Page 72 of Landon & Shay: Part One

It’s almost impossible.

Almost.

I glanceddown the hallway toward Landon’s locker. He was of course standing with some girl, who was trying to be all over him. He wasn’t paying her any mind, though, seeing how his eyes were locked on me.

I pulled out the flowers and breathed them in. They were perfect. So, so perfect.

I placed them back into the locker, pulled out a Laffy Taffy, and began nibbling at it as I looked back over to Landon.

His eyes?

Still on me.

I smiled.

He almost smiled back. The right side of his lips kind of curved up, and to me, that was a win.

When lunchtime came, I sat across from him. “How did you get all the banana-flavored Laffy Taffy?” I asked, curious.

He shrugged. “They sold a pack of them that way at the store. It wasn’t a big deal.”

It felt like a big deal to me. “That was really sweet.”

“It’s whatever.” He was being the moody, dark Landon he normally was, but again, that right side of his lips curved up. “You in love with me yet?” he asked.

“No. Not at all. You love me yet?”

His stare fell to my lips. “Not a chance.”

“You still hate me?” I whispered, my eyes moving to his mouth…that same mouth I’d tasted…that same mouth that had tasted me.

“Yes.”

“Good, because I hate you, too.”

“Good,” he echoed.

“Good,” I replied.

Chills raced up and down my spine as we ate our meals in silence while all of our friends joined up and had conversation around us.

Good.

We went our separate ways after lunch, and for some reason I found the need to break into Landon’s locker during sixth period to leave him a thank you note for the candy and peonies. As I opened it, I saw grocery bags filled with Laffy Taffy—all the flavors but banana. He’d bought jumbo packs of candy and sifted through them to pick out my favorite flavor.

Who knew it could happen?

Who knew a heart could skip for the Devil himself?

* * *

Everything changed onceLandon and I kissed—at least for me it did. It was as if the wall we’d spent years building was finally coming down, brick by brick. After the night we shared together, after the night I showed him my scars and he showed me his, I was hooked. The candy and flowers were what pushed me overboard.

I wanted to be close to him, because I liked how he sped up my heartbeats. I wanted to be near him, because I liked how he grimaced. I liked how he smiled even more.

I’d text him to rehearse our lines, and we’d end each night kissing, nothing more than our lips. Sometimes his hands would try to wander, but I’d always slap them away. Once I let him grab my ass cheeks, though.

I liked that…a littletoomuch, which was why I went back to guiding his hands to my waistline.

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