If I laugh or giggle, is he going to get offended?

Pete's Vagina
58. Run/Pass Option
by Erin Halfelven

Okay, getting my fingers kissed was… unexpectedly exciting? As a romantic gesture, it had a sort of dorky charm—much like my date, Leland Frick. If I laugh or giggle, is he going to get offended? I tried to limit my reaction to a smile, but a giggle may also have escaped.

“You’re a nut,” I accused.

He actually waggled his eyebrows at me —a very Gomez Addams thing to do— but with his blond looks, it had somewhat less impact.

“Stop it,” I protested. “You’re making me laugh!”

Then we were both laughing and snorting. Had I ever laughed with Lee before? I didn’t think so. Normally, our interactions involved the team and his photography, and we both were rather serious about those things. In fact, we both were kind of too serious most of the time.

He had to look where we were going as we passed the Friendly People sign, and I looked away too, gazing out the windshield while trying to stop smiling. Dating Megan had been fun, but somehow not as… exciting.

Exciting? Lee Frick? I heard myself giggling again.

“What’s this…what’s this movie we’re going to see?”

“It’s called Alien—” he began.

“Oh, yeah,” I interrupted. “A monster on a spaceship thing?”

“Um, sort of,” he agreed.

“Have you seen it?” I asked. “It’s supposed to be scary.” I felt something. Not a shiver, but a… premonition?

“I’ve seen it twice,” he admitted. “It’s got some good direction and amazing special effects. And Sigourney Weaver is, like, badass.”

I laughed. I’d heard enough about the movie to know that Weaver was supposed to be the hero—or heroine.

I glanced sideways at Lee and caught him grinning back at me.

“You’re kind of badass,” said Lee.

“Me?”

“You play football,” he pointed out. “And I heard from Joanna that you and she took care of some party crashers.”

I laughed again. “Yeah, I guess so.” I knew I was blushing. The evidence indicated that Lee liked badass women, and that adjective could be applied to his mom, too.

Lee steered us through town onto the northbound highway, where the El Tesoro Drive-In lay near a mountain that provided it with earlier sundowns.

The football team would be headed this way in three weeks for another contest with the Winslow Eagles, who we were playing at home this coming Friday—the day before Halloween. And the week before the second Eagles game would be our last home game of the season.

“Homecoming,” said Lee.

“Um,” I said, startled. It was almost as if he had listened to my thoughts.

“Has anyone asked you to Homecoming yet?”

“Uh, no.” The sound the van made on the pavement seemed to change, getting louder.

“That’s hard to believe,” said Lee.

I moved a bit on the seat to look directly at him. “I asked Megan,” I told him.

He blinked. A lot.

“Is that…is that still on?”

I looked away again. We passed the turnoff that went toward the Petrified Forest and the Navajo and Pima Reservations. “I don’t know,” I said.

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