Page 137 of Snap Shot

“Custom,um, personalized chocolate bars. For special occasions.”

“Like you write messages on them?”

“That's pretty much my ‘brand.’” I have no idea why I air-quote that word.

“Gimme an example.”

I've made a couple hundred of these in the past few years but all I can think of is the “Eat My Ass” bar I made for Gabe earlier this summer.

Landon scoffs out a disbelieving laugh. “You make lewd chocolate bars? That's amazing.”

“Is it?”

He pulls his phone from the front pocket of his sweats and types away while smiling. “I gotta tell Skylar.”

“Who's Skylar?” I straighten and turn to face him.

“Jaeger's girlfriend—wife,” he corrects himself. “They eloped in Vegas but are having a reception to celebrate with everyone. I overheard her complaining to him about finding some funny gifts for her friends that would’ve been bridesmaids.”

“Mhm.” Nothing is processing at the moment. I'm back to stuffing my face with popcorn while staring at his bulge. Grey sweatpants, thy name is—

“Do you do dicks?”

“What?”

“Dicks, Indi. Sky's asking if you've ever used, like, penis sprinkles or something to put on top.” Landon squints at my astonishment as if this is a totally normal conversation.

“Uh, yeah,uh huh. Yep, I have those.”

Why am I so embarrassed by this?I choke on this man's schlong on the regular, but talking about how I decorate chocolate bars with molded chocolate mini-penises and penis-shaped sprinkles makes me wanna crawl into a hole and die.

“Cool.” He nods and types out his response. “Can I give her your number then? If you're interested, that is.”

“Yeah,cool.” The exact opposite of what I'm being right now. “I should be able to take the order.”

“Done. She'll text you.”

His phone slides into its pocket and Landon returns to the couch with two glasses of water. After a sip, he casually sneaks his arm around my shoulder as we both stare at the TV. Smooth.I slump into it as we slouch into each other. The repeated brushing of his fingertips on the curve of my shoulder send goosebumps down my arm underneath the sweater sleeve. I glance at his hand through my vision's corner, then side-eye him to discover he's side-eyeing me. We refocus on the movie without a word.

Cady babbles to Aaron at the party as they sit on the bed. Landon's hand glides to my nape, blunt fingernails scratching at my lower hairline. I gulp. It's somehow relaxing and anxiety-inducing. When he starts massaging hypnotic circles into my scalp, my face turns to him.

“Indi?” He stares at my mouth. It makes me stare at his mouth.

I give in to him pulling our faces closer. “Yeah?”

They're carnation pink, their color deeper at the seam. His tongue wets the line where they part. Loud buzzing splinters the moment at the same time Cady vomits on-screen. We fly apart as I scramble to retrieve my ringing phone from my pocket.

“It's Gabe,” I pant before answering. “Hey, what's going on?”

“Is she okay?” he mouths.

“Uh-huh,” I reply to her flat question with a finger to Landon's lips. He smiles and kisses it with a melodramatic smack. “Yep, I'll be there. No problem.”

When Gabe goes numb like this, it's the terrifying calm before an even more terrifying storm. “Welp, gotta go.” I slap my knees and get to my feet.

“Where are you going?” The honest urging of his doe-eyed expression makes me want to stay. But I can't, becausesomething—I don't want to say what—almost happened. Plus, my friend needs me.

“Gabe needs to drop some of Kurt's things to his place. Then I'm giving her a ride to the airport.”

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