not for the first time, my heart gave a little twist at the fact.
But the second the other man walked away, I snuck out from under his arm and asked, “You told people about my channel?”
He gave me a funny little smile. “Yeah, why?” He ticked his head to the side. “Did you not want me to say anything?”
I had told myself at least twice a day for the last month that I wasn’t back to being in love with Zac. That I wasn’t. No way. No how. It wasn’t happening.
Sometimes I managed to believe myself; other times, I knew I was full of shit.
And he was making it really hard to go with option A. Really hard. “No, I mean, you can do whatever you want. But it’s no big deal—”
“Why are you always tryin’ to downplay it, huh, darlin’? It is a big deal, and I’m so damn proud of you, even though it isn’t like I had somethin’ to do with it.” He moved his head to the side. “Well, you did used to make me things, so I was kinda your early guinea pig, huh?”
I…. Well….
“And you never downplay me,” he argued.
“Because there’s nothing to downplay.”
“I’m only in the organization now because the White Oaks lost both their quarterbacks, kiddo.”
He was about to get jabbed in the side. “And? You’re amazing. You’re awesome.”
“You think I’m amazing?” this dummy asked.
I kept my face even; I wasn’t about to egg him on. “I know you are. You’re the one that seems to forget that.”
He watched me closely with those eyes. Just as he opened his mouth, someone to the side stumbled backward into me.
But just as I was shoved by the stranger’s weight, Zac’s hand struck out, pushing the person back to where they’d come from before he, or she, could fall on me. I looked up at him and didn’t miss the frown on Zac’s face as the man turned around to look at who’d pushed him.
From the face he made, he recognized him. “Sorry, sorry,” the guy apologized quickly.
Zac didn’t say a word as he grabbed onto my shoulders and moved me closer to the wall beside us, putting his body between me and the crowd.
“You okay?” he asked when the guy turned back around and moved away.
“Yeah, I’m all right. He just stomped on me a little.” I glanced up at him as I kneeled to rub the top of my foot. “Thank you for protecting me.”
One side of his mouth tilted up. “Peewee, I’d never let a thing happen to you.”
There went my heart again, and I tried to hide it with a grin. “Like you know I’d never let anything happen to you?”
He nodded once. “Just like that.”
He held out his hand and helped me to my feet.
And that was when I saw them.
I knew immediately who they were under their costumes of Morticia and Gomez Addams. The skintight, clinging black dress and black lipstick didn’t hide who she was. The black suit and what I knew was a fake black mustache didn’t hide his identity either.
I squeaked, and Zac gave me an interested look. “What is it?”
I grabbed his forearm. “Oh my God, Zac, that’s Jasmine and Ivan Lukov!” I whisper-hissed.
His head turned in the direction I was staring, and I wasn’t even sure he was looking at the same couple I was, because he asked, “Who?”
Who? Was he kidding me? “They only won a fucking gold medal! Oh my God, I’m going to faint. They’re only the greatest figure skating pair of all time!” I wasn’t kidding. I might faint. I had watched every single figure skating competition they were going to participate in, just to see them skate. I’d watched a WatchTube video of them once that happened to come up two years ago, and they had sucked me in completely since.
“How do you know that?” Zac asked, almost with a laugh, as his hand wrapped around my wrist.
I glanced up to meet his gaze and tugged on the forearm I was still holding. “How do you not know that? Introduce me! Please!”
He looked at me and shrugged, his fingers giving mine a gentle squeeze. “All right, all right. I don’t know ’em either, kiddo, but we can make somethin’ up. Come on.”
I had just come out of the bathroom stall following the longest pee of my life—after struggling for five solid minutes to take off the foam padding of the top half of my Buzz Lightyear costume and then