Page 25 of The Making of Mila and Blake
Teddy taps me on the shoulder and snaps me out of my rage-induced trance. “Someone’s angry,” he says, crouching down by my side. He tilts head curiously at me and then studies the vicinity around Blake. “Which one is your ex?”
“Is it that obvious?”
Teddy gives me a sympathetic smile. “Unfortunately. So, c’mon. Which one is he?”
“The one with the girl on his lap,” I mumble. I finish my drink and crush the cup in my hand, flattening it and tossing it aside. There’s already a bunch of cups floating in the pool.
“Now your death-glaring makes sense,” Teddy says with a laugh. He gets comfortable next to me, his knees tucked up to his chest. He’s not dressed for the water, so he only skims his hand through the surface. “You still have feelings for him?”
“No,” I lie, guarded, watching Teddy’s fingers beneath the water. “I’m just hurt by how things ended between us.”
“Maybe you need to move on,” Teddy says. “How about we show him that you have? Maybe you should ruin his night the way he seems to be ruining yours.”
“What?”
“Just follow my lead,” Teddy whispers, his blue eyes gorgeous and mischievous. It’s a side of him that I haven’t discovered yet, but as he presses his body in closer to mine, I realize I’m about to. “Give me your hand.”
Teddy runs his damp fingertips up my leg in search of my hand. Trying not to laugh, I intertwine my fingers with his. This issostupid. Like Blake cares enough to get jealous. But I’m tipsy and I’m angry, and tormenting Blake is exactly what I want to do. Teddy throws his other arm around my shoulders and pulls me in close, my head buried into the nook of his neck, and he playfully plants a kiss on my hair.
“Teddy, you arebad,” I say, the laughter slipping out.
“Keep laughing,” he says. He plays with the ends of my hair now while I feign insurmountable laughter. His breath feels hot against my forehead as he mumbles, “Is your ex looking?”
Still snuggled up close with Teddy, I edge forward to peer over at Blake. He is no longer bantering with Barney and Olivia. He is frozen stiff as his attention locks on Teddy and me, his stare so intense it feels penetrating.
“He’s looking,” I whisper, sliding my hand beneath Teddy’s open shirt and putting an arm around his bare stomach. Hugging Teddy likes this feels so unnatural, but I refuse to let Blake see through the act. My improvisation skills are of a high standard. (Thanks again, Dad.)
“Then let’s make him explode,” Teddy hisses against my ear, his tone seductive. He moves his hand to my jaw, tilts my chin, and presses his lips to mine.
I tense in surprise. Whoa. I didnotexpect this. Teddy and I have gone from zero to one hundred real quick. I kiss him back and warmth tingles through my body, and I forget in those few seconds that this kiss isn’t real.
“There,” Teddy says, breaking away from me. He winks. “Now his night sucks.”
Heart racing, I fire my gaze back over to Blake to gauge his reaction. He has watched the entire thing. He slams his cup on the ground, spilling his drink over the concrete, and gets up from the lounger. He says something quickly to Olivia, who looks after him, perplexed, as he storms off toward the house.
It’s mixed feelings, seeing him react like this. Blake’s anger is always rooted in hurt. Remorse over my silly little actions seeps through me all at once, turning me cold. That was so incredibly immature of me, but a light also ignites inside of me, fueled by optimism and hope. Blake can’t handle the sight of my lips against anyone else’s but his. Hehasn’tmoved on.
I meet Teddy’s amused expression, feeling breathless. “This doesn’t make things awkward between us, right?”
Teddy chuckles and nudges his arm against mine as though we haven’t just kissed in the very center of this party. “C’mon now. Friends help friends, Mila!”
But suddenly it’s not Teddy I have to worry about. It’s Savannah, who is staring at us from across the yard, mouth agape. All the adrenaline running through my veins shrivels away into nothing.Oh no.
Without another word to Teddy, I jump up from the pool edge and dash barefoot across the yard. Savannah looks like she may burst into tears, and she needs to know that I didnotjust betray her. She doesn’t move from her spot by the speakers and the beer can in her hand trembles.
“Savannah, that wasn’t what it looked like,” I splutter as I reach her, raising my voice loud over the music.
“You kissed him!”
“No! I mean, I did. But we were just making Blake jealous,” I explain, shaking my head at how stupid I sound. “It wasn’t real.”
Savannah’s shoulders drop and her features blaze with condemnation. Kissing a guy to make another jealous is out of the realms of Savannah’s morality. “Why would you need to make Blake jealous?”
“I. . . I don’t know.”
“I thought you were over him. Whatever, Mila,” she says, and for the first time since we were little kids fighting over the swing at the playground, she is livid at me.
I guess kissing her crush, even as a joke, still counts as betrayal in her books. She bumps the music up even louder, deafening next to me, and sulks off into the waiting arms of Tori who has also been watching the scene unfold. She hugs Savannah tight and shakes her head over her shoulder at me. I mouth “I’m sorry!” but I think I may have ruined the night for not only Blake, but my best friends too.
