Delphic Song

Chapter Four

“No, wait. Let me guess.” She paused, pretending to be in deep thought as she tapped her temple with her pointer finger. “Could it be…. Nate calling?”

“Maybe,” I eluded.

She giggled. “I knew it! Your voice got all high-pitched and squeaky. It was a dead giveaway.”

I chucked a throw pillow at her. “My voice was not squeaky.”

“Honey,” Payson said, dodging the pillow, “Sorry to break it to you, but you sounded like a mouse.”

I groaned loudly, collapsing back unto the bed. Of course I had to be the one to scare off a sexy guy with my hamster voice. Who else?

“Anyways, you still need to haul ass out of bed,” Payson said. “We have a tight schedule.”

“We do?”

“Um, hello? Nate’s taking you out?”

“So?”

 “So?” Payson asked incredulously. “So, Miss Oblivious, I need to make you pretty. You're going to blow that boy away when I’m done with you.”

I insisted on breakfast – lunch? – first, but immediately after I had put the last bite of grilled cheese in my mouth, Payson whisked me upstairs. I was still chewing as she shoved me into the shower.

Three hours and fifteen minutes later, I stood outside the weighing stand waiting for Nate. It was five of six, so he wasn’t late yet, but quite frankly I wasn’t expecting him to arrive in the five minutes he had left himself. Boys will be boys, and most boys weren’t so keen on keeping track of time.

But I found myself taking back that statement three minutes later, when his red truck pulled into the lot.

“Hey, Gwen!” Nate called as he climbed out of the driver’s side and strolled over to the passenger door. He pulled it open, and, propping his lean body up against his car, gave a long whistle. “Why, don’t you look absolutely smashing tonight?” he said, grinning.

I laughed as I made my way over to his car. “Thank you. You clean up pretty well yourself.”

“You mean this?” he ran a hand up and down his body, displaying it. “Oh, I look this good every day. It’s nothing special.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really? Are you saying that you wear that girly cologne on a daily basis?” I gave an emphatic stiff to prove my point.

“Nah, that was just for you.” He grinned, then gestured dramatically towards the open car door. “Your carriage awaits, princess.”

I curtsied. “Why, thank you, oh so sweet smelling prince.”

His car was surprisingly clean and neat. No trash littered the ground or the backseat, and an air freshener hung from the rearview mirror. As I surveyed the spotless seats and gleaming dashboard, I realized that it couldn’t possibly have been his car for very long. It wasn’t humanly possible for men to keep their cars that clean.

“So, is this a new car or are you just freakishly clean?” I asked.

Nate revved the engine and began backing the truck up, looking over his shoulder to see out the back. “Yeah, it’s a new car. I couldn’t possibly keep a car this clean -” he opened an arm to display the immaculate backseat “- unless I was Superman.”

I laughed. “I guessed as much. Unless you're just keeping your true identity as Superman a secret.”

“Oh, you got me, princess. I'm secretly a flying ninja with mad good looks.”