No Sparks Required

How I Won Your Heart

Having never been in detention before – except when I was in middle school, and detention involved cleaning the toilets and it was a whole different thing that probably involved illegal child labour – I realise that the time passes very slowly, had it not been for Shane.

Beverly, did you just think that again? Yes, Beverly, you just did.

Anyway, high school detention involved spending two hours copying paragraphs off our textbooks.

For those usual slackers who were forever stuck in detention, that kind of punishment was peanuts, but it was a total waste of time for a person like me.

I mean, we weren’t even allowed to do our homework. We had to waste our time copying off useless words.

I was totally bored, but Shane kept me entertained about his little tales of the stupidity of cheerleaders. He hangs out with cheerleaders everyday, so he knows almost everything there is to know about them.

So, anyway, he told me little titbits about Delilah and Heather, little gossips that the entire student body would die to know about.

He told me about how the two of them once thought they actually might be lesbians and tried kissing each other.

In their defence, they were both drunk out of their minds. And Peter Sanders managed to get a picture of them, and wanted to post it on Facebook.

When Heather and Delilah found out about it, they were so horrified; they agreed to have a three-way shag session with him.

And guess what? That was the first time Heather and Delilah lost their V-cards, in the worst way possible.

I couldn’t believe my ears when Shane told me this. It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud. A piece of gossip like this would have the school raving about it for two months straight.

And finally, when I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open; he kept a look out for me in case the detention teacher-in-charge decided to do her rounds.

“I am never, ever going to be late for school again.” I groan, when we are finally released from detention at six.

“It wasn’t that bad.” Shane grins evenly. “Spending time with me was worth it, wasn’t it?”

“No,” I deadpan. “It was horrible actually. Worst afternoon of my life.”

But I roll my eyes as I say this, so we both know we’re joking. I turn in the direction of the school’s side-gate, prepared to walk home, but Shane grabs my arm.

“Hey, where are you going?”

I raise my eyebrows mildly. “Home. Why?”

“Come on, I’ll give you a ride home.”

“I don’t want a ride home.”

But I do, actually. I’m so tired from spending almost ten hours in school, I can’t think straight. But contradicting Shane has become a habit for me – it’s almost become fun to annoy him.

“Yes, you do. Don’t make me carry you in bridal style to my car.”

At that, I immediately keep silent, and trudge reluctantly to his car, ignoring his triumphant smirk at me. He knows I’d rather take a lift from him than let him parade around the parking lot with me in his arms.

I slide in next to him, and can’t help but inhale deeply.

Okay, I’d rather kill myself than admit this to Shane, but I could seriously live in his car.

“Do you want to go grab some food?” He asks, after driving silently for a while. “I’m starving.”

“Aren’t you always.” I remark, dryly.

“Of course. I’m ravenous, especially since you’re in my car.”

Urgh. I knew he wouldn’t stay nice for long. I roll my eyes and look out of the window. “I think I’d like some pizza.” I tell him after a short moment.

“Pizza it is.” Shane turns the car sharply, and after a couple of minutes of driving, I realise that he’s taking us to the pizza place we used to go to all the time when we were young.

Vicky or my Mom would drive us, and leave us eating pizza here. Then they would go shopping at the mall.

“I miss this place.” I muse, softly, as we’re getting out of the car.

“So do I. I still come here with Sierra, but that’s very seldom.”

The eatery is relatively empty when we get there, because it’s still before dinnertime. The eatery is a spotless little place that smells absolutely mouth-watering of freshly-baked pizza and cheese.

There’s a waiter cleaning one of the small brown tables, and he glances up when we enter.

His face lights up almost immediately. “Beverly Stanton!” He grins delightedly, and comes forward to greet us, wiping his hands on his apron. “I haven’t seen you here in ages.”

“Gabe?”

Gabe used to be our waiter whenever Shane and I patronised this place. He was still a teenager the last time I saw him, but now, he’s probably in his early-twenties.

There’s nothing much different about him, except now there’s a few more wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.

“The one and only.” He pulls me in a hug, and I return it happily. Then he turns to Shane. “Corelli, man, hey, how’re you doing?”

“Good.”

Gabe chuckles, and looks at Shane, then me, then Shane again. “Have you two gotten together already?”

Hell, no.

“No,” I say, at the same time as Shane says “Yes,” loudly.

