How to Date a Nerd

Chapter 18 - How to Be a Nerd

“Have an opinion. Be sarcastic. Got it,” I muttered, cutting him off. Just hearing about Nathan made me want to snap so I just focused on reading the summaries without much complaint.

I hung out with Ricky for the rest of the week. After his lessons, he’d pop a question and I’d have to come up with a nerdy answer for it. At one point or another, he’d ask me to point out a trivia about practically anything. We played a lot of video games, which was in fact, the only real geekish thing about me.

Nate and I still weren’t in speaking terms. The guys were starting to ask questions. But I’d no intention whatsoever to tell them why. I had the feeling that they’d all take          Nathan’s side. No matter what, I wasn’t going to lose to him. And Matt.

So when Sarah came to ask me to help her study, I was ready. I had Ricky make a guide how to do it. All I have to do was direct Sarah through the subjects. He was confident that Sarah could manage on her own but just needed someone who’d push her to. And if, just in case, she’d asked a question, which I probably won’t have a clue on, we could always look for the answer together. That’d be more me-and-Sarah-time. If all else failed, that was bathroom breaks were invented for. I got Ricky’s number for the Nerd Hotline.

“Someone’s a little too enthusiastic,” I said to Sarah, eyeing the tall stack of books she was carrying. I side-stepped, letting her in and taking more than half of her books since she won’t give them all to me. “Dad!” I called out to Arthur who was in the garage, all greasy and grimy, fidgeting under the car for some imaginary engine problem.

He slid out from under the chassis, holding a wrench. “What up, L?” he said, wiping the sweat off his brows. “Hey, Sarah.”

I grabbed his shirt from the front porch chair and tossed it to him when I saw Sarah staring. “We’ll be up in my room. To study. Don’t let your other son in or anywhere near the perimeter, please.”

Dad started to laugh. “You’re really starting to sound like that kid Ricky.”

My ears turned warm. “What’re you talking about? Just… Don’t bother us.”

With a raised eyebrow, he smiled and nodded. “Okay. Go. Study.” There was some hidden meaning to his voice.

I could feel another father-and-son talk coming. Whatever he was thinking, wasn’t going to happen anyway. My role had just been demoted from boyfriend to contractual best friend. Crossing the line wasn’t in my plan. I wanted Sarah to trust me. Plus, I still wanted to live a long happy life. Freddy would make sure that I’d be sleeping with the fishes if I ever did so much as touched Sarah’s little finger.

Once in my room, we sat on the rug I spread on the floor. She kept silently looking around, her blue-gray eyes shifting uneasily. I looked at her momentarily and picked up a Physics book.

“How do you want to go about it?” I asked nonchalantly, keeping my cool. Honestly, I was worried she’d start popping questions I won’t be able to answer in a million years.

She shook her head. “I’ve read them all. Last week.”

“Oh,” was what I could come up with. I fixed my stare on the book to avoid her eyes.

“The b-books were just for show…” she mumbled, looking up to me from under her long lashes. “You know, so Mom would actually think I came here to study.”

“So, what d’you wanna do then,” I said, still blankly writing endless number eights on the rug with a finger. If she didn’t come to study…

After clearing her throat, she crawled to my side and fidgeted with her hands. “The sort of things best friends do.” When I answered with a mocking snort, her cheeks flushed. “You’re still mad at me.”