How to Date a Nerd

Chapter 21 - How to Get a Major Promotion from your Nerdy Boss

“I knew it,” she said, unable to force back her laughter as she suddenly embraced me and buried her face on my chest. “And I... I knew I was too young to have a heart attack.”

I breathed out, impulsively looping my arms around her, feeling an involuntary grin coming. It felt like a thousand years since I’d held her, making it hard to believe this was real. When I finally managed to make myself let her go, I held her chin with my fingers so I could gaze freely into her eyes. There was a hint of pink on her cheeks as she reluctantly fixed her eyes on my shoulder. Sarah didn’t move. Eyes wide like she’d just seen a ghost. It looked like she wasn’t even breathing.

“Err... T-there it is... again,” she murmured, still not looking to my direction.

“What?” I asked, tilting my head so that she’d be forced to face me.

She gulped. “The heart attack,” she rasped, clutching her chest. Frantically, she covered my eyes with her trembling hand. Then I felt her relax a bit, hearing her gasping as she caught her breath.

“Hey! What do you think are you doing?” I chided while chuckling.

I tried to remove her hand from my face but she whacked my arm away and tackled me down. Her forehead bumped on my chin as we tumbled down the steel floor. When I opened my eyes, she was already staring at me, instantly scrambling to crawl away to a corner before I could even blink.

Weakly, she sat across the steel floor, looking down. “Will you stop doing that?” she muttered.

“What did I do this time?” I asked, sitting up.

“Looking,” she answered hesitantly, her face getting redder by the second. “It’s giving me a heart attack.”

“That’s kind of hard,” I replied nonchalantly, taking her hand. Slowly, I inched my face closer to her until I could almost feel her irregular breaths on my face. “I guess you’ll just have to close your eyes... when I do this.”

Sarah closed her eyes. Yes! That was my cue. Just as I was about to kiss her, the truck skidded against the road, backfiring with an ear splitting noise as it stopped abruptly. My head was spinning like my brain had just been scrambled then fried. Sarah was rubbing the bruised lump on the side of her head. Frantically, I rushed to her side.

“Are you okay?” In panic, I grabbed her on the shoulders and shook. “What day is it? How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Three?” she answered, wincing.

I looked at my hands. Which were both clutched tightly over her shoulders. Something was definitely wrong with Sarah’s brain. “For crying out loud. Don’t joke on a time like this.”

“I’m fine,” she said, getting up and managing a small smile. “You worry too much.”

“I can’t help it,” I retorted, vaulting off the back of the truck before helping Sarah down. “This,” I gestured to all of her. “... is such an accident prone area.”

She managed to keep on her feet, throwing me a vicious glare. Chuck and Reed hopped out of the backseat while Nathan and Ricky lifted the hood to check out what was wrong. As soon as they opened it, sooty smoke wafted from the engines. The truck was a terminal case.

“These engines look like they came from the Triassic era,” Nathan scoffed, coughing.

“As a matter of fact, they did,” Ricky retorted sarcastically, kicking the front tire angrily before squatting on the sidewalk. “Rest in peace, Martha,” he murmured, making the sign of the cross. “You’ve lived a long fruitful life.”