Page 24 of Love Notes

“Hey, girl,” Maddie said. “What’s up?”

“Nothing. Just meeting someone here,” I said, unsure of why I was being evasive. It’s not like she wasn’t going to see me with him.

“Oh, who’s the boy? Is he cute? Someone from school?” Maddie’s eyes glittered with interest.

I chuckled at her enthusiasm. “I don’t know. Cute is in the eye of the beholder, I suppose. It’s Carson Brooks.”

“Definitely not cute then, because he’s a total hottie.”

Was he hot?I supposed if you considered annoying boys with broad shoulders and muscular arms hot.

An image of him as we stood toe-to-toe on his porch flickered in my head, and my cheeks caught fire as I remembered the way his long-sleeved shirt clung to his chest. I bet his abs were hard as concrete from all that swimming.

Did I really just think that?

I grunted a noncommittal response, then ordered a gingerbread latte. As Maddie got to work on my drink, she glanced up at me from behind the espresso machine. “Are you guys working on the Angel Tree thing?”

I groaned. “You heard about that, too?”

“Has anyone not heard about that?” She laughed and flicked her long hair out of her face.

“I’m going down as the crazy girl who tried to choke someone, aren’t I?”

“In truth? Most of the girls, except for the Royals, think it was pretty awesome. I mean, the boy pummeled you with the ball and you fought back. It was savage. Now, the boys, on the other hand . . .” She trailed off as she scrunched her nose.

Great.“Fabulous. Because I totally wanted to be single my entire senior year,” I said, taking my coffee from her. This year was my last chance to prove to Ella I wasn’t a social pariah and I was failing miserably.

There was time for dating in college, I mused. New school. New boys.

What was I saying? They wouldn’tallbe new boys. Carson and I may be going to the same school. How weird was that?

I took a hesitant sip of my latte, careful not to burn myself as the chimes on the door behind me rang. I turned just in time to see Carson stroll inside like he owned the place. When his gaze caught mine, he gave me a head nod, before saying hi to Maddie.

“See? So hot,” Maddie muttered under her breath, and I glanced back at her with a frown.

When Carson stopped beside me, he shoved his hands in his pockets and asked, “You ready?”

“Don’t you want coffee?” Maddie asked. “I can make you something extra sweet,” she drawled.

I blinked over at her, amazed at her transformation from friendly to vixen. She leaned over the counter, ample cleavage on full display as she fluttered her lashes. But either Carson didn’t notice, or he wasn’t interested because his eyes never left me as he reached out and snatched my cup from my grasp, then took a sip.

“Hey!” I shouted and reached for it. “Now it’s got your germs on it.” My lip curled in disgust as he handed it back to me and winked.

I ignored the flush of heat in my cheeks as I took the sleeve of my sweater and exaggeratedly wiped the lid of my cup off as I shot daggers at him with my eyes. Unfazed, he pointed to it and said, “I’ll take whatever that is.”

“It’s a gingerbread latte,” I muttered.

“Whatever.”

While Maddie got to work on his drink, I felt her eyes on us, so I shifted further away from the counter, shrinking under her gaze. “Did you get the tree from school on Friday?” I asked him.

“Yup.”

“Great. I brought the snowflakes to write on and the permanent markers.”

Carson nodded, but he didn’t seem all that interested. His eyes scanned my face, lingering on the area around my eye, the one he whacked with the ball. The purple had turned to a mottled yellow-brown color in the last day. It wasn’t exactly attractive, but it was fading at least. Plus, the swelling was gone. My fear of living the rest of my days as a cyclops had abated.

He reached out and gently brushed the bruised skin with a finger, his touch featherlight, turning my stomach into knots. “Your eye’s a little better.”

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