Read The Party Boy's Guide to Dating a Geek (Clumsy Cupids) for Free Online

to his with a muttered "hey." Ash
    returned her greeting with a bit more enthusiasm
    and got a small smile for his efforts. He smiled
    back and started digging in his messenger bag for
    the book he'd purchased earlier in the week while
    casting a surreptitious glance in Fee's direction.
    Fee had settled in a seat about midway down the
    table and the gangly blond he'd been talking to had
    taken the seat on Fee's right. Ash wondered briefly
    if the blond was the "Donovan S." mentioned on
    the blog. He didn't want to consider any other
    possibility, like how maybe the guy was actually
    Fee's boyfriend, not just his book club co-captain.
    Blondie was sitting pretty close, after all, and
    seemed to be leaning toward Fee in the familiar
    way of a close friend or maybe even a lover. The
    thought made Ash's stomach churn. But if Fee was
    dating someone, surely he would have just said so
    that first day, or told Marisol to pass on that little
    bit of info so Ash wouldn't contact him again,
    right?
    Ash liked to think so. He wasn't one to push
    once the boundaries of a relationship were drawn.
    If Fee had said he had a boyfriend, Ash would
    have backed off, but he had a feeling that Fee
    wouldn't be the type to hide something like that
    when he was being approached by another guy.
    No. If Fee had a boyfriend, Ash was fairly sure
    he would have said so the day Ash asked him out.
    Unless Fee and Blondie had hooked up since then,
    Ash figured they were probably just friends. Of
    course, there was only one way for Ash to find out
    for sure, and that was to continue with his plan.
    Ash tried to pay attention when the blond started
    talking—he was Donovan, Ash realized after a
    couple minutes—but it wasn't easy. His gaze kept
    straying to Fee and occasionally he caught Fee
    looking back. Yeah, no way is Donovan his
    boyfriend. Not when he's checking me out with
    the guy sitting right next to him.
    He allowed himself a smile, ignoring the
    discussion going on around him until a question
    was directed at him—by Fee, who along with the
    rest of the group, was staring right at him
    expectantly.
    Ash cleared his throat and sat up a bit straighter.
    "I'm sorry, I missed that."
    Fee's eyebrows arched above the frames of his
    black glasses. "Many reviewers in the Star Wars
    fandom have stated that Darth Plagueis could be
    seen as a prequel to The Phantom Menace , even
    though an official prequel already exists. What do
    you think about its place in the Expanded
    Universe?"
    Say what? Ash blinked. Now would probably
    be a bad time to admit he hadn't been able to read
    the entire book, right? He'd tried, honestly he had,
    but he'd gotten confused only a few chapters in.
    There were so many characters that didn't match up
    with the ones he knew in his head. Where was
    Luke? Leia? Han Solo? He didn't have a clue who
    Darth Plagueis was, or Darth Sidious for that
    matter. Maybe he should have paid more attention
    during the movies or watched them more than
    once, but aside from the main characters, he
    couldn't actually remember all that much. Sci-fi
    had never been his thing.
    "Um," Ash eventually forced out. "I—I, um—"
    "Personally," the curly-haired girl beside him
    interrupted, "I'd never had much interest in the
    story of Palpatine or his master, but I really
    enjoyed the book. It seems like every new Sith
    master had his own vision of the Sith and the dark
    side of the Force. I think with how strong a
    presence Palpatine was in the films, a book
    detailing his history was probably necessary to the
    EU."
    Ash nodded like he knew what she was talking
    about. "Oh, yeah. I totally agree."
    Fee looked at him for a long moment. Ash's face
    warmed under the scrutiny of his gaze. He had a
    feeling Fee could see right through him and his
    reason for coming to the meeting. Fee had figured
    out the truth, and he wasn't impressed. Not in the
    slightest.
    "So then," Fee said mildly, "what is your
    opinion of Plagueis's determination to put an end