Page 58 of Love to Prove You Wrong

Ugh. Did she really have to make it sound like it was unbelievable he would ask me to be his date to the wedding?

“Addy,” Justin said, his full attention now on me. “I treated you in several not-so-nice ways back in high school. I ruined your science project. I came up with that horrible nickname. I laughed at you when you tripped in the cafeteria. I put that fake Valentine’s card in your locker—”

“That was you?”

For years I had thought I had a mystery admirer. What an anticlimax to find out it was another one of Justin’s antics.

“It was, and I’m sorry. I admit there are better ways to get a girl’s attention. Believe me when I say that I was trying to get you to like me. Weird way of going about it, I know. I was a jerk and I truly feel sorry about all of it. I hope you can forgive me so that I can take you to the wedding.”

I swallowed. “Yes, I do. Accept the apology, I mean. I don’t mean I do as in I want to marry you.”

Shut up, Addy. Please.

The entire group laughed and clinked their glasses together while I froze in my seat. Why did I talk about marrying the guy?

“Isn’t that girl you kissed going to be pissed when she finds out that you’re taking another girl to a wedding?” Ashley asked.

Justin sat down again and took a long swig of his beer. The tension was killing me. He’d better have a convincing, fake explanation, because I didn’t want the truth to be out there already.

“I doubt she’ll be mad,” he said.

Good. Our secret was safe. For the time being anyway.

Ashley and Brianna exchanged a look. Brianna mouthed “player” and Ashley shrugged as if she didn’t even care. The girl had no morals. Well, she was not going to get her hands on Justin. Not if I had a say in it.

I excused myself to go to the bathroom. When I was mid-pee, Justin’s whispered voice reached me through the toilet doors. “Addy, you in there?”

“Just a minute,” I said.

I wondered why he had followed me in there. I finished as fast as humanly possible, washed my hands, and rearranged my hair. Justin was standing just outside the bathroom entrance, looking as if he could get busted any minute. For what, I had no idea. Standing near a restaurant bathroom entrance wasn’t exactly cause for calling the police on someone.

He leaned in, his lips brushing against my ear. The hairs on my neck shot up despite the fact that it was anything but cold in there. “We can’t talk here, but meet me tomorrow at noon at the inn’s parking lot.”

I laughed so hard I needed to put my hand in front of my mouth to temper the sound. “Meet you tomorrow at noon? Are you planning to do a drug deal with me?”

He grinned. “Since kissing you makes me high, you could say I am indeed planning a drug deal.”

“Shut up,” I said and slapped his chest. It was awfully firm. “What if someone hears you?”

“Who would hear us out here? I checked the perimeter seconds ago.”

I motioned in the direction of the restaurant. “People having dinner. Our friends. A handful of crazy fans of yours who have tracked you down.”

“Tomorrow. Noon. Don’t be late,” he said, skillfully ignoring my concerns. Then he disappeared into the men’s bathroom.

I didn’t have the faintest clue of what he had planned for noon the next day, but it would absolutely include kissing him again, and that was really all I needed to know.

Chapter Twenty

Waiting for noon to roll around was excruciating. I had been up for hours and it was still only eleven, one hour until I could finally meet Justin.

The previous evening went down relatively well. I had to force myself to eat once the waiter brought our food to the table, because I was way too consumed with post-kiss feelings to have anything resembling an appetite.

Ashley didn’t stop trying to lure Justin into her web all night. She wasn’t even deterred one bit by the fact that Justin had admitted to kissing another girl. Thankfully, he kept skillfully turning the attention away from questions about his love life.

After dinner, we parted ways again. The guys went to hit up a karaoke bar, and us girls went for cocktails at some fancy bar.

Once I got home and went to bed, I hardly slept because I couldn’t get Justin out of my thoughts. I still couldn’t believe he had kissed me. He had even posted that apology video online for the entire world to see. Every time I watched it, a bunch of butterflies did cartwheels in my stomach. Seriously, it was like an Olympic match in there.

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