My Nerdy Valentine (Nerds, #7)(12)
Author: Vicki Lewis Thompson

"Harvey?"

"What?"

"What are you doing down there?" "Nothing."

"My point, exactly. Nothing. And on top of that, you’ll have to start all over. I was working up to a cli**x, but then you said that thing about Amanda, and I lost momentum."

That was discouraging. "Can I still say her name, though? I mean, in between using my tongue the way Dr. Tredway taught me."

"Yeah, yeah. Just get on with it."

"Okay, sugar tits." He settled into position again. "Amanda, you are so hot." This fantasy lover thing rocked. Now that he could pretend that he was doing Amanda instead of Louise, he didn’t mind the work nearly as much. On Valentine’s night, he really would be doing Amanda, so this was a way of getting used to the concept.

NINE

By the time Amanda arrived for her shift at Geekland, Justin was still planted on a bar stool, and from the looks of him, he was feeling no pain. "Hey, ‘Manda." He gave her a lopsided grin. "Hey, Justin."

Ethan, the bartender she was relieving, looked exactly like the Verizon guy, especially when he wore the Geekland glasses. As a result he had to put up with a lot of "Can you hear me, now?" jokes.

When he spied Amanda, he came over, put an arm around her shoulders, and led her a little distance down the bar, out of earshot from Justin. "That guy’s been picking drinks at random from his Barmaster. So far he’s had six different combinations. The last thing I fixed him was a Bahama Mama."

Amanda winced. "Almost all booze."

"Yep."

"Well, he’s drowning his sorrows. His fiancée canceled the wedding yesterday."

"So he said, but it’s time to cut him off."

Amanda made a face. "Thanks for leaving me with that job."

"You’re tougher than me, Rykowsky." Ethan gave her shoulder a squeeze, pocketed his tips and left.

Cutting off the liquor supply was Amanda’s least favorite thing to do, but Justin looked in need of that particular service.

He’d positioned himself at the bar with a trivia keyboard and he punched buttons at random. When he missed a question, which was most of the time, he laughed hysterically. Not a good sign.

Leonard hopped up on a stool in front of Amanda. "Finally! I want a Hot Apple Pie, and I didn’t trust Ethan to make it right."

"A Hot Apple Pie? Are you sure? Last time—"

"My mouth’s all healed. See?" Leonard puckered up. Then he crossed his eyes and imitated fish lips.

She couldn’t help laughing, although that would only encourage him, which wasn’t good because he seemed to have a crush on her. "Leonard, what’s coming up next week?"

"The finals in a Magic tournament. Want to come and watch me win?"

"Sorry, no time. So you don’t know that Valentine’s Day is next week?"

"It is?"

"Yeah." She grabbed the Baileys bottle so she could start making the Hot Apple Pie.

"Is that a hint? You want a box of candy or something?" "No! I just—"

"See, Amanda?" Justin called out. Then he laughed his crazy laugh. "I missed ‘nother one! See how stupid I am? No wonder she dumped me."

"You’re not stupid." She layered Goldschlager over the Baileys. "But it might be time to retire that Barmaster for the night and tuck into a hamburger and fries, maybe a hot cup of coffee." She wondered if that would be enough of a hint for him.

"Not hungry." Justin went back to stabbing at the trivia keyboard.

With a sigh, Amanda took out the 151-proof rum and poured it on top of the Goldschlager.

Leonard lowered his voice. "You’re trying to cut him off, aren’t you?"

She nodded.

I don’t think it’ll be all that easy."

"Unfortunately, you could be right." Reaching into her pocket, she took out a lighter and set the top layer of 151-proof rum on fire.

Leonard stared at it in obvious delight. "Now that is totally cool."

"No, it’s hot, Leonard." She handed him an empty rocks glass. "You’d better snuff it out before you end up burning your mouth on the glass."

"Hey, gimme one of those!" As Justin leaned in their direction, he almost fell off his bar stool.

"I think that’s a bad idea, Justin."

"Aw, c’mon." Using the bar as support, he climbed down from his stool and worked his way around to Amanda and Leonard. "You made him one. My turn!"

