Page 3 of Kissing My Grumpy Ex Boyfriend

“I know what song will get you to sing.” She grabs her phone and keeps her eye on the road as she scrolls through. She’s already found what she’s looking for before I can scold her for looking at her phone while driving. Tegan puts it back in the console and turns up the volume.

“Mr. Brightside” by The Killers blasts through the speakers, and I know that I won’t be able to hold out. We both start singing after the opening notes. Where I cannot carry a tune to save my life, but Tegan makes the whole street her concert.

This song takes me back to so many happy moments from high school. The hours we spent driving around and singing, hanging out by the lake, and spending my time with Aiden. I expect to feel sadness and heartbreak at the thought of him, but instead, it’s just an echo.

I needed this time with Tegan. Being with her has reminded me that I’m ready to tell my parents the start my new life.

We pull up to a red light, laughing and singing along, when I glance out the window and stop abruptly. The lyrics get caught in my throat when I see Aiden walking down the street.

I panic and do the only thing I can think of as an adult in this situation. I sink beneath the window and hope to God that he didn’t see me and come this way.

“What are you—” Tegan starts to ask over at me and then scans the street. Any true best friend would know exactly what I was doing, and Tegan knows. “Oh.”

“Hey, Tee,” he calls out.

“Go!” I hiss, but Tegan looks conflicted.

“I can’t,” she whispers back. “He saw me.”

I try to use my own foot to press down on the gas pedal, but she kicks my foot away. Aiden jogs right up to her car in the middle of an intersection like he owns the damn road, but then I remember no one here would think twice about that. I’ve been living outside of this small town for too long.

“Will you tell your mom that the bookshelves she ordered are ready for pickup?” he asks, resting his hands on the open window.

“Yep.” Tegan nods and then looks down at me. “I can do that.”

The car is silent as I keep my eyes averted. If I don’t see him, he can’t see me. I stay slumped in the seat. This may be the childish thing to do at this moment, but I really don’t care. Tegan tries to force a smile on her face, but it doesn’t reach her eyes.

Wow, unless she’s on a stage, Tegan is the worst actor.

“Right.” He pats the door. “I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah, see you,” Tegan says. Then starts pulling forward once the light turns green. She bursts out laughing. “That was about as smooth as the chunky peanut butter on my PB&J this morning.”

“Do you think he saw me?” I ask, pushing up in my seat.

“The Hubble Space telescope saw you, Belle.”

Great. This trip is off to a wonderful start.

CHAPTER2

Aiden

The blood in my veins is pumping pretty hard as I stomp my way back to the woodshop I own with my older brother, Carter. The door slams shut behind me, and I grunt in Carter’s direction as I toss our lunch on his workbench.

“Whoa, what the hell is going on with you?” Carter stops sanding down a dresser we built for the Crawfords. “Sorry that I asked for a sandwich.”

“What?” I look at him as I pull off my jacket and wad it into a heap next to me.

“Well, you were fine when you left to get lunch. Now you’re back and acting like a kid whose parents just told him that they weren’t taking him to Disney World.”

I run my fingers through my hair. “It’s Bellamy.”

“Ah.” Carter nods like he was expecting this.

When he doesn’t say anything else, I continue, “She was with Tegan. I just saw her.”

“And how’d that go?”

---