Page 72 of The Facade

Because I liked her.

Liked her a lot, actually.

I probably had feelings growing for her under the radar for longer than I knew—since the first time she’d let me stay in her room and had made me feel safe enough to open up to her about what I was going through.

Maybe longer.

I found a pair of black swim shorts with a white drawstring in the cut I liked best and quickly changed into them.

Then, since my parents were already asleep for the night, I slunk through the main part of the house in the dark and out the enclosed porch in the back. The sky was more overcast than it had been when I’d left the school, filtering more of the light the stars and the moon were giving off, so I switched on the string lights we had hanging from the open roof of the pergola above the patio.

I lifted the cover from the hot tub, checked the temperature of the water, and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

I checked the time on my watch. It had been at least twenty minutes since Cambrielle had texted me.

Had she changed her mind?

Had Nash dissuaded her after all?

I’ll give her another ten minutes.

But since it was colder out here than was comfortable for just my swim trunks and T-shirt, I lit the gas fire pit table, grabbed my lucky Columbia hoodie from a hook inside the patio, and settled onto the patio couch, telling myself that if she didn’t come in ten more minutes I’d go inside and try not to take her no-show too personally.

One minute ticked by. Followed by another. But then footsteps sounded on the gravel path on the side of the house, making my heart race. A moment later, Cambrielle’s petite silhouette appeared in the foggy night.

“Sorry I’m late,” she said, walking closer. “It took longer to get the contacts out than I thought.”

“It’s okay.” I stood.

When she stepped under the soft glow of the string lights and I could see her better, I had to gulp down my attraction because she looked drop-dead gorgeous.

She’d removed the wig, the dress, and the faerie makeup and was wearing a white, semi-sheer swimsuit cover-up over a black two-piece bathing suit I’d never seen her wear to previous pool parties. As I took her in from the messy bun on the top of her head and down to her feet in sandals, I couldn’t help but hope that tonight went the way I wanted.

Hoped she was wanting what I’d assumed from her texts earlier: to continue where we left off at the school.

“Should we get in?” she asked, gesturing to the hot tub beside us.

“Y-yeah.” I cleared my throat, my froggy voice making it obvious how affected I was by her beauty. “Let’s do this.”

I pulled my hoodie and T-shirt over my head and tossed them to one of the patio chairs nearby.

She kicked off her sandals, and as she untied her cover-up and let it drop from her shoulders and arms, I couldn’t keep my hungry eyes from raking in every inch of her that I could see.

She had told me she was self-conscious of not being the skinniest ballerina at the ballet academy, but as she dropped the cover-up on the chair where I’d tossed my shirt and hoodie, and approached the hot tub, I thought that everything about her was perfect.

Every person had certain traits that they were more attracted to than others, and it was very apparent to me in that moment that I was very attracted to everything that made up Cambrielle.

You also like her personality, too,I reminded myself as the physical attraction I had for her became more dominant in my mind the closer she stepped toward me.It’s not just because she’s smoking hot.

Although, yes, Cambrielle Hastings was smoking hot. So hot I was pretty sure I might get overheated before I actually immersed myself in the hot tub’s water.

I climbed into the hot tub first. Before sitting down, I turned to watch her climb up the steps—a somewhat bashful expression on her face when her gaze flickered to mine.

“Help me get in?” she asked when she reached the part where she’d need to step down into the water.

---