I snickered at that. “Well, unless you manage to level to fifty in a few weeks, there is no way we can go to Jayden’s.”
He frowned. “I’m already a five. How long would it take to get to fifty?”
“Months. Maybe a year. The early levels go quicker, but it slows down after fifteen.”
“Damn. Too bad—that party wouldn’t be so bad for you if we went together. I know you want to make your Tinker Bell game, and if going guarantees this guy will back down, then it would be worth it.”
I looked at him. Did he really want to come to a party just to support me? I shook my head. “You’re sometimes a little too nice, Daniel.”
He grinned. “Impossible.”
We watched the movie silently for a while. When the emerald dragon burst out into a love ballad (in the unique dragon language created for the movie), Daniel cringed.
“How many times have you seen this?” he asked.
“I don’t know. A couple of times. Never by choice, though. I don’t really watch a lot of movies, and I don’t see the point of watching them ironically.” I preferred playing games any day. Devin had always thought I was weird for that. “You don’t have to watch if you don’t want to ... you’re not going to be quizzed on it.”
He chuckled, leaning back on his elbows, and looked at the enormous gray stone house. “This place is unreal. Is your house anything like this?”
I frowned. “What? No. Not even close. I mean, my house is nice. And my sister planted some stuff in the backyard—she and her boyfriend are into gardening. Our house used to be a one story, but we added a second level a few years ago. The construction was brutal. Hana’s family is like ... super rich, though.”
“She still seems nice.”
I shrugged. “She’ssometimesnice. She’s trying really hard to still be friends with me even though she’s dating Devin. It’s just guilt.”
“Why are you going along with it? You don’t have to be friends with her.”
I shrugged. “She’d be too dangerous as an enemy.”
Daniel looked at me, head tilted. In the flickering low light from the movie projector, I could see his sharp cheekbones. His lips were in a straight line, and his brows were furrowed. “Do you do that with everyone you know?”
“Do what?”
“Do you always assume people don’t actually like you foryou? That they have some other reason for wanting to be your friend? Maybe Hana just likes you and doesn’t want to lose you as a friend because she’s with Devin now.”
I frowned. Did I always assume people didn’t like me forme? Other than Cass and Aimee, all my friendsdidcome through someone else ... Devin. They were his friends. Everyone liked the school golden boy, so they liked the golden boy’s girlfriend.
I looked at Daniel. He liked me for me, right?
“Habit, I guess.” I didn’t really want to explain it right now.
Daniel looked at me silently for a while before he spoke. “Do you think I passed tonight?”
“What do you mean?”
“Did I pretend to fit in here successfully?”
I was about to laugh when I looked at his face. The terrible CGI dragon on the screen was shooting flames that looked like they came from my dad’s barbecue starter on the screen, so there was enough light for me to see his expression. He was unsure. Nervous. I wasn’t used to that from Daniel.
“You didn’tpretendto fit in. You actually did,” I said.
Now I could make out one of his big-even-for-Daniel grins.
“Seriously,” I said. “You did great. But it wasn’t because of any pretending you did.”
“What do you mean?”
I considered how to explain it. “Like, you pretending to be my gaming buddy was fine, but everyone here that liked you liked you for therealyou. Not because of the things you were pretending to be into. Everyone except Devin and his bros, but who cares about them. People saw you as a great guy.” That’s whyIliked him, too. I wished I had the guts to say that.
