Page 25 of Unspoken Words
“Of course not. I just didn’t want someone else checking them out, so I kinda borrowed them all.”
“How many is ‘all’?”
“Fifteen.”
He stopped and gave my backpack a disgusting look. “FIFTEEN!”
“Yeah.” I grinned, impressed with my efforts. “In that backpack is every Christopher Pike book I could find.”
Connor’s look of disgust turned to one of confusion, his eyes criss-crossing as he shook his head. It was super cute, and I couldn’t help but giggle.
“Remember that book I was reading on our camping trip?”
“Yeah. Kinda.”
“Well, it was sooooo good, like one of the best I’ve ever read. I loved it. And I’ve been reading his books ever since. He has a ton of them. I want to read every single one.”
“So you borrowed them all at once? That’s crazy. You’re a Crazy McCrazy Head.”
“No.” I rolled my eyes and flung my hand in his direction—I’d painted my nails bright pink and hoped he’d notice. He didn’t, so I continued. “The school library doesn’t have all of his books. As far as I know, I’m missing two:ScavengerHunt, and his newest release,Fall into Darkness. Ugh! My school library is so stupid.”
“By the feel of it, you’ll be busy reading these for quite a while.” He hoisted the bag again.
“Oh, come on,” I said, flittering my pretty painted nails again. “Where’re all of your big manly muscles?”
His back straightened, and I had to crane my neck and shield the sun from my eyes just to look up at him.
“I’m not complaining because it’s too heavy forme,Ellie. I’m complaining because it’s too heavy foryou.”
“Says who? I didn’t complain that it was heavy.” And I hadn’t, even though my shoulders and back had silently cried in agony.
Connor stopped walking and pushed up the sleeve of his t-shirt before flexing his bicep. “There. There’s one of my manly muscles.”
I blushed. Hard. His bicep was big for a boy of his age.
Not wanting him to sense me crushing on him, I placed my hand on my hip and gave him a fake unimpressed smile. “Is that why you asked me to your house … to show me how strong you are?”
Connor turned and proceeded to walk backwards, facing me, his dimples popping like bubblegum. “Maybe. Maybe not. I guess you’ll just have to wait and see. It’s a surprise.”
Surprise?My stomach flipped at the mention. I hated surprises. It was also the very second I remembered thinking the reason he’d wanted me to go to his house was because he might ask me to be his girlfriend. I wanted to be, more than anything, but I wasn’t sure if I’d be any good at it.
“A surprise?” I squeaked. “What’s a surprise?”
“The surprise, silly.”
“But … I hate surprises.”
His cheeks turned crimson. “Well … I’m hoping you’ll like this one.”
Oh my God! What if the surprise is a kiss? What if he skips the asking and goes straight for a lip-lock?
I’d never kissed a boy before. I didn’t know how. I didn’t know how fast, long, wet, or dry. I didn’t know where to put my hands or what to say afterwards.
I just … didn’t know.
He stopped walking as I opened my mouth to tell him I had to go home because the dishes weren’t done, and that it was my job to do them, and I had to do them or I’d die a fiery death.
“You okay?” he asked. “You’ve gone a little pale.”
