Page 308 of As the Rain Falls
“Okay,” I nod quickly. “Just ask me.”
Her eyebrows shoot up. “What?”
“Start asking questions, Cassandra,” I breathe out, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head. “Whatever it is you want to know, if you feel unsure about something, just ask me. I’m your friend, aren’t I? Take a shot and let me in. Let me be your best one.”
Her comeback is immediate.
“Do you like me?”
“Yes.”
“Do I annoy you?”
“No.”
“Do you want to kiss me?”
“That’s all I’ve been thinking about since this morning, yes,” I answer all her questions with a straight face, fighting the urge to smile.
“Mnn.” She raises her head from my chest, keeping our hands intertwined still. “We’re alone now.”
I pretend to look around, fake gasping. “I think that we are.”
“And you can kiss me,” Cassandra adds shyly. “If you want to.”
The way she says it is so lovely, like it’s the only thing she’s been thinking about too. It makes me want to angle her head just right and press her lips to mine, and so I do.
Cassandra melts almost immediately, a deep sigh of relief coming out of her. I find myself grinning, her scent doing all kinds of things to my head and heart. I can even hear it goingca-boomin my chest.
“Okay.” She breaks the kiss suddenly, leaving me wanting more. “You can go back to talking to your little friend now. I don’t care if you do anymore.”
“I’d rather be kissing you,” I admit it, because it’s the truth. “Beach kisses are now my favorite; I hope you know that.”
“You two are so corny.”
Mateo is back, taking his sunglasses off and stretching his limbs, the folding chair under him making noise. Angelina sits on his lap, applying another layer of sunscreen to his face and leaving a terrible white cast over his forehead.
Not so far away, I see Kayla running towards Antony, holding some kind of plastic bag in her hands, what I assume to be our ice creams.
“Hey!” Tony waves at me from afar, pulling her into a hug. “You’re back!”
“I thought you were supposed to help Kayla out.”
“I did, but then we split to look for the ice cream man.” He grins, letting Kayla go before dropping to his knees, right next to Cassie.
“Angelina found me asking this old lady if she’d seen any of you around,” Mateo tells us, making weird faces as she tries to add more sunscreen to his cheeks. “It took me, like, two minutes to realize the woman wasn’t answering my question because she fell asleep.”
Cassandra facepalms. “You’re so fucking stupid.”
“Be nicer to him,” Angelina chuckles, a happy smile stretching across her face. “Mateo is such a young soul. I bet this is his very first life on planet Earth.”
Kayla rolls her eyes at them, making a disgusted noise when Angelina presses a quick kiss to his mouth.
“Well, just because you called me stupid, I’ll show up to all your dates with Beckett from now on!” He whines, thin lips pressed together. “I’m like if you two had a son!”
“Or more like a dog who won’t let go of the bone!” Cassandra groans, and Mateo’s smile immediately fades. “Even Pepé knows when to back off.”
“You’re being mean.” I chuckle, surprised to witness this side of her. I like it, though. She’s funny.
