Page 47 of Puck Block

Excitement pulls me backward, and my hand is on The Bex’s door as a pleased grin curves onto my face. I walk into the bustling restaurant and slowly make it to our table. Ford peeks at me from above his phone with a scowl on his face, and I’m back to feeling like myself almost instantaneously.

It’s always rewarding getting a rise out of him.

I slide into the booth, all while keeping Ford’s attention. I shift to Emory when Claire leans in to whisper in my ear, “Are you okay?”

I nod.

She whispers again, “The air is tense. What’s going on?”

“I’ll fill you in later, but play along,” I whisper back.

“What are you two whispering about?” Theo asks, pulling Claire closer to him.

“Oh, just this new bar I found last night.”

Emory snaps to attention. “What?”

I feign excitement. “Yeah! It’s a few towns over in between here and Wilder U. It’s western themed. It was a great excuse to wear my cowgirl boots.”

Nola pouts. “You went without me? I want to go.”

I smile at my sorority sister. “I’ll take you. We’ll invite the rest of the girls too.”

Ford is rapidly texting, and I know I’ll feel another vibration against my leg in a moment.

“Wait,” Emory says. “Who did you go there with?”

I shrug sheepishly. “Just this guy named Walker. He was agreatkisser.”

Ford chokes on his water and kicks me at the same time. Emory ignores him and asks me who Walker is, but I can’t stop watching Ford squirm. My phone vibrates for the third time in the last thirty seconds, and I finally put him out of his misery and read the messages.

Ford: You won’t tell him because you know I won’t help you anymore.

Ford: I have something that I think will help, but first you need to fix your monitor.

Ford: Will you knock it off?

Ford: Seriously, Taytum?

Ford: And thanks, but I already knew I was a great kisser.

A tiny smile falls to my mouth, and I want to push his buttons even more, but there’s a notification at the top of my screen from my glucose tracker.Damnit.

“Come on.” Ford nudges his head to the door.

“Go,” Emory agrees, dropping the interrogation about me going to the bar with some guy.Wait, what?

I play stupid, because there is obviously something going on that I’m unaware of that theyareaware of. “Go where?” I ask.

“Go fix your monitor. It needs to be re-synced.”

“How do you–” I snap a glare at Ford and quickly run through the last few seconds of them sharing looks and looking down at Ford’s phone. “You didn’t!”

I quickly reach across the table for Ford’s phone, but he’s quicker than me. His fast reflexes drive me wild, and when he dips out of the booth, I’m following after him faster than I can even shout his name.

Snow pelts me in the face with the door chime following my chase. I don’t get a chance to rush after Ford’s footsteps because he grabs onto my waist in a swift manner and pulls me to the side of the building out of sight. My back is against the bricks, and my hands are trapped by my sides.

“Exerting yourself when you could be in a diabetic crisis isn’t smart, Taytum.” Ford clicks his tongue a few times, and I’d bite it if I could. “Re-sync your monitor.”

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