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Private: I’m sorry for messaging you again, considering I had the wrong number, but I wanted to say thank you for helping me out earlier.
Me: Well, I couldn’t let you disappoint your sister. Private: I appreciate it. If there’s ever anything I can do for you... Say you need someone to help you work out how long to boil an egg for, I’m your man.
I chuckle at his little joke while I send one of my own.
Me: Thank God. I’m sure you’ll be saving me from egg themed disasters in no time.
***
Me: Er, how long do you boil an egg for? I googled it. The results were inconclusive. Private: Beats me. That was a bad example. Me: Damn! I was totally going to try and make egg salad. It seems so simple. Private: Ha. You would think so.
*** Private: Six minutes. Me: What? Private: The eggs. Me: That was days ago. Private: Damn it! It took extensive research and a whole lot of eggs for me to work out the exact timing. Me: How many eggs? Private: You do not want to know. *** Private: So it’s Friday. What’s on the agenda? Me: Um... Why? Private: Just making conversation. It’s been a few days. Me: In that case, my bestie and I are doing our regular girls night in. Private: Sounds like fun. Me: You? Private: I’ll be at work all weekend. Is it cool if I keep texting you? I don’t want you to think I’m harassing you. It’s just...
Me: I’d like that.
“Hey,” I say, and she stops to look back at me. “I might have been a jerk the last time we talked.” “You think you were a jerk?” “Fuck. I know I was, all right. And I’m sorry.” “Okay.” She smiles, and then she disappears into the crowd.
Mystery Friend: Are you brave?
Me: What kind of brave are we talking here? Because if you’re asking me if I can kill a spider for you, then yeah, I’m brave. Mystery Friend: No, not exactly. Although in my head you’re now Hercules. Me: In real life I’m better than Hercules. Mystery Friend: Lol, sure you are, stud.
Me: Everyone’s pain is valid, shortcake.
Mystery Friend: Shortcake? Me: Trying it out, since you didn’t want to tell me your name. Mystery Friend: I like it, Hercules.
Stick a skewer up my ass and roast me.
“Deal.” I punt the ball at him. Hard. He ducks and it sails over his shoulder and between the trees that line this side of the field. Too hard. Too aggressive. “Ouch.” Vale hisses as the ball smacks a jogger square between the shoulder blades, and they crumple to the ground. “Should we pretend it wasn’t us?” Hudson asks, taking a step back.
I jog over and grab the ball before holding out my hand to her. “Let me help you up?” She puts her hand in mine, and I grip her waist as I draw her to her feet. “Okay, we good? You feel steady on your feet?” “You didn’t hit me in the head,” she says. “No, I’m saving that for next time.” I chuckle when she side-eyes me warily as we walk to where everyone is waiting. My dry humor isn’t winning me any favors, so I shift to solemn. “It won’t happen again.”
A couple of the guys from the other team cup their hands around their mouths and start clucking, while a third starts yelling, “Are you chickens? Bok. Bok.” “We’ll whoop your asses,” Hudson hollers back at them. “Are you ready for this Four Skin to be riding your ass?” “Oh wow,” Rainbow Dash says. Fleetwood raises his gaze to the sky. “Does he...” The dude who joined us starts. “Know what he’s saying? And how disgusting he is?” I finish his questions off. Shrug. “It’s hard to tell.”
I cop a face full of water. It leaves me sputtering and having to shove my soaked hair out of my eyes and wipe the drops away. By the time I can see, she’s almost to the beach. “Did you splash me to shut me up?” I yell after her. “No, it was Santa Claus,” she retorts. “He’s put you on the bad guy list, because you’re a jerk.”
Shortcake: You know what I’ve been wondering about recently? Hercules: Why Oompa Loompas are orange? Because I can’t figure it out either.
“That’s good.” He flips his hand around and rests it on my knee. “If there’s one thing I can’t handle it’s dumbass jerks treating women badly.” If there’s one thing I can’t handle it’s how sexy and gorgeous he is when he’s being protective. It makes it hard to recall that I told him we could only be friends. And why I told him that. Really hard. I can’t seem to recall...
“What does he call you?” “Shortcake.” “I like Rainbow Dash better.” He grins. Funny, I think I do too.
“Do I have something on my face?” “Yes.” He strokes a knuckle across my collar bone, and heat pools between my thighs. “Two lips I’d seriously like to get acquainted with in a more consistent manner.”
“I was jealous, irrationally so, because I like you, Hayley. Really like you. But I screwed up, and I knew it, so I agreed to being friends.” “You lied at the lake,” I whisper. “Why?” “Because I was trying to convince you to hate me. It was the best way I could think to keep my distance. I realized it was a mistake the moment I said it. Do you ever get the feeling that something is about to occur that will suck the ground out from under you and you don’t know how you’ll recover?”
“That’s how I felt when I met you. You rocked me to my very core from the beginning, and I tried to get off this tilt-o-whirl. I really did.” His thumb traces my jaw. “But I don’t want to. I like you so much... It scares the shit out of me, honestly.” I try not to smile. Totally fail. Christ, my heart can’t take it. How insanely beautiful he is when he’s serious.
“You have no idea.” He groans. “How about tomorrow night?” “What about the bar?” “I’m not taking you to the bar on our date.” “I meant don’t you have to work?” “This is more important to me,” he says. “I’ll go in early and do what I have to do and then I’m all yours.” “Okay.” “Great.” He drops his lips on mine once again. Just a peck. The
“Are you girls okay in there?” Callan raps on the bathroom door, causing me to jump.
