Page 79 of Grumpy Darling

Apparently, extremely vague wasn’t going to cut it. “The whole first-kiss thing.”

“You’re reconsidering?” Her brow creased. “I knew I shouldn’t have left you at the mall last night. The outfits I chose didn’t scare you off, did they?”

“What? No, it wasn’t the clothes.”

“So, what is it? You still want to kiss Damien, right?”

My uncertainty must have been plastered across my face because she nodded, like she already knew the answer to her question, and continued. “I thought you were into him. But we can go back to the drawing board. Is there someone else you want to kiss?”

“Uh . . .”

“Or did you finally come around to my idea of making Grayson pucker up?”

I gasped. “What? No! Of course not.” But it was hard to tell myself I wasn’t lying this time, because the thought of kissing Gray vividly entered my mind.

“Well, who else is there?” Bonnie asked. “Because the main reason we picked Damien, apart from the fact that he’s totally hot, was because he’s the only guy at school who hasn’t been reduced to a whimpering mess by your big, scary friend.”

When she laid it out like that, it was difficult to argue. Damien was still the best option if I really wanted to cross this goal off my list. Why was I doubting the whole thing so much? Perhaps it had something to do with spending the night in Grayson’s heated embrace.

“I know the prospect of your first kiss can be intimidating,” she said. “Maybe you just need to give Damien a chance? Do you need me to slap you again?”

“No!” I shouted, lifting a hand to protect myself. “I think the first one worked!”

I didn’t need sense knocked into me; I needed a total brain reset. But maybe that’s what kissing Damien would do. Reboot my system and break this fixation I’d developed for my best friend. Maybe if I started to form feelings for someone else, they would replace those I had for Grayson, which were quickly growing out of control. I had to believe it was worth a try, because I couldn’t keep feeling this way about Gray.

“You’re right. It needs to be Damien. I should give him a chance.”

“Good.” Her shoulders slumped with relief. “I was beginning to worry about you.”

“It was just a momentary lapse. I’m back now.” Or, at least, I would be.

“Excellent. Now, how’d the shopping go last night? Did you get any of the outfits I chose?”

“Two.” I smiled, feeling very proud of myself. “The black dress, and the jeans and top with little stars on it. I judged each outfit based on how much it shocked Grayson. He was a bit of a prude about the whole thing.”

“That’s great! I can’t wait to see them.” She then cast her eyes up and down my current outfit. “You didn’t want to test one out at school today?”

I glanced down at what I was wearing. In my hurry to get out of the house this morning, I’d grabbed the first thing I could find: a pair of jeans with cute little embroidered flowers and a large Ransom Devils sweatshirt. It was one of Grayson’s and it almost swallowed me whole. I probably should’ve thought twice before picking it up. It smelled like him, which was only making it harder to keep him from invading my thoughts. And if Damien saw me in it, he might get the wrong idea. Perhaps he’d just think I had a lot of school spirit?

“Uh, I was rushing this morning. Just couldn’t wait to get slapped by you.”

“Well, I’m glad you were so excited,” she replied. “I was actually hoping to ask you a favor too, and it’s something that might help with the Damien situation.”

“What kind of favor?”

She clapped her hands together happily, as if I’d already agreed. “So, I’m planning for the next paper. And in the lead-up to hockey playoffs, I’m thinking of doing profiles on all the players. I was hoping you could help me out with them.”

“You want me to write player profiles? I thought you had someone covering hockey.”

“You mean Abby?”

I grimaced at the disgust in her tone. I’d almost forgotten about the troubles Abby had caused Bonnie and the paper yesterday. “Sorry. Still not going well?”

“Let’s just say I’m not letting her near another hockey article the rest of the year. Besides, this assignment is even less suited to her.”

“Why?”

“It requires interviewing the players. She goes all quiet and loses her voice whenever a guy so much as looks at her, so I don’t think she’s capable of pulling it off. I was hoping you could help me out instead?”

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