hurt. It was no use. If her memories came back, what then? She’d just have to suffer again.

“Moo?” Jeremiah fussed, cocking his little head to me. When I tried to ignore him, he chucked the empty feeding bottle toward my head. And unlike his sister, he pitched well.

“Ow!” Bull’s eye. I rubbed the side of my forehead. “Bad Jeremiah,” I muttered through my teeth.

The demon-baby giggled and cooed. Clearly, he enjoyed my pain. I tried to calm down before I could hurl the little squirt out the window. He might’ve looked like an angel but he was evil!

Sighing, I dragged my chair closer to his crib. I squared my shoulders. “Look. Jer. Can we talk? I mean man to man?”

Jer made gurgling sounds.

“I’m guessing that’s a yes. As you know, I care for your sister. A lot. And I know you do too. So, ceasefire? For now?”

The kid just stared at me like I was some sort of weirdo. But at least he shut up for once.

“This is just so messed-up. I just don’t know what to do anymore. I promised I’d be here for her as long as she wants me. Well, I don’t really know if she still wants that… She’s just so hard-headed and insecure and complicated. You getting any of this, buddy?” I asked, not really expecting an answer.

That’d probably be weird. And creepy.

“I’m running out of time. And if Sarah doesn’t remember… I might have to let go. I don’t want that to happen. And I’m losing my mind just thinking about it.”

Chuckling, Jer reached out for my hand and pulled my finger. I felt like an idiot explaining to a baby who couldn’t even say anything besides moo. Talk about being desperate. Before I could say more, the squirt already sunk his baby teeth into my finger. With a stifled yelp, I pulled away from him.

“Oh, come on!” I rumbled, wiping the finger on my shirt. Seemed like I’d live. “Okay. You know this means war. Right, Jer?” I narrowed my eyes on him.

The kid just stuck his tongue out and made bubbles out of his spit.  He threw his hands up like he wanted me to carry him. No going to happen. But then he started blubbering and making a fuss.

Then he said “Len!” in a tiny shrill voice. Which might’ve been a little cute if I just didn’t hate that pet name with a passion. So I took him from his crib, constantly watching for my remaining fingers. We sat silently while I read the rest of Sarah’s diary. Sometimes, he’d point on the notebook and make annoying sounds. But after a while, he fell asleep sitting on my lap.

I heard footsteps from the hallway. The sound was growing nearer. Gently, I put Jeremiah back in his cage and hid the diary under my shirt. But it was too obvious. Darn. Frantically, I shoved it under Jer’s mattress, nudging it to make sure it wasn’t visible.

Freddy’s head protruded from the door. “Kiddo. Just thought I’d check up on Jer.” With a nod, Freddy’s eyes shifted from his son to me. “He’s asleep. It’s a miracle. What did you do? Whack him on the head?”

I threw him a nervous smile. “Yeah… about that…”

“We should probably get outta here,” he said waving me out. “Sarah can hear us in her room through the speaker phones. So how did it go?” he laughed just when I was about to close the door behind me. He threw an apple to me, which I caught with both hands.

Ugh, crud. Did Sarah just hear all of those?

Breathing hard, I turned to Freddy. “Not so good.” I felt like banging my head on the wall. “Give me a minute.”

I darted past him and dragged my feet to Sarah’s room. The door opened with soft creak when I tried to peek in. Sarah was asleep. Thank god. Or at last she looked like she was sleeping. I couldn’t really be sure. She was buried under the blankets. Once, I thought I saw her arm twitch a bit but that could be anything.

With a sigh, I slipped into her room. I picked up a pen and a piece of paper from her study table and wrote a note. Then I folded it like a paper airplane and placed it on her side table. I left the apple on top of the note just to be sure she won’t miss it. Taking a last look on Sarah, I left the room and closed the door.

Princess,

You remember that little deal we had in the school gym, don’t you? You may not remember it now but you’ve won. Now, if you want to collect your prize, come to my place tomorrow at 5 PM. If not, consider the deal null and void.

xxx

Leon

P. S. Bring a cake.

Plan number two—totally exciting, yet another tragic epic fail.

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Hmm... should I bring back the voting challenge or should I not? That is the question. Will be uploading after 3 days :) if you're bored, you could check out my other story called Reapers. I swear it'll be worth your time. I'm glad to announce that we are at the first thrid of the story and watch out for other hilarious antics from Leon and the gang. :) Thanks for all the comments and the votes you have given this story... Really love you guys. You're the best!

Photoshopping His Hotness while a tad drunk on tequila, --->

~shim :)