"No. It could be dangerous." She watched Leonard out of the corner of her eye. He was slowly extinguishing the flame, but the glass would still be hot. "Let it cool some," she warned him.

Justin edged closer. "Lemme taste."

"No." Amanda put her arm out to stop him. "It’s too—"

"Lemme taste!’ Justin lunged over her arm and grabbed the glass away from Leonard.

Amanda knocked it out of his hand before he could take a drink and scald himself on the hot rim. Baileys, Goldschlager, and rum went everywhere as the glass tumbled to the bar, where it shattered.

Justin surveyed the damage through bleary eyes. "Whoop-sie-daisy."

"Hey, Amanda," Leonard said. "Take a look at the spray pattern on my shirt! The three kinds of booze didn’t completely mingle, and I actually have different-colored dots. Awesome."

Amanda took off her liquor-spattered glasses. "That’s not exactly the word I’d use, but I’m glad you’re not upset."

"Heck, no. You can just make me another Hot Apple Pie. Half the fun is watching you make it and light that puppy."

Tina came by with an empty drinks tray. "Hey, Amanda, I need— Whoa, what happened here?"

"A whoopsie-daisy." Justin leaned on the bar. His arm was a quarter inch from a jagged piece of glass.

Amanda panicked. "Don’t lean on the bar! There’s broken glass everywhere."

"There is?"

"Look, both of you back up a little and then stay put. Tina, can you get somebody from the kitchen to help me clean up? And stall anyone who wants a drink until I get re-situated."

"Will do." Tina hurried away.

Amanda wiped her hands on a bar rag. Then she carefully picked up the biggest pieces of glass and dropped them in the trash.

"I need ‘nother drink."

She paused to look at Justin. "No you don’t. You need food."

"Don’t want food." His expression turned belligerent. "Want ‘nother drink."

"I could get security if you want," Leonard said.

"That’s okay." She didn’t want Justin thrown out of here, not after he’d been nice enough to buy her a deluxe Barmaster. Besides, he was William’s best friend, and … that was her answer. "Justin, what kind of cell phone do you have?"

He brightened. "The best."

She’d figured that. A nerd would be proud of his technology. "Can I see it? I’m thinking of getting one."

Instead, Leonard took the bait. He leaned forward. "Then you should see mine!" Wiping his hands on his shirt, he unclipped his phone from his belt and handed it over. "The screen’s incredible, and I have a list of features as long as this bar."

"Thanks." She took the phone, flipped it open and pretended to care what she was looking at. "Justin? Can I look at yours, now?" She handed Leonard’s back to him.

Justin shrugged. "Guess so." He unclipped his without wiping his hands. "Catch."

She caught it one-handed and wiped the stickiness off with her bar towel. Luck was with her, because Ed from the kitchen arrived right then with a bucket of soapy water and several rags. She stepped out of his way, putting him between her and Justin.

Opening the phone, she quickly clicked on his list of contacts. Sure enough, William was right there. In no time at all she had him on the line. "William, this is Amanda."

"What’s wrong?" He sounded scared. "Why do you have Justin’s phone? Has there been an accident? Is he okay? What—"

"He’s fine, but he’s really drunk. Can you come and get him?"

"I’ll be right there. Thanks for calling me." He disconnected the line.

Amanda closed the phone, stepped around Ed, and handed the phone to Justin. "Looks like a good model."

"Can I get ‘nother drink, now?" Justin wobbled a little, as if he might not be able to stand much longer.

"We’ll see." She took a rag and walked around the end of the bar so she could wipe off the stools. "First I need to take care of the backed-up orders. But you can sit down, if you want."

"Okay." Justin climbed unsteadily onto a stool and watched as she made another Hot Apple Pie for Leonard. Then she took care of several orders for Tina. About the time she’d run out of things to do, William came through the door.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so glad to see someone. That was only because he was here to save his buddy from humiliation, of course. It wasn’t William she was glad to see, but the prospect of solving a big problem.

At least that’s what she was trying to tell herself. But she couldn’t ignore the appealing picture William made as he walked up to the bar. His dark hair was windblown, his cheeks ruddy, his coat unzipped. Under his coat he wore an old Northwestern sweatshirt and jeans that had been lovingly broken in.

