Arthur and I laid under my bed, finishing off the last of the pecan ice cream. "What is that?" he asked, pointing above us.

"Oh, that's a Demon Trap." He gave me a blank look. I sighed. Sometimes, it was just so hard to have a non-nerd for a boyfriend. "You know how I like a lot of different TV shows? One of them is Supernatural. They fight demons - among many other supernatural things. If you paint this symbol on a floor or a ceiling - or the trunk of a car - it traps a demon. So, hypothetically, if you or I were a demon, we'd be trapped under here."

Arthur shook his head.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"What?" I repeated.

"You worry me sometimes."

"Oh, shut up."

"Hey, what's your favorite book? I'm curious."

I scrunched up my nose. He always asked the difficult questions. "I don't have one."

He turned to stare at me. "That's not possible. You love books. How can you not have a favorite?"

"The problem is that I do love so many books, Arthur. I can't choose. I have many, many favorites. Harry Potter, of course. Any book about Percy Jackson is good. The Princess Bride, that's a classic. Oh, it could be The Mortal Instruments. Or really, any book by Cassandra Clare because she's an absolute genius when it comes to writing. I also love Megan Whalen Turner's series, about Eugenides, and -"

"Okay!" he interrupted, with a small laugh. "Okay. Jeez. Sorry I asked. I get it. You like too many to choose just one."

"What's your favorite book?" I questioned. "I know you're not much of a reader, but you have to have one favorite."

A sexy grin spread across his face. "Ah, see, I can't tell you that."

I started at him. "And why not?"

"I have a policy. I can't tell any girl what my favorite book is until at least the sixth date. You and I are only on our second. Which, considering I asked you out six days ago, is kind of a record for me."

I wasn't sure what he meant by that, but I would let it slide. For now. "Third," I argued.

"Second."

"No. This is our third date, right now. Our first date was the day I got my dress for the dance, before we started actually going out. And then Monday night, when we went bowling. And now today."

He rolled his eyes. "This doesn't really count as a date, Merlin. I came over to help you and your parents set up your backyard grill."

"To start off with. But then we ended up eating ice cream together, and now we're talking about books. That's a date if I've ever heard of one."

He chuckled, shaking his head at me. "Of course you would consider talking about books to be a date."

"Of course. But even if I didn't count talking about books to be a date, eating ice cream together is definitely a date."

"But, it doesn't really matter if it's the second or third date, because it's still not the sixth."

"Why won't you just tell me?" I whined. "Unless…it's something really girly, isn't it? Like Little Women. Or is it something stupid, like Twilight?"

He looked offended at that. "Absolutely not."

"Then what is it?"

"I'm not telling you."

"Please?"

"No."

"I don't see what the big deal is. By tomorrow night, we'll be at our fifth date."

Arthur raised his eyebrows. "Fifth? Have you forgotten how to do math? If we count today as a date - which I'm still not convinced it is - then the dance tomorrow is our fourth date. Not fifth."

I grinned. "Ah, but we have a dinner date before the dance. Two separate dates."

"Uh, no. The dinner and the dance are one date. Nice try, though."

I huffed. "I'll just ask Morgana," I threatened. "She'll tell me."

"Good luck with that. Morgana doesn't know."

"Morgana knows everything."

"Morgana thinks she knows everything. She doesn't."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I'll find out what it is. You know I will."

"You won't. You can't."

"I can."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah. Because you're a cabbage head."

"Cabbage head? That's a new one."

"Well, it suits you."

Grinning, Arthur lightly elbowed me. So I elbowed him right back.

Okay, sorry about the remark about Twilight. I know a lot of people hate it, and a lot of people love it. I, personally, love it. However, I admit that the plotline really is stupid. That's all there is to it. It's a stupid plotline. I still love the book, though.

But Merlin doesn't.