I wasn’t moping.  Not at all.  It had been a week since that stupid barbecue at the Carters’, and I was SO over the Backstreet Boy that I had abandoned my daily spy-session for a healthy dose of shopping.

Okay, so I’m a worse liar than I am a flirt.  And, trust me, judging by the lack of attention Nick had been paying me this past week, that’s saying something.

Technically, I wasn’t moping.  I was beyond moping.  I was so far beyond moping that I was flipping through the pages of Teen People, completely enthralled in things like Hilary Duff’s favorite I-Pod tunes.  Now, forgoing for a moment the fact that I have NO freaking clue what an I-Pod is, and I haven’t read Teen People since graduating from high school.

Of course, I didn’t graduate from a private boarding school, so I guess that makes me more susceptible to regression.  And to jealously-while we’re on the note of private boarding schools.

Oh, hell.  Who was I kidding?  I was still completely and totally infatuated with one beautiful, blonde Nick Carter.  And he was still completely and totally flirting with Jake’s stupid younger sister.

I’m sure she’s got some kind of deal with Fate.  I just want in on it.  Really.  I’m not asking much.  Just a little positive karma tossed my way.  That’s all I need.

If we’re making a wish list, I’d also like a Backstreet Boy.  The blonde one, to be more specific.

Of course, the way things stood, I was stuck making a list of I-tunes to put Hilary Duff’s to shame while I flipped through a collection of magazines in search of something—hell, anything—to make me prettier, funnier, and more attractive.  It sounds ridiculous, but I was going to need all the help I could get, because Jake’s little sister was beginning to seem seriously magnetic.

It’s hard for a rusting college student of my caliber to compete with magnetic.  At the rate I was going, I’d be lucky to glow when the light moved just right.

“Get up.”

I groaned and rolled my eyes.  With a sigh of frustration that was all too audible, I rolled over and prepared to fend off another of Hannah’s pity visits.  I’d heard every pep talk she had to offer, and I had no problem with explaining to her—yet again—that no amount of encouragement was going to get me to continue my pursuit of my brother’s adorable best friend.

“Listen, Hannah…”

“Sorry, I’m not Hannah.”  There was a pause, and suddenly the bed sank beneath the weight of an added body.  “What are you reading so intensely over here?”

I tried to discreetly slide the magazine under the bed, but I wasn’t quick enough.  Instead, my unexpected visitor nabbed the magazine and began thumbing through it.  I was doing a good job of controlling my blush until he chuckled...

“You’re reading Teen People?  Man, why would you subject yourself to this stuff?  If I’d known you were this curious, I would’ve asked Hilary what her favorite downloads are…”

Unfortunately for the blonde that had suddenly taken up residence in my room, I was in no mood to be teased.  I expelled another sigh of frustration and snatched the magazine from him before I had to suffer further incrimination. 

“What are you doing here, Nick?”

His smirk brightened to a grin.  “Oh!  Your brother said that you were upset about something, so I figured I’d see if I could cheer you up.”

Forgive me for being doubtful, but... “Right.  Now that you’ve spouted the PC, chick flick answer, why are you really in here?”

He frowned.  “I haven’t seen you in a week, girl!  You’re either locked up in here or out with your girlfriends.”

Maybe it was because I was in a bad mood to begin with, but the term made me bristle.  “I have guy friends, you know.”

“Yes,” he agreed.  “But the question is…do you have a boyfriend?”

I choked on the deep breath that was supposed to calm me down.

“Whoa, easy there…sensitive subject?”

I shook my head and waved off his concern.  “Hardly.  Why the sudden interest in my love life?”

In a perfect world, he would tell me that he was interested in enhancing said love life.  Unfortunately, Jake’s little sister had kissed a lot more karma ass than I had this year, and I had a long way to go to catch up.

“Well, Stephanie and I were planning to hit the movies, but a friend of mine has insisted on coming, and you two would be PERFECT for each other, and…Lana?”

I can only imagine what part of my expression had caused him to stop rambling.  Maybe it was the increasingly furrowed brow.  The murderous look in the eyes.  The mouth gaping in disbelief?

“Hold up…are you talking about Jake’s little sister?”

He smirked at me.  “She has a name, you know.”

Oh, I knew all right.  I just felt a heck of a lot better about myself when I refrained from using it.

“Isn’t she a little young for you?”

Someone alert the presses!  The great Nick Carter is blushing!

“Not THAT much younger…only, like, four or five years…”

“You realize that’s half a decade, right?”

“Lana!”  Oh, dear God, not the whine.  I actually fall for the whine.  “Will you go with me on this double date or not?”

I arched a lethal eyebrow and glanced at the clock.  Evening was fast approaching.  The day couldn’t get much worse before I got to go to bed, right?

“What’s in it for me?”

He straightened.  “You get a date.”

“Which couldn’t happen otherwise, right?”

He fliched.  “Okay, that was a bad way of putting it.”

No shit.

“You get a date with a really nice friend of mine, AND I’ll owe you a huge favor.”

If I asked you to slit my wrists for me, would you follow through?  Because that might be slightly more comfortable than going on a date with you and the competition.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t as cynical as I wanted to be.  Something about the little whine in his pleading tone and the hopeful look in his beautiful baby blues sealed my fate as the sucker of the evening.

I sighed, expelling a single breath of premature defeat.

“Exactly how fantastic is this friend of yours?”

He didn’t miss a beat.  “He’s God’s gift to womankind.  Come on, Lana.  Please?”

Damn that boy and his pretty blue eyes.  Because, as much as I was already hating the idea of a double date in which Nick was NOT going to spend the night pursuing me, spending the night with him was much better than spending it alone with magazines and cable.  I knew I was going to regret it later, but at least he’d owe me a favor.  If the night absolutely, positively sucked, I’d get to force him to make it up to me.

I sucked in a deep breath and leveled him with a serious look.  “I’m not wearing a dress.”

His eyes lit up like sun on the water and he pulled me into a tight hug.  “Thank you SO much, girl.  You have no idea how much I appreciate this.”

I closed my eyes, trying to savor the feel of his arms around me.  Maybe if I could hold onto it, watching him with Stephanie wouldn’t be quite so bad.  “You owe me.”

“I do.  I know I do.  You’re a goddess.”

But I’m not your goddess, am I?

“Damn straight.”

He grinned down at me.  “I always knew I liked you.”  And, with that, he hugged me again briefly before bounding out of the room.  He stopped only long enough to call over his shoulder.  “Be ready at six!”

I continued to revel in the warmth of his bear hug until the door slammed.  Then I panicked.

What had I just gotten myself into? 
 

10. Self-Affirmation Is Sexy
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