Page 40 of Dreaming About the Boy Next Door

“That’s good! He seems like he’d be super easy to be around. Did you end up getting food?”

“Yeah, he ordered something kind of weird, but it was fun trying something new.” I walked over to where my computer sat on my nightstand and flipped the lid open, transferring it to my bed as I sat down. “He’s nice.”

“Ah, my matchmaking is top-notch.” Rachel gave a contented sigh. “Did you kiss him?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but stopped short. A part of me wanted to lie to her because I knew that if I told the truth, a swarm of questions would follow.What? Why didn’t you kiss him? I thought you said you were comfortable? Did he not want to kiss you?

A softknock-knockhad me jerking toward my doorway, and upon spotting a figure looming there, I screamed.

Halfway through the scream, I realized it wasn’t an axe murderer—it was Reed.

“What?” Rachel shrieked, echoing me. “What, what’s wrong?”

My heart raced in my chest, slamming against my ribs to break out. “I, uh—I saw a bug,” I rushed out, swallowing past the new tightness in my throat. “A really big, ugly bug.”

Reed scowled.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?”

Rachel gasped. “Tomorrow?Ava, you’re going to leave me hanging until morning?”

In a terrible sort of way, Ireallywanted my best friend to shut up. At least while she was on speakerphone. “Leaving you in suspense,” I said with a sort of humor I didn’t feel. “Love you.”

“Ava—”

I hung up, and once again, the house’s white noise filled the space. Reed wore a pair of work overalls, but instead of having his arms through the straps, he knotted them like a belt to keep the pants up. The black shirt he wore was smeared with what looked like white paint, and even from here, I could see the substance dotting along his cheek. “You’re jumpy,” Reed said.

“I didn’t know you were here, lurking in my house like a ghost,” I said defensively, swallowing hard. My racing heart refused to calm down. “Whyare you here?”

“I was patching up the drywall in the basement,” he replied, and he took a step deeper into my room, his socked foot causing the floorboards to give a small creak. “I heard you walking around.”

“So, you came up to say hello?”

“Or came up to kick a potential robber’s ass, but sure,” he murmured, adding, “We’ll go with your answer.”

My phone buzzed in my hand, alerting me to a new text from Rachel. I was half-surprised she hadn’t called me back.

Rachel

You suck. Just so you know. At least tell me if you kissed!!!

She had to know that if I hadn’t said anything, it obviously hadn’t happened.

“Do you know where my mom is?”

“She texted me earlier. She said she was getting drinks with a friend, but she told me where the spare key was so I could let myself in.” Reed nodded his chin at my bed. “What’s in the box?”

“Cake from Wallflower.”

“Ah, so that’s where you went on your date?” Reed gave an easy smile when my head jolted toward him. “You had your phone on speaker.”

A weird twisting feeling wrung out my insides as I studied the Styrofoam to-go box. Okay, so he knew I went on a date. Not that he’d care. He probably thought it wascute. “Yeah, that’s where I went. Do you want some?” I tapped the lid of the box.

“You can’t keep giving me presents, Paparazzi. I might start to think you have a crush on me.”

Playful banter was a staple of Reed Manning’s, and usually I was able to dish it right back. Now, his words caused too many thoughts to surface, and I desperately wanted to jump to a denial, but knew I couldn’t objecttoomuch.

Then again, the comic booksmight’vebeen too far.

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