Page 355 of As the Rain Falls
“Bathroom.” I grimace. “I think he’s having a bad day again.”
His features harden as he rises from his seat. “Be right back.”
I tilt my nose up, winking at Kayla. “Want to sing our favorite?Little Black Dress?”
Her smile widens in response. “Little Black Dress, it is!”
We ditch Silvio’s sometime after that, hoping the city center will be quieter. Turns out, half of the town had the same idea. Carnival is still ongoing, and Mateo is complaining about the noise while I snap pictures of the girls—one of Angelina hugging Kayla and kissing her cheek, another where they pretend to be mad at Antony.
I don’t know what my boyfriend told her, but at least she seems to be doing a little better now. Mateo looks less angry too, but he is keeping himself away from the group. I really hope they figure things out eventually. The fight seemed stupid to me, anyway.
“This is the best night ever!” Kayla throws her arms up in the air. “Tony, give me the camera!”
Beckett holds my purse, doing his best to look like he doesn’t want to go home, while Antony films everything and nothing, aiming for random group shots to “capture our candidness.”
“No! I want a shot of Beckett and Cassie!” he answers, pointing at Beckett and me.
I promptly rise onto my toes, pressing a quick peck to my boyfriend’s cheek without looking at the camera. He finally smiles, soft dimple popping and pretty blue eyes shining, and my heart stumbles over itself, beating ridiculously loudly in my chest.
“You guys are the cutest couple ever!” Kayla yells louder. “Look at them! They’re going to get married!”
“Okay, she’s tipsy!” I giggle, burying my face against his chest.
Beckett shrugs, seemingly not fazed by any of what’s happening. “She’s not lying. We will.”
My stomach flips, swoops, and does every single wild thing I’ve read about in romance books and the movies.
I love falling in love.
I never want to stop, but every moment with Beckett Evans feels like it’ll be the last, a warning voice in my mind reminding me that I’m still keeping one last secret from him. I push it down, praying that he never finds out. I don’t want to lose this.
“As you guys can see!” Antony flips the camera to himself, flashing a goofy grin. “Love is in the air! The night is still young, and so are we!”
“Is he going to post this?” I ask.
“If you keep talking about it, I think he might.” Beckett hands me my purse as I put my phone away, glancing toward Mateo. He is staring at the sky with an angry frown.
“We need to get you on social media, man,” Antony says, sounding way too excited about it.
Beckett laughs, “Please, don’t.”
I gasp, realization hitting in full force. “You don’t have any social media that I know of.”
And it’s true. I’ve never had to stalk his page and I’ve never had to like a single post. I never had to worry about finding him texting other girls or finding him flirting with them through DMs while I’m sleeping.The thought never even crossed my mind because, honestly, my boyfriend seems like the last person in the world who’d enjoy social media.
“Do you want to see my pictures?” I wonder shyly. “I spend a lot of time making my feed look cute.”
“Okay.” He nods, then pauses. “What is a feed?”
Antony and I exchange glances, biting back a laugh.
I pull my phone from my back pocket, type in my password, and log into my account. I haven’t checked it since what happened in January, not after seeing some of Maria’s friends commenting on my posts.
“Here.” I hand my phone to Beckett, watching with amusement as he frowns and swipes his thumb across the screen, putting the rest of my carefully curated grid on display.
“I really like the one with the ocean in the background.”Antony offers, sounding a little awkward. It’s an olive branch, and I take it because it’s better than nothing.After a moment of silence, he adds, “The lighting is really cool.”
“Kayla took it for me on her phone, but to be fair, the idea was mine.” I glance at Kayla, who’s a few steps behind us, chatting with Angelina. “She’s really good with a camera and even has one of her own. You should show her your stuff.”