In short, William didn’t look at all like a nerd tonight.

William had thrown on a coat, raced out of his apartment, and hailed a cab in order to get to Geekland as soon as possible. He cringed at the idea of showing up in front of Amanda in his oldest clothes, but he couldn’t take time to change. If she’d thought Justin was in bad enough shape that she’d wrangled his cell phone to call a guy she was trying to avoid, then she must have been desperate.

As he drew closer, he noticed that both Amanda and Justin were covered with coffee-colored spots. Justin hadn’t even bothered to clean his glasses after whatever disaster had taken place here. William decided there was no point in asking. Suffice it to say, Amanda wanted Justin out of her hair. She must be heartily sick of dealing with both of them. "Will!" Justin frowned. "Whatcha doin’ here?" "Trying to get you to buy me a burger. Pizza last night was on me, so tonight it’s your turn."

"But you’re not s’posed to be here, ya know." Justin tilted his head in Amanda’s direction and wiggled his eyebrows.

"I know. But I hear they have good burgers." He took the stool next to Justin. He’d never seen his buddy so trashed.

Amanda moved in his direction, her expression hopeful. "Would you like to order, then?"

"I would love to order." He was trying to concentrate on Justin and his problems, but here was Amanda, looking gorgeous, even though spattered by some unknown substance. Whatever the liquid was, a blob of it had landed on each breast right about where the nipple was. The color of the liquid made it seem as if someone had painted two n**ples on the plaid material of her shirt, almost like a pair of bull’s-eyes.

"Could we have a drink, instead?" Justin weaved back and forth on the bar stool. "I’m getting way too sober." "Getting sober’s not a bad idea."

"Easy for you to say. You’re not trying to block out memories of Cindi Finkelstein the Defector."

"No, I’m trying to get something to eat. How about two burgers, medium?"

"Got it." Amanda turned away and entered the order on her computer screen. "Skinny fries or wedge-cut?"

"I like wedgies," Justin said. "Wait. That didn’t come out right."

"I know what you meant." Amanda sounded like she wanted to laugh but was holding back. "William? Which do you want?"

"Just call him Will," Justin said. "William makes him sound like a dork with a stick up his butt. I keep telling him that, but he says William sounds more stockbrokerish, whatever that means."

She glanced over at William, laughter dancing in her eyes. "How would you like your fries, Will?"

"Wedge-cut." He didn’t even care that Justin had made that crack about his name. Seeing Amanda lighten up was worth the humiliation. He wondered if she had the slightest clue how beautiful she looked, and how much he wanted to vault the bar, kiss her, and see if he could bring that laughter out in the open.

"Coming up." She turned away when a waitress named Tina arrived and ordered some drinks.

Justin leaned toward him. "I think she likes you more tonight than last night." He smelled like a brewery.

"I think you’d better not lean like that or you’re going to fall over."

He straightened, gripping the bar for balance. "How did you know I was here?"

"Good guess." Apparently Justin had been so out of it he hadn’t realized Amanda had purloined his cell phone. "Listen, buddy, don’t do this to yourself. Cindi’s not worth the damage to your liver."

"I know, but what if she’s the only woman who ever wants to marry me and have sex and stuff?"

"She’s not."

"I asked a couple of women in this bar if they wanted to have sex, and they turned me down flatsky."

William choked back a laugh. "We might have to work on your approach."

"I’m smoother when I’m not drunk."

"I certainly hope so."

Justin’s mouth tilted in a sloppy grin. "I know one woman who might have sex with me."

William sincerely hoped Justin wasn’t going to name Amanda. That would put a big old crimp in their friendship. "And who would that be?"

"You won’t get mad?"

"That depends."

"On what?"

William was getting nervous about this conversation. If Amanda had turned him down and accepted Justin instead, life was going to generally suck. "Just tell me, okay?"

"Gloria Tredway."

William stared at him. "What makes you think that?" "I was in her office today, and she gave me the look, if you know what I mean."

"I know what you mean." He’d been getting that look from the moment he’d met dear Dr. Tredway. "What were you doing in her office?"