I give him the stink-eye and he returns it with a cheeky wink, and wraps his arm around my shoulders.

Gabe smiles delightedly, and yells, “Hey, Becky, come on out!”

A short, pretty blond comes out, and I recognise her as Rebekah, the chef of this pizza place.

She looks so differently from what I remember, and I think that’s because she’s dyed her hair, instead of the usual red-head she used to be.

I haven’t see her in ages either, and she laughs when she sees us. “Beverly, I can’t believe that’s you! You look fantastic, and you’ve gotten really gorgeous.”

I blush and thank her. Even though I know that I am anything but gorgeous. Pretty, maybe.

But gorgeous? Don’t make me laugh out a lung.

“Hey, Becky,” Shane greets, and leans down to kiss her briefly on her cheek. I swear Becky almost swoons.

“Becky,” Gabe tells her, “Our Shane’s finally won Beverly’s heart.”

Becky screams, ecstatic. “Well! I’ve always been wondering when the two of you would get together. You two used to come in here all the time and spend ages eating pizza and talking. I’m glad you finally have. Took you long enough, huh?”

“But we’re no-” Shane presses me against his chest tightly so my voice becomes muffled.

I hate him, have I mention that today already?

“Yeah, man,” I hear the evil-laughter in Shane’s voice. “She couldn’t resist me. She’s been lusting over me for the past few years; I just had to get her out of her misery.”

What the fuck?

“You cocky assho-”

“So, one day,” Shane continues, pulling me tighter against him.

I see Gabe and Becky nodding reverently, sucking up whatever bull-shit Shane’s laying on.

“I saw her out of the corner of my eye, and she was gazing at me like the star-struck teenager that she is. I mean, man, she was failing all of her subjects and almost got kicked out of the school because she kept mooning about me, so I decided to just ask her out one day. I went to her and said ‘Hey, Bevvy, wipe that drool off your face, I’ve decided to take you to the movies tonight because I think you’re really cute.’ That’s exactly what I said. Didn’t I, sweetheart…ompf!”

He flinches as my elbow connects heavily with his ribs.

But, being Shane, he just continues on with his conversation, holding me tighter so I wouldn’t inflict anymore injury on him.

“Our first date was at the…er, where was it, Sweetheart?” He beams down at me.

“We never-”

“Oh, that’s right. We never actually went on a date. Because, you know, we couldn’t keep out hands off of each other, and she was basically fucking me with her eyes every single second, but I shan’t go into specifics anymore, okay?”

He flashes his signature killer smirk and Becky just about pees herself.

“Anyway, the most important thing is that we’re now crazy in love, and we can’t live without each other.”

Becky swoons, and Gabe bangs Shane on the back in a ‘Great going, dude!’ kind of way.

I want to die of embarrassment.

“I can see what you mean, Shane.” Becky says, smiling widely. “I can see the love between the two of you.”

“See the lo-love?” I sputter furiously, against Shane’s chest – which smells deliciously of mint, but whatever – and kick his foot.

Except that I don’t exactly kick his foot. I miss, and my toes connect with the table leg nearby. Ouch, I think I must’ve broken my toes!

“FUCK!” I yell, and hop about, my foot throbbing agonisingly.

“Fuck?” Shane eyes me with amusement, his lips curling at the corners. “Yes, we do that a lot too, but sweetheart, you don’t have to be so truthful and explicit in front of others. Our shag sessions are supposed to be private.”

“Go to hell!”

“That’s what she always says, you know.” Shane tells Becky and Gabe, drawing me closer to him at the same time. “But she doesn’t mean it, of course. She’ll miss me too much. She’s just trying to resist me, but she wouldn’t for long. Trust me.”

Becky chuckles. “Right, so how ‘bout you show me the love between you two. Come on, Shane. Just a peck on her lips or something. I’ll give you a free pie if you do that. Go on, it’s a dare.”

“Sure,” He returns, gleefully. “No problem, Becks, I’ll do it right now.” And, without a moment’s hesitation, places his hands on my arms and draws me towards him.

“Shane?” I watch in alarm as his lips come closer and closer to mine. “Shane! Shane, don’t you dare. I’m warning you, don’t even try it.”

But my warnings are useless, of course.

That’s one thing about Shane Corelli: He never resists a dare.