Page 45 of Fumbled Love

“I’m right where I want to be.” I flipped the menu over to see the specials. “Do you know what you want to order?”

Our eyes met; if I wasn’t mistaken, she looked relieved. “Everything sounds delicious. What do you recommend?”

“You can’t go wrong with anything. I’ve never had a bad meal here.”

Kinley was relaxed while we waited for our food to arrive, and I spent that time hanging on to her every word and silently trying to figure out what made her tick. We kept the conversation light, sticking to easy topics that didn’t mean anything. All the while, questions and thoughts started to tangle up in my head. We seemed to be tiptoeing around this invisible line in the sand.

She was leaving in two days, and the realization that I didn’t want her to go had me shifting in my seat.

“So, what are these mysterious plans you have for us later?” she asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

I kept my face straight as she eyed me from across the table. “I thought we’d go party it up at the big Peach Drop at the Underground. They’re expecting a huge crowd tonight.”

“Ha-ha, very funny.” She picked at a tomato on her plate. “If that’s the case, I might have to go home and change my shoes. Not sure if I’ll be able to run with a stampede of people in these heels.”

The annual Peach Drop was a yearly event equivalent to New Year’s Eve in Times Square. There were lots of people, drunk people, crazy people, who didn’t mind getting crushed to death while watching the damn Peach descend from the tower into the Underground.

My lips quirked because she would be doing a bit of running tonight, but nothing she wouldn’t be able to do in her bare feet.

“You really don’t like surprises, do you?”

She had been texting me all day, trying to get me to spill the beans. She tried to bribe me, blackmail me, and even threatened to cancel dinner if I didn’t give her a hint. I called her bluff, and she didn’t like that very much.

“Not even a little. Do you remember what happened when Rylee tried to surprise me for my fifteenth birthday?”

“How could I forget.”

My sister was six months older than Kinley. So, for Kinley’s birthday, Rylee thought it would be fun to let her friend practice driving in the high school parking lot. The only problem was that Kinley drove alongside a lamppost and scratched the entire side of my mom’s Dodge Caravan. My parents were livid. Not at Kinley, but at Rylee. I cringed at the memory. My dad didn’t raise his voice often, so when he did, you remembered it.

“Yeah.” She took a sip of her water. “I still have PTSD every time I get behind the wheel of a car. Thank God for public transportation in Manhattan because I don’t think I’d be able to handle driving every day.” She sighed and gave me a pointed look. “Which, by the way, is your fault.”

“My fault?” I said in between bites of my food. “That’s news to me. I wasn’t even in the car with you.”

Her face turned the same color red as her top. “You’re right, you weren’t in the car. You were on the football field, running around without a shirt on. I was too busy looking at you and not at the street.”

I leaned forward and decided to play with her a little bit. “There must have been some pretty dirty thoughts going through your fifteen-year-old head to distract you like that.”

She snorted. “Like I would ever tell you.”

“You know”—my thumb swiped along my bottom lip—“if you want to take a little ride out to Henninger High, I can make all your teenage fantasies come true.”

“Sorry to break the news to you, buddy, but you missed your chance.”

“Nonsense.”

She looked across the restaurant and lowered her voice. “Considering it’s too late for you to take my virginity in the back seat of your Honda or let me give you a blow job underneath the bleachers, I’d say you’re out of luck.”

I adjusted myself and leaned in closer. Her smell was intoxicating, and we were playing a very dangerous game. “I’m pretty sure I can find us a Honda by the time we’re finished with dinner. And for your information, I happen to know the perfect spot underneath the high school bleachers.”

Her head fell back in laughter. “I’m sure you do.” She stopped laughing, and her eyes filled with mirth. “But I have to say, I already found the perfect spot underneath the bleachers after my junior prom.”

I crossed my arms, no longer finding this game fun. “With who?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” She winked, and I narrowed my eyes.

“You’re fucking with me right now, aren’t you?”

She lifted a shoulder. “Maybe.”

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