“Me too.” He can’t see it, but I’m smiling. My tail is wagging so hard I’m about to be launched out of my seat.Settle down, inner turtle.
We spend an awkward minute watching whatever previews are on the screen. I can’t concentrate?I’m at the movies with a boy I care for the first time ever. My skin prickles with hyperawareness of his body so close to mine. I could hold his hand if I wanted to…
SE shows his phone, and I gaze at our chats. He’s typed a new message, and I squint my eyes to read it. The message reads, “I need to tell you something important about me.”
Is he a serial killer or something? I’m so nervous that I’m jumping to conclusions.
“Okay,” I whisper.
“I want to keep talking out loud, but I have a condition,” he types.
I nod and look at his darkened face, desperate to let him continue. I still can’t make out his face, so I lean in. Why does he smell familiar?
“I have dysarthria, so it’s hard for me to get words out verbally,” he types.
Wait, where have I heard that term before?
“Loxley?” I say out loud.
When he pulls down his hood, my whole world flips upside down. The shock of discovery sends a chill up my spine, and I stop breathing. I thought I was on a date with SE, but I’m here with Loxley Boysen.
CHAPTER 11- LOXLEY
MY EYEBROWS MIGHTnever go down. I’m sure my expression of shock mirrors his, except I can now see he’s green and scaly.
Gordy Lee, the one man who can’t stand me. The big shifter who won’t leave my head…is sitting with me instead of my online buddy, Coldblooded. But wait, this means…
“What are you doing here?!” Gordy hisses.
If my words are trapped on a good day, they’re certainly not coming out now. I sputter then swiftly type out, “I’m here to meet CB.”
“Yeah, okay, well, I’m here to meet Speakeasy!” he replies.
I point to myself, and he rolls his eyes. “No way. I…I…I refuse to believe it. You’re Loxley!”
Now I’m the one rolling my eyes and shoving my phone in his face and scrolling through the messages. He huffs in defeat and looks up. The evidence doesn’t lie, but there’s still a frown on his turtle face. “How could you be SE?”
“I am!” I hiss in frustration.
He fidgets, and I’m afraid he’s gonna bolt. “But, but…how is this possible? Speakeasy is…and…and you’re…”
I growl and type out, “I’m sorry my body is a disappointment.”
With a grunt, he replies, “You know it’s not that! I thought…Speakeasy would be a blank slate. I didn’t want him to know I look like this!”
“Gordy,” I say. Before I can put my hand on his arm, our attention is drawn to the front. The older couple is shushing usand giving some serious stink eye all the way from the second row. If they were witches, we’d be hexed into oblivion right now.
The appropriate amount of shame washes over me, and Gordy and I share a cringe. We glance at each other, and he sits back in the chair, putting his hood over his head. I’m so embarrassed, but with the older couple no longer glaring at us, we manage to relax as well. After a quiet minute of watching movie previews, the realization dawns on me: I’m on a date with Gordy Lee.
I’m also on a date with Coldblooded. The super cool guy I’ve been crushing on online, and the turtle shifter I’ve been lusting after, are the same person! Auntie says fate always finds a way, and clearly she’s not wrong. The universe has connected us time and time again.
And now we’re on a date, sort of. I can’t believe it! My heart pounds in my chest as I grow more aware of his body. CB is so much sexier than I ever could have imagined. His tail pokes out from behind him, and I yearn to see more of his shell.
Mustering up courage, I type on my phone and show the message to him. “For what it’s worth, I’m not at all disappointed in the way you look, Mr. Coldblooded. I’m very happy to meet with you.”
The tenuous smile that grows on his reptilian mouth is worth more than all the stars in the sky.
***
