One Week (Stolen Kiss #0.5) Read Free Page A

didn’t you ever go to Peanut Gallery with me?” I asked.
    Dave blinked. “What?”
    “I saw you there with your new girlfriend. But you never once went there with me. Did you know I love laser tag?”
    Dave opened his mouth, but I went on before he could speak.
    “I play this game, GoblinQuest . I’m a level sixty-two elf warrior. Did you ever once ask me about the things I liked to do while we were dating?”
    Dave opened and closed his mouth for a moment. Then he said, “We can go to Peanut Gallery and play laser tag.”
    I sipped up the last of my milkshake. “I do want to play laser tag, but not with you.” I slid out of the booth and stood. “I’m not interested in helping you get over being dumped by the girl you dumped me for. Thanks for the milkshake.”
    Then I turned and walked out of the diner, forcing myself not to look back.
    I had done it. Dave had wanted to get back together and I had turned him down. A few days ago, I might have said yes. But I was a different person now. I wasn’t inferior to him and I wasn’t wallowing over being dumped.
    So why didn’t I feel better about myself?
    My feet led me to Diggity Dog House, where I spotted Bob the Giant Hot Dog mascot standing outside the diner, waving to everyone that passed by. I wasn’t exactly in the mood for talking, but at least I could tell Avery that she was wrong and I wasn’t as desperate as she thought.
    I marched up to Bob and said, “I did it. Dave asked to get back together and I said no. So you were wrong.”
    The giant hot dog turned around slowly to face me. Avery had told me once that moving around in the foam costume was almost impossible. A black mesh screen covered the hole where the person inside could look through, which was the only opening in the costume made up of a giant bun encasing a red hot dog, with two stripes of mustard and ketchup snaking up the belly area. Giant foam gloves and feet finished off the look.
    I bit my lip as I slid one foot back and forth over the gravel of the parking lot. “Maybe not entirely wrong. For a moment, I considered saying yes. I felt ashamed that I would want to go back to him so easily. But then I realized something.”
    I took a deep breath and lifted my head to stare back at the giant hot dog. “I shouldn’t be ashamed of enjoying relationships. Somewhere out there, there’s this one person who is meant for me. Maybe I won’t find him in high school, but getting to know all the wrong people will help me recognize the right person when he comes along. So Dave is the wrong guy, I know that now. But it’s not wrong for me to want to date. It is wrong for me to ignore what I like to do while I’m dating and I won’t do that anymore. The guys I date will have to either accept me for who I am or else they’re not the right ones.”
    Bob the Giant Hot Dog gave me a puffy-handed thumbs up.
    “I just might say yes to the next guy who asks me out, and I won’t be ashamed or desperate. Okay?”
    The giant hot dog made some kind of motion that I assumed was meant as a nod.
    I sighed. “I can’t take you seriously when you’re dressed as a hot dog.”
    The door to Diggity Dog House opened and Mr. Throckmorton, Avery’s frazzled manager, stuck his head out.
    “Reiser,” he barked when he spotted us. “You’re on break in five minutes. Don’t go over this time.”
    The door swung shut as Mr. Throckmorton disappeared.
    My stomach lurched. Reiser?
    I reached up and snatched the mesh screen off the giant hot dog. The face of Elliott Reiser peered back at me.
    “Why aren’t you Avery?” I snapped.
    “Am I supposed to be Avery?”
    I hit him with the mesh screen. “You let me ramble on like an idiot and you stood there saying nothing?”
    Elliott tried to duck away from my swings, but he couldn’t move quickly enough inside the costume. “Bob is not supposed to talk!”
    I shoved the screen back into his hands and groaned. “Why is it whenever I embarrass myself, you’re