Karma - Forbidden Hearts Series Book 3

13| Cupid's Bow

Karma and Nathan
Their First Date
Thirteen Years Ago

Lanie barged into my room and sat on the side of my bed. 

"Does this look okay?" I asked her. 

It was my first real date with Karma, and I felt like I was going to hurl. I considered cancelling a few times, but I knew I couldn't do that to her. Besides the obvious reason, Lanie would kill me and bury me in the backyard. The obvious reason was because...well, this was Karma. She wasn't some random girl that I just wanted to hook up with. 

She was my girlfriend. God, that sounded weird. 

Lanie came up behind me in the mirror. "Aw, are you nervous, Nate?"

I didn't need to see my reflection to know my cheeks were red as tomatoes. "No, I'm not nervous, Lanie. I have no reason to be. I date women all the time. Tons of them."

My sister snorted and sat on the edge of my bed again. "Yeah, right. You don't date. Besides, you've been standing in front of that mirror for over an hour. Not to mention, that's the third time you've changed clothes. Wow," she said incredulously, "it's like you're a girl!"

"Shut up," I snapped playfully. "Come on, seriously. How does this look?"

"You look fine. Where are you taking her anyway?"

"Well, I wanted to take her somewhere really nice. Like, fancy and expensive. But then I thought about it, and that didn't seem like her."

"Good call."

I nodded. Karma was definitely not the kind of woman who could be bought with expensive meals and stuffy restaurants. "Well, I was thinking of doing a picnic in the park."

Lanie's face lit up with excitement. "That's so cute!"

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up, Lanie. It's not a big deal."

"Whatever. Tell me more! You're bringing food, right?"

I gave her a droll look. "No, Lanie. We are going to sit there and starve on our date. Of course, I'm bringing food! I heard her tell you once that her favorite food was pizza from Antonio's. I'm also going to bring a cooler with those eclairs she likes." I started pacing back and forth as I continued telling Lanie my plan. "I know she hates soda, so I got some of that lemonade she likes. The one that's mixed with tea."

When Lanie didn't say anything, my heart started to race. "What? Too stupid?"

She shook her head. "No, Nate. Quite the opposite." Her voice dropped to a low whisper. "You really like her, don't you?"

There was no denying it. For God's sake, I took her on a secret romantic date to the carnival after hours. Now we were going on a date again. A real one. 'Like' was an understatement. "Yeah, I do. That's why I don't want to mess this up. I've known her a long time. She's not just some random girl. There's a lot more pressure."

Lanie's face broke out into a giant smile. One that said she was hiding something. Something big. "I knew it! I knew it was a good idea to set you guys up!"

I frowned at her. "What? You didn't set us up."

"Uh, yeah, I did. At the carnival."

I remembered that day as clear as day. "No, Lanie. I saw Karma at that teddy bear game, and we made that bet."

Lanie rolled her eyes. "Are you that blind? Why do you think I told you to go tell Karma I was going to meet up with her after I rode that ride? You were with her for like forty-five minutes. The Tilt-A-Whirl is only seven minutes long. You're lucky I didn't throw up from the multiple times I rode it."