Page 24 of Honest With You

“Go out with me.”

My breath catches at both his proximity and his words. I’m trying to blink my surprise away when he chuckles lightly, his head tilting ever so slightly as his eyes land on my mouth.

“Don’t overthink it, Ava.”

I lean away. I can’t even begin to think, let alone form coherent words, when he’s this close to me. But for the life of me, I can’t push him away. His eyes draw me in. His smell is intoxicating. And somehow, his closeness is comforting instead of intimidating.

But I force the words out because this… this is bizarre.

“Jesse. We’ve had like one real conversation since meeting up again. Why are you so convinced there’s something here? We barely know each other.”

Jesse’s eyes fly back to mine and he stays silent, staring at me. He pushes away from the desk and stands up to his full height.

Looking down at me, his smile turns into a smirk.

“Alright, I’ll play. We’ll get to know each other. Let’s hang out.”

Frowning at his choice of words, my hackles rise.

“Play? What am I? A game?”

Shaking his head, he offers his hand to me and I take it, letting him pull me until I’m upright again.

“No. I am serious about seeing what’s here. If the only way you’ll go out with me is if we get to know each other first then let’s do it. I want to get to know you. So let’s hang out.”

I look away because his eyes are still doing the probing thing, and I’m scared he’ll see the fear in mine.

“I still don’t understand––”

“I’m attracted to you and I want to get to know you.”

With a resigned sigh, I turn back to him. Realizing my hand is still in his, I start to pull back but he takes the opportunity to once again lean me back against the desk.

“I’ll pick you up at ten tonight.”

“Ten?” I sit on the desk in surprise. “It’s a school night. It’sMonday!”

He grins, his eyes dipping down to my mouth again. My breath quickens.

“Exactly. Can’t call it a date if it's on a Monday right?”

Then he winks, his eyes catching mine. He releases my hand, stepping back until there’s at least ten feet separating us.

“I’ll see you tonight.” He turns, then stops to look back at me as he opens the door. “Friend.”

Biting my nails down to stubs was not on my to-do list today. But here I am, hiding out in my room, pretending to go to sleep early so Stephen and Reese wouldn’t come into my room and catch me getting ready for thisnon-datethat Jesse has planned.

Not that I’m dressing up or anything for it, but I changed so many times until I decided on pink joggers with a matching cropped hoodie and I pulled my hair up in an organza scrunchie. I have to look halfway decent at least.

I check my phone for the fifth time since I texted him the address. It’s almost ten and my text is on read which means he’s on his way.

He also shared his location with me but I’m not going to let myself think about that or I’ll end up checking it obsessively.

I hear the rumble of a car just outside my window. Lifting the curtain, I spot Jesse’s metallic blue Nissan GT-R. He must see me from his vantage point because he flashes his lights once before he completely shuts it off as a text comes in.

Jesse: Hey buddy, I’m here.

I can’t help the smile that breaks out of my face while I stuff my cards and ID on the back of my phonecase.This guy.

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