Page 87 of The Facade

“Are you hot?” she asked after a second, pulling away. “It’s so hot in here.”

“It’s a little toasty,” I said, not actually caring about the temperature because I was too into the kiss to be bothered by it.

“Can you help me out of this?” She leaned back and started tugging on the sleeves of her navy-blue blazer.

“Of course.”

I slid my hands under the shoulders of her polyester blazer and helped her roll it down her arms. She pulled her arms free and then tossed it onto the passenger seat beside us.

“Better?” I asked.

“So much better.” She pushed her long hair to the side of her neck and rested it over her shoulder. “Do you want help out of yours?”

“Sure.”

I sat up eagerly and allowed her to slide her hands up my chest and along my shoulders as she helped guide my own blazer down. She pulled on the sleeves to free my arms, and after tossing my jacket on top of hers, she lowered herself back down to kiss me again.

When her warm hands spread along my chest and sides, squeezing as she explored, I was right back to being in heaven.

“I have to leave in a few minutes, okay?” I said breathlessly a few minutes later as I trailed my hands up and down the side of her legs.

“I know,” she said. “I’ve just been dying to do this for two days.”

“You have?” I asked.

“Of course,” she said. “I think you’ve turned me into an addict.”

We kissed for another minute, but then her phone started ringing.

“It’s my mom.” She groaned after looking at the caller ID on her watch. “She’s probably calling to see if I’ll be home for dinner.”

“Which means they’ve probably already delivered dinner to my house, too.”

“I guess we’ll have to try this again another day then.” She sighed and lifted herself off my chest.

I nodded. “Pencil me into your calendar for a few minutes after school tomorrow?”

She gave me a heart-melting smile. “Of course.”

We stared at each other for another long moment. But knowing that I actually did need to leave if I wanted to spend any time with my mom before she went to bed for the night, I patted her legs and said, “Time to climb off.”

She pouted and sighed, looking disappointed. But then she said, “Okay.”

I opened the door and helped her out. Then I grabbed her blazer and handed it to her. While she put her jacket back on, I climbed out and grabbed her soda and backpack from the second row.

“Text me later?” I asked as I handed her her things.

She nodded and took them from me. “Of course.”

27

Cambrielle

“Who areyou texting with a big smile on your face?” Elyse asked me Thursday afternoon. We’d just finished our homework in the school’s library and were waiting for all our basketball-playing friends—Mack, Carter, Hunter, Scarlett, and Ava—to come back from their practices.

“No one,” I said, pressing the button to lock the screen of my phone and hide the text Mack had just sent, saying he’d be up to steal me away after he showered off.

“No one?” Elyse arched an eyebrow. “You sure? Because that doesn’t look like a ‘no one’ smile.”

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