Chapter 104

“Hey, who said I’m messing?” Tyler interjects a tone of seriousness shining through, and he cocks his head to the side to look at her again, evaluating the little scared ball of blushing. “I want to ask Elisa out.”

The room falls deathly silent as Elisa and I turn and gawp at him like he has two heads. He says it with such confidence and a touch of cocky arrogance, more Dane’s style, that I’m unsure if he is joking or not.

“Out?” She squeaks, not well versed in the art of dating and what the term out might mean. She's old school with equally nerdy parents. Combined, the three of them have the dating experience of a forty-year-old virgin, given her parents were childhood sweethearts.

“Out…as in…dating…as in….. I want to be your boyfriend.” Tyler spells it out calmly and softly before reaching out and gently touching her arm, somehow reassuring her. “I like you….that way. A lot….. I want you to date me.”

I gawp at him, silence overtaking me in the sheer shock th