Page 23 of Heartless Pucker in Love

“I don’t see why we have to go over this,” April said. “I think I suffered enough humiliation back then.”

Her words made me feel like the lowest of the low. “And that’s why I’m determined to earn your forgiveness.”

Brows drawn together in adorably annoyed lines, she sat back. “Have at it, Grayson.”

“Apparently you pissed Ric off, called him stupid or something. You know how fragile his ego was.”

April gasped. “I did no such thing. I corrected him once in class. He got the whole meaning of Hamlet all wrong and I corrected him.” She spun around to face me too. “How does that warrant such a cruel joke?”

I gazed at April, a little shocked as I watched the clouds of confusion gather in her eyes. “That’s what Ric had been so pissed about? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Massaging my forehead, I groaned. Now, I wanted to travel back in time and pummel that dick for dragging me into his stupid prank. Or maybe I’d find him today and pummel him. Then again, I had only myself to blame. I knew what he wanted to do was wrong and went ahead with it. Mom would be horrified if she knew I’d taken part in such foolishness.

“God, April, I didn’t know. He came to me saying you insulted him. I asked what it had to do with me, and he said he had a plan to get back at you.” I held up my palms, even the one with the cast. “Mind you, we had our own rocky relationship?”

“Because you were always a jerk.”

I shook my head. “I deserve that. Anyway, I figured, what was wrong with a harmless prank? Then he devised an elaborate scheme to fool you into thinking you had a date to prom.”

April glared. “To what end?”

“You were supposed to walk into the gymnasium all excited only to be dunked with flower petals.”

Her brows furrowed. “That doesn’t sound too bad.”

I gave her a sheepish look. “Glue was supposed to go first. So you’d look like one big...flower. You know, because you always wear them.” Saying that out loud really puts in perspective how stupid kids can be.

She harrumphed. “Freaking high school kids. Terrible.”

Tell me about it...I was one of them.

“Why was it you who pretended to be my secret admirer?”

“Ric got it into his head that you were into me and would say yes when I eventually asked you to prom.”

“Well, that's just...ridiculous. Me into you. Yeah right.” Her laugh rang with way too much nervousness and the way her eyes skated away from mine made me suspicious.

“Is it really that ridiculous, April? I mean, I watched you read my note. You looked pleased that I was your secret admirer and that I asked you to prom.”

Although her cheeks were pink, she held my gaze and then snorted derisively. “Please, Julian. I was a loser in high school. Having a secret admirer, being invited to prom when I was sure I wouldn’t go at all was exciting overall. I would have gone with a freaking broom.”

I lifted a brow. Disappointment threatened to rise but I stomped it down. “Huh. I see. You weren’t a loser.”

“Yeah, tell that to the rest of our peers.”

“You stayed true to yourself and rocked your own unique fashion, that’s all.”

“In teenage language: loser.”

A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. “Maybe a few people admired you. Being yourself in high school takes guts, Bennet. The rest of us cowards pretended to be who we weren’t to fit in.”

“Are you implying that you’re one of the few who admired me?”

“I did. I do. You’re my hero.”

April’s lips twitched. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

I smiled. “Well, sometimes you make it hard to say nice things. Your brand of sass can be very frustrating to a man.”

Her shoulders visibly relaxed. “You tried to stop the whole prank, didn’t you?”

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