Page 9 of The Kissing Challenge

I had no reply.

The video was out. Sure, I could take it down, but everyone who followed my account would've already gotten a notification. And it looked like she'd posted it at least five minutes ago. It already had views—and they were growing as I watched. There was nothing I could do.

"Gemma," I breathed. "I can't believe you did that."

She gave me a look. "You were the one who did it, Anne. I just shared the thing."

My eyes widened. "And then you added text about how I've been in love with Captain forever? Was that really necessary?"

"But it's the truth, right?" she said, and I crossed my arms. "Most of the videos included something like that anyway. Remember how much fun you had watching those? Well now, you're giving that joy to someone else."

Yeah, but those were probably fake.

This was real. This was my life.

"What if Captain sees it?" I asked.

Gemma shrugged. "What if he does, Anne? Captain was in that kiss with you one hundred percent."

"But—"

"If you want to take it down, go for it," she said. "But if I were you, I'd leave it and see what happens. Feel good about putting a little more romance out in the world. Later, my friend."

Gemma left me there to ponder.

The comments were already coming in, and I couldn't help but read them. I'd been worried about people's words tarnishing the kiss. But most of them were surprisingly kind. I spent the rest of lunch amongst the books.

But when I exited the library, Captain was outside waiting for me.

"Hey," he said, pushing off the wall he'd been leaning against.

"Hey, Captain," I said.

Walking over to my side, he surprised me by reaching into my pocket. The move made me gasp. A second later he pulled out my phone and checked the screen.

"Ah," he said. "So it is working. I was starting to wonder."

I blushed as he handed me back the phone.

"Anne, why are you ignoring me?"

"I'm not," I said. "I was just…"

"Hiding," he finished then let out a sigh. "You know you never have to hide from me. We can talk about anything."

I nodded. "I know."

"Just because we kissed"—my breath got caught in my throat as my gaze shot to his—"that doesn't mean we stopped being friends."

"I know, Cap. I'm sorry."

"About what?" he asked.

So many things, I thought, but I didn't have a ready answer.

Captain waited.

"I just…I'm sorry about how it all went down," I finally said.

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