“Yes. She’ll be out in a minute,” Sadie shouts. “Trust me. It’ll be worth the wait.” “She’s always worth the wait,” he replies. Oh God, my heart.
“You look...” His voice comes out as a croak, and he takes a second to clear his throat while his gaze travels me so slowly it feels like I’m naked. “Fuck. You look...Wow.”
He grabs my hand and pulls me to his chest as his arm slides around my waist. “You are amazingly beautiful, you know that, right? I’m counting my lucky stars right about now. How are you willing to go out on a date with me?” “I’m not sure. I think you coerced me.”
“Now that I’m thinking about it perhaps this isn’t the best idea.” “That’s it.” He says picking me up and carefully balancing me on his shoulder while he stalks to the door. “We’re leaving.” Sadie enters the room as he stops to yank the door open. Her eyes grow as big as saucers and she snort laughs. “Holy shit. You’re such a caveman. This is awesome.”
“I’m taking my girl on our date before she changes her mind.” My girl. Oh, I like that. I could get used to that.
Shortcake: I’m ready to lose my virginity. Tonight. “Fuck. Me.”
wrap my arms around his waist, and he slings his around my shoulder as I lead him to the bedroom. His hand dangles over my breast, cups it. “You’re impossibly soft. I want to bury my face in you and use you as a pillow.” Yes, he is talking to my boobs and not to me. It took me most of the drive home from the hospital to realize he was sweet talking the girls.
“Do you think you can handle taking off your pants?” I ask. “I can totally get naked for you, baby. Especially if it means I can get closer to Dottie and Daisy.” His hands go to his fly as he jumps to his feet, but he’s unsteady and ends up flat on his back on the bed.
“Maybe he’s super protective of that organ. The same way you’re protective of your identity.” She waves her donut at my hair. “I think he adores you, and he was scared that you wouldn’t give him a chance. And he was right, if this morning is anything to go on. Did you even listen to anything he had to say?” “I was too upset,” I admit.
“You think I should give Callan a chance?”
“I think you need to at least hear him out. If you don’t want to continue seeing him after that, I will totally hate glare at him every time I see him.” “You’re the best.” I smile for the first time this morning.
But there’s nothing from Hayley. She’s still not ready to talk to me and that hurts worse than my damn head.
She crosses my living room to perch on the arm of the sofa. “Then what is it about? Tell me. Explain it to me. Because I really want to believe you.” I wince as my fingers hit the goose egg on the back of my head. Exhale. Where to start. “I think I’ve been falling for you since the moment I met you.” Her lips part and her eyes widen ever so slightly. It must be hard for her to imagine, but it’s true.
“What haven’t you said?” she asks, a slight frown marring her smooth skin, her gaze pinned to me. I’m in love with you. I have been for a while, but I didn’t want to admit it, not even to myself. And there’s that $1,000 in Fleetwood’s pocket.
“Do you think...” I clear my throat. “Will you be my girlfriend, Rainbow Dash?” She lifts her head and gazes up at me. “You want me to be your girlfriend?” I slide my hands to her hips, loosening my hold, but still touching her. Can’t get enough of touching her. “Wouldn’t ask if I didn’t mean it.” She smiles. It’s dazzling. So bright it warms my skin. “Daisy and Dottie would be dreadfully disappointed if I said no.”
My thighs tingle, my panties drown in a puddle of vagina drool
I lean on the door. God, she’s so beautiful. Fuck Fleetwood. He can wait an extra minute while I drink in her pretty face. “Are you going to open the door?” she asks. “In a minute. I just wanna look at you first.”
“I’m not a My Little Pony fanatic,” he says. “I’m just fanatical about you. Now do you think you could trust me a little?”
Take it slow. All the way in. All the way out. Breathe like I’m fucking meditating because there’s no way I’m about to come. Except it’s been five million years and she fits me like a fucking Chinese finger trap. Still, I want to get her there first.
“We’re not having sex.” He groans. “I’m just kissing my girlfriend.” His mouth bruises a trail across the top of my breasts, and I whimper. “And how long do you imagine that will last before you’re tearing my clothes off? You have no self-control.” “I have plenty of self-control,” he says, matter-of-fact. “Just not when it comes to you.”
“You should go out and get it, girl,” Ebony says. It makes me laugh. “She already has,” Ness croons. “Look at that smile. She’s in love.” “I still don’t get it,” Cam says. “How could you live like that for years?” “I didn’t know any different when we started. It was in my contract. Honestly, I had no clue who I was until recently.” I fake smile. “It doesn’t matter how I feel about acting, I’m finally happy. I can’t go back to that version of Hayley.” “You shouldn’t have to,” Ebony says. “But you shouldn’t have to give up something you love either.” “Girl, look at you. You are strong.” Ness
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“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to rearrange his face.” “I don’t think so.” Fleetwood lifts her as though she weighs less than a carton of beer and tosses her onto his shoulder before saying, “I’m going to take her home before she gets herself into trouble.”
“I am so much more confident now.” I straddle his lap. “And a huge part of that is thanks to you. But I feel like there are still things I need to find out about myself.” “I want you to be able to do that.” He grips my hips and kisses me. “I want to support you while you do that. I am so proud of you.” “I’ll have to move to L.A. for a while.” Being apart won’t be easy. The idea of it sucks. A long distance relationship. Barely seeing each other. Only seeing his face over video chat. “If they go ahead with the movie, I could end up anywhere in the world.” “So I’ll come see you whenever I can,”
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“Thank you.” I drop a kiss on his lips.
