Free Sass & Serendipity by Jennifer Ziegler

managed to call up her message on the screen.

HAD FUN THX. THIS IS DAFNE RIGHT?
     
    It felt as if a mini-explosion went off in her chest. Yes! He’d written back!
    Daphne ran her fingertip across the line of text. Somehow the words looked sweet coming from him. The font seemedpretty, and the sentences brimmed with meaning. He’d thanked her for her message, which meant he was happy to hear from her. And he’d used her name! He couldn’t spell it, but so what? Just knowing that his fingers had typed it out made her shudder with excitement.

YEP ITS DA
     
    She paused. She really didn’t want to point out his misspelling, so she backed up and tried again.

YEP ITS ME. GLAD U HAD FUN.
     
    She hit Send and perched on the edge of the couch, rocking back and forth with anticipation. And she waited. Her hands were so sweaty, she had to wipe them on her lap a couple of times so she didn’t lose her grip on the phone. And she waited, and rocked, and waited some more.
    Finally the phone vibrated. Even though she’d been expecting it, she gave a little yelp of surprise.

NEED HANDS. CALL ME INSTEAD?
     
    Yes! Of course she would call him!
    She chose him off her contacts list and pressed the button to connect. Two rings later she heard his voice in her right ear. “Hello?”
    “Luke, it’s Daphne.”
    “I figured,” he said with a chuckle. “This is better. I’m tryingto make something to eat and I can’t really do that and text too.”
    “Wow. You’re cooking?”
    “Well … it’s just a sandwich. It’s going to be a really good one, though.”
    She laughed. “Hey, that counts.”
    “Besides, I’m not much into texting. All that typing and writing—it feels too much like school.”
    Daphne wasn’t sure what to say, so she just giggled again. How come she hadn’t noticed how sexy his voice was before?
    “Maybe I’m just old-fashioned.”
    “Me too!” she said. “I’m so old-fashioned, sometimes I feel like a freak.”
    “Ha! I know what you mean. My friends at my old school kept teasing me about moving to the backwoods. They think it must be so boring here. But you know, I like small towns. You guys actually have a Main Street. And that’s its actual name.”
    “Yep,” she said. “We’re very Norman Rockwell around here. We even have swimming holes.” She congratulated herself on remembering the name of the artist known for his wholesome and funny pictures of small-town life. Of course, she only knew about him because Gabby referred to him all the time when talking about Barton—usually in a snide tone. But still, Daphne was impressed with herself and hoped he would think she sounded smart.
    “I love that the guy at the nearby gas station already knows my name,” Luke said.
    “Gus?”
    “Yeah! Gus! I love that his name is Gus, too.”
    “We used to have a drive-in theater, but that closed when they built the new cineplex. And there was this general-store-type place, but that closed when the Walmart came.”
    “Aw, too bad.”
    “But Quick’s Pharmacy still has a real old-fashioned soda fountain.”
    “Really? Cool! You know, we should go there and, like, get a sundae with two spoons.”
    Daphne felt like squealing, only she wouldn’t let herself. Instead, the squeals built up inside her until it seemed her upper body might burst open. “That would be so great,” she said. “I wish I had something old-fashioned to wear. Like … a poodle skirt.”
    “You’d look nice in a poodle skirt,” he said, his voice a low murmur.
    Daphne fell sideways on the couch and hugged herself with her free arm. This was by far the sweetest conversation she’d ever had in her life.
    “So … when do you want to go there?” she asked, barely able to take in enough breath to speak.
    “I don’t know. Do you have plans tomorrow after school?”
    Daphne thought about her promise to stop by the restaurant and apply for the hostessing job. But there would still be plenty of time to do that after