AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello all. Sorry I took so long to update, but I was on vacation and I wasn't able to get to a computer. To all those who read the last chapter and reviewed, thanks. You guys are great. Hope you like this one and I promise there is more to come.
DISCLAIMER: As always, i don't own Nancy Drew nor anything pertaining to it. But I do own Harriet (not that it's something to be proud of... but I do).
Chapter12
The girls and their dates arrived back at the Drew house at around twelve thirty. The limo driver, obviously frustrated with his job, tore off into the night, disappearing around the block. The group talked for a while until Bess and George's dates said they had to get going. The two cousins walked their respective dates to the car. Ned made a small move as if to leave as well, but Nancy casually put a hand on his arm, asking him to stay a little longer. He gave a smile only they understood and obliged.
Bess smiled, saying her final goodbyes with Jonathan, as he stepped into the driver's seat. They kissed each other's cheek in a friendly way and he drove off. Nancy grinned and craned a little to be able to see George and Mike. They were saying something to each other and then she leaned forward and kissed him for a moment. He got into his car and she gave a coy smile with a little wave as he drove away. She stared after the car for a second before rejoining her friends.
"So," Bess crowed, mocking her cousin. "Looks like your date went well."
George shrugged. "He's not as bad as I thought. We actually had fun."
"I should think so with a finale like that. You going to see him again?" Nancy asked.
George shrugged. "Nah, I didn't think so. He was okay, but not that okay."
"Wait, but," Nancy floundered. "You just kissed him and you did the little giggle and sickeningly cute little hand wave…"
"Yeah, so? Kissing is fun."
"Girls are mean," Ned spoke up.
All three of them turned on him.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Nancy asked him.
"Yeah, all girls are teases."
The three girls looked at each other, eyebrows rising, and then turned back to him, arms crossed over chest.
"Are we?" Bess asked. "How so?"
"Look at you three," Ned motioned, but he was looking only at Nancy. "You plan things out perfectly so that you leave boys drooling over you. Okay, for instance, that first moment when you pick a girl up for a date, she always does that whole psyche-out shock factor thing."
"Psyche-out shock factor thing…" Nancy repeated, with an antagonizing look. "What is the 'psyche-out shock factor thing?'"
"You wait until we are distracted, talking to your parents or whatever and then you just kind of appear like this… mirage. One second you're not there and the next you are, sucking all the air out of the room so that it's hard to breathe. And these dresses you girls wear… come on."
Bess looked down at herself and George raised an eyebrow.
"I personally think I looked great tonight," George commented.
"You do and that's the problem," Ned continued. "The dresses you wear start off innocent enough. The trick is that you wear these dress that, while in the house, are pretty, dresses your father's approve of. What they don't know is that the second you walk outside or you lift an arm or you sit or something, that 'modest little dress,' becomes nothing but a tease. You find out that it has a low back or no back or a scoop neckline… and then you spend the whole night laughing and moving and talking to us… and then you pull something just like that. You kiss us and you leave us driving home like if we're mentally handicapped. But then you girls turn around and say, 'Yeah… kissing is fun.'"
They were about to say something when the front door opened. They group turned towards the doorway and saw Mr. Drew standing there. He smiled.
"I thought I heard cars coming and going," he said. "Ned! You're still here."
"Yes, Mr. Drew, I was-" he began.
"Well, come on in for a while. Have something to drink before you head home. Hannah made some chocolate chip cookies."
"Ooh," Bess cooed happily, making her way into the house.
Nancy smiled at her best friend, shaking her head and then the other three of them walking inside. Mr. Drew patted Ned on the back affectionately. Nancy paused in front of her father and he kissed her cheek. Bess had attacked the cookies and George was pouring glasses of milk. They all sat at the kitchen table, eating for a while.
"So, how was the prom? Everything you expected and more?" Mr. Drew teased.
Nancy rolled her eyes, chewing on her cookie.
"Well, it had its good parts," George stated, dunking her cookie into her glass of milk. "Like when Ned totally dissed Harriet and left her standing at the punch bowl."
"What!" Bess and Nancy exclaimed together, leaning forward.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Ned said, but there was a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth as he ate his next bite of cookie.
"Wait, who's Harriet?" Mr. Drew asked.
"Harriet Bunch," Nancy explained.
"Oh God, Dan's daughter? The one who hates you?"
"That's the one."
"Ooh, this becomes interesting. How did he diss her?"
George began to tell the story from her point of view. They begged Ned to tell, but he just shrugged and smiled nonchalantly and said nothing. Finally they dropped it and there was a few comfortable moments in silence as they all ate their cookies and drank their milk. After another couple of minutes, Ned got up and said that he had to leave. He was staying at his aunt's house again, this time she knew about it. They all laughed when he told them that last time he had scared her so bad that she had run screaming into the bathroom and locked herself in. It took him about twenty minutes to finally coax her back out. Nancy walked him to the door as the others all went upstairs to go to sleep.
They stepped out onto the porch and Nancy closed the door behind them. Ned leaned forward slowly, gently pressed his lips to hers and lingering for a few delicious seconds. When he pulled back, she leaned against him, wrapping her arms around his neck. His hands went to her waist and he looked at her pensively.
"What's wrong?" he asked. "What are you thinking about?"
Nancy gave a laugh. "You already know me too well." Ned just shrugged, pretending to be modest. "I was thinking about Honey and Joe Swenson and Weston's factory. And about what Phil was saying."
"What about it all?"
Nancy caught him up on her progress, telling him about how she had seen Joe Swenson at the factory after Weston had told her that no one by his name worked there.
"I think he is working there. I think he's using another name. What I can't figure out is why he'd be using it," Nancy told Ned.
Ned shrugged. "Maybe he doesn't want anyone to know that he's Swenson? Maybe the guy is really guilty."
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out."
"Okay," Ned nodded, holding her gaze. "But not right now."
She was dumbstruck and had a hard time remembering to breathe as Ned kissed her. She finally snapped herself out of it and kissed him back. After another few minutes, they broke apart.
"Thanks for coming with me tonight," Nancy said softly.
Ned kissed her quickly. "That's for letting me come. I've got to go. I'll call you later."
Nancy nodded and leaned up to kiss him once more before he walked off the porch and stepped into his car. He drove off with a wave and she smiled to herself. She made her way upstairs and stepped into her room where George was playing a video game and Bess was filing her nails.
"So," George said, not taking her eyes off the game. "How'd you make out?"
Nancy threw a pillow at her face.
