Aimee turned back around and laughed. “Honestly, though, I’m excited to see if he’s as hot in person as those pictures, right, Cass?”
Cass didn’t say anything. Which didn’t surprise me. I knew that deep down Cass didn’t approve of this whole “turning Daniel into something he wasn’t” scheme.
I sighed as I fiddled with the clasp of my bag. I was still feeling a bit off since he’d canceled on me the day before. And Cass’s comment that I was hyperfocusing hadn’t left me. The truth was, I didn’t likeusinga good guy like Daniel. And maybe Iwasworrying about details too much. I needed to ease up a bit.
But I was still monumentally nervous about this party. So much could go wrong. Not even counting the part that Daniel was going to aDragon Arenaparty when he’d never even seen game play, but also Muniba could have told Hana that Daniel was no math nerd, or that we met at the shelter, not online last year. Also, what would happen if LostAxis, whoever he was, was actually there and made a scene? I hated conflict. Maybe this plan of drawing out the catfisher by showing up with Daniel at a busy party wasn’t such a brilliant idea.
Daniel was waiting outside the shelter when we got there, holding a huge reusable grocery bag. I hopped out of the car after Cass parked.
He looked exactly like he always did, wearing black jeans and a Toronto Maple Leafs T-shirt, but it still felt weird to see him. Maybe because it was evening. This was officially the first time I’d seen him after the sun had set. It was, of course, not the first time we’d seen each other this week—we’d been baking together only yesterday. To my relief, those weird twinges of a crush I’d felt at the market on Saturday hadn’t made an appearance then.
But thiswasour first date. Even if it was a fake date. It was no wonder I had major stomach butterflies as I walked up to him. Without saying anything, I handed him the T-shirt my sister had made for him. In return, he handed me the grocery bag.
I took it and peeked in. It was filled with records.
“What are these for?”
He smiled. “They’re for you! The shelter had a donation this morning and there was a stack of records, but there’s no record player here. Andre got excited and took a bunch, but I snagged these ones for you. They’re mostly movie soundtracks from the sixties and seventies. I knowyou said you were more into seventies jazz, but I thought you might like these, too.”
I looked more closely at the album covers, recognizing a few movie titles. I smiled at him. “These are amazing! Thank you so much!”
“No problem!” He grinned, then held up the T-shirt I’d given him. He shook his head. “Ha! This is actually funny! I don’t really get the appeal of broadcasting to the world what your favorite video game is on your T-shirt, but I like this.”
I chuckled. “It’s no different than you broadcasting your favorite stick and puck team.”
“Touché. I’ll go change ... Back in five.” He hurried back into the shelter, and I turned to head to Cass’s car when a small voice startled me. “I think our forest is full of fairies like in the book.”
I turned around and smiled at Yasmin. She stood in the light near the door of the shelter. “It’s dark out,” I told her. “Does your mother know you’re out here?”
She nodded. She was wearing a green sweatshirt with blue sweatpants, and her hair was pulled tight to the back of her head. “She said I could come out and say thank you for the book.”
I smiled. “You’re welcome.”
Aimee had brought a couple of her sister’s old Tinker Bell and other fairy books to school this week for inspiration for the game. One of them was a picture book written like a field guide to fairies in the wild, and I asked Aimee if I could bring it to the shelter for Yasmin. I’d given it to her mother the day before.
“Have you seen fairies in the trees before?” Yasmin asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t go into forests very much. I’m allergic to cedar trees. Hey, Yasmin, I need to say thank you to you, too. You gave me the idea to make my video game about fairies, and now we might be doing that.”
She glanced toward the forest. “You’re welcome. Mama’s going to take me to look for some fairies when she has time.”
Daniel came back out with a gray hoodie zipped up over the shirt.
“We need to leave now,” I told Yasmin, “but make sure to take pictures of fairies if you find any. I’ll need them for research for my game.” I waved goodbye, and Daniel and I headed to Cass’s car.
Before Daniel got into the back seat, he unzipped his hoodie with a flourish and took it off. “Am I nerded up to your satisfaction?”
I laughed, then looked at him. And wow—I’d only ever seen him in colored shirts—red for the Raptors, blue for Leafs, and mostly jerseys. But this black T-shirt with a dragon on it? I wouldnothave thought it would change him so much. But it did. Helookedthe part. The shirt stretched over his broad shoulders, so he still appeared pretty buff, but the dark color made him, I don’t know, less bright and sunny, and more ... complicated. Mysterious. And of course, less like a jock. He was now the kind of guy I would turn to look at twice at Comic-Con or something.
I nodded, smiling, then got into the car. “You’re a perfect geek.”
Once Daniel was in the car, too, I introduced him. “Cass, Aimee, this is Daniel.”
They turned their heads to greet him as we buckled our seat belts.
“Ah. Aimee. You’re the artist who first started my relationship with Samaya with your Photoshop skills,” Daniel said.
“I am,” Aimee said. “And wow, remind me to get some more pics of you tonight. You two look amazing together.”
