Page 89 of Choosing Forever
She gives me a thumbs-up and turns back to the group. I breathe out, relieved.
I keep pushing through and wiggle my fingers to try and flick out the tension in them. It doesn’t work, so I stop trying. Maybe I should punch Darren right in his mouth so he can’t do his part, and he’ll have to go home. Ugh, no, that wouldn’t work. I’d feel too guilty and wind up holding a bag of frozen peas to his lips until they felt better.
Poppy’s red hair catches my eyes before the black hat propped on Bryce’s does. Then, I slowly, almost cautiously, bring my eyes to the line of women beside them.
There are at least fifteen of them . . . and is that one using ChapStick right now? My sandals almost catch on a non-existentrock in the grass. Darren’s laugh rings out, and I snap my head in his direction.
He’s got so much nerve today that it may as well be dripping out of his ears and nose. Considering what happened the last time we saw each other, he’s already on thin ice with me. Now? That ice is cracking, and I’m one flirty laugh away from shoving him into the water beneath it.
One moment, he nearly has me kissing him in a medical room with a blood-crusted nose, and the next, he’s out here giving a crooked, wicked grin to Sadie Brighton’s mom behind a booth that Abbie most certainly painted.
The hearts drawn all over the wooden booth have been painted in shades of pinks and reds, then hit with enough sparkles to blind someone if the sun hit them the right way. Even the Kissing Booth written across the top matches the writing on the worksheets I was grading only last night.
Some of the tightness in my stomach loosens.
“Is it only one kiss per person, or can I bribe you for an extra?”
“Unfortunately, it’s one per person, Sarah,” Darren answers, his grin unmoving.
Unfortunately? It’s unfortunate that he can’t kiss her again? And Sarah? He knows her name and everything. I bet they’ve been chatting for a while now. It would explain the generous line he’s collected.
I start toward Bryce and Poppy, needing to not be standing here alone, watching this conversation unfold from afar like a stalker. Both of them are already staring at me, their expressions kept too blank. Like they’ve been standing here practicing how to appear nonchalant.
“I guess I’ll just have to line up again then. Or we could always meet up after you’re finished your civil service. We could grab some dinner?”Sarahasks, tapping her nails on the edge of the booth.
I scoff. Loudly. Too loudly. So loudly that Bryce coughs a beatafter to try and cover it up. There’s a lot of heat building in my body right now. The red-hot, I’m-ready-to-scream kind. The sudden spike is concerning. I shouldn’t feel like this.
Darren’s already looking at me when I risk another glance in his direction. The smug satisfaction stretching across his face is a generous squirt of gasoline on the blaze burning up inside of me. And of course—of fricking course—he’s wearing that damn hat again. The one that I got him when we were in the eleventh grade as a joke, thinking there was no way he’d actually wear it.
The joke’s on me because it seems like he’s found a sudden love for the Cherry Peak curling league.
“You look like you’re going to smash his face into the booth,” Bryce notes, both her and Poppy appearing at my side.
I keep my tone even, unbothered. “If he’s going to use this as a speed dating activity, he deserves it.”
“Mm, maybe you should go over and smack him around a bit,” Poppy agrees.
Bryce palms her hips. “It’s been like this for forever now. I’m bored of it.”
“I didn’t know I should have been here an hour early. Maybe he planned on this the whole time,” I grumble.
Poppy cocks her head at her brother and taps her chin. “It’s only fair that you took a turn now. I mean, the line is already so long, I’m sure everyone can wait a while for him to return.”
“Are you goading me?” I ask, catching on quickly. Darren’s still looking in my direction when I roll my eyes and turn to Bryce first. “Are the three of you in cahoots?”
“No! Absolutely not. Does that sound like me?” Poppy asks.
Bryce quirks her lips into a smile as she chuckles. “Yeah, it does, actually.”
“We got here early to support Eliza. It was pure luck we chose to check on the kissing booth before it was supposed to open and found Darren waving off a line of old ladies blowing kisses at him.” Poppy uses her thumb to point over her shoulder. “Eliza will be my witness.”
I cross my arms and fix my glare to the woman still lingering at the booth. “He’s probably loving this.”
“Shame on him. This is supposed to be a fundraiser. I mean, come on, think of the kids,” Poppy says with a cluck of her tongue.
I nod. “That’s what I’m saying! Maybe I should go kick him away for a while. The booth is only open for today, and I doubt we’ve made that much money with all of his flirting clogging the line.”
Poppy sets her hands on my shoulders and starts to push me toward the booth. “Go for it, sister!”
