Page 154 of Friends Don't Kiss

“Is it over? Did it happen already?” I look around like the answer is somewhere on the walls. Fuck, I hope we didn’t mess up the date.

“No, it’s-it’s-it’s…” She looks even tinier under the stupid cowboy hat.

I just want to scoop her in my arms and tell her everything will be alright. I cup her nape in my hand and run the pad of my thumb on her earlobe. “Hey, it’s alright.”

Her eyes round, two pools of silver I’ve missed so damn much. “We’re not allowed any outside ingredient. Like,nothing.”

I must have heard wrong. “You what now?” There’s no way Chris and Annabel…

She rolls her eyes. “In order to be on equal footing, the school is providing the same ingredients to everyone, with the same prompts or list of pastries we should make.”

My stomach bottoms a little from disappointment, but mainly I hate the way she looks: embarrassed, guilty. Like she’s the one who did something wrong.

“Oh… uh. That makes sense. That makes total sense. So when is it?” I glance at my watch, calculating what time it is in Emerald Creek. They’re going to be so disappointed. How am I going to soften the blow?

“We start tomorrow, and it goes over two days.”

And… wealmostmissed the date. I knew I’d look stupid coming here, I just didn’t expect it’d be like this. “You uh… you have to stay here at night?” I’m not sure if her lodging at the school is just a matter of savings or if it’s required.

She wraps her arms around my middle, making me want to take her right here, right now. “No, I don’t.” Her gray eyes do that thing where they turn darker when she wants me. “Did you book a hotel already?” she asks, her voice husky.

I tilt the hat back. “You bet I did.” The urge to carry her there right now is hard to fight.

She sighs. “When were you going to tell me?”

“When were you going to ask?” I growl.

She gets on her tippy toes and runs her lips on mine. “What does a girl need to do around here to sleep with a hot cowboy?”

I dig my fingers in her back, bringing her flush against me. “Just needs to ask like a good girl.”

She lifts a shoulder. “Wear the hat, ride the cowboy.”

“That right?”

“M-hm.”

Right at that moment, the sound of voices echoes down the hallway, and a shriek pierces the otherwise stately atmosphere inside the building.

“Ahmagawd!” a girl cries out, and starts running in little steps toward us, followed by others. “You are real!” She reaches us and turns to Kiara. “Tu rigolais pas, hein.”

“I was not kidding,” Kiara answers as the girl actually pinches my bicep.

“Une photo! Une photo!” she says, taking the hat off Kiara and plopping it on my head. She gives her phone to the receptionist and takes a ridiculous pose next to me, one hand on her jutted hip, the other on my shoulder.

Kiara’s laughter is contagious, and I start laughing too. “She thought for sure I’d made you up,” she says. Other girls crowd us, handing their phone to the receptionist. We move to the marble staircase, and the guys join, one of them lying at my feet. The hat goes from head to head as photos are snapped.

“Okay ç’est fini!” Kiara declares and breaks the group. “Question! Colton brought… a lot of things to eat from Emerald Creek. On se fait une petite bouffe après l’exam?”

They all cheer, then file out of the building.

“What was that about?” I ask as I take her hand and grab the backpack.

“We’re not letting all this go to waste,” she answers. “We’ll get together and have a little baking party after the exam, just for fun.”

She slides her hand under my jacket and tugs at my sweater. I pull her closer to me. Thank god I booked a hotel right around the corner from her school.

fifty-eight

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