Kissing the Player - Maggie Dallen Page 0,64

“It’s his fault.”

Hannah seemed to know it because her expression grew even more empathetic. “He’s a jerk for what he did,” she said. “But maybe in this case…he’s not totally to blame?” She gave me a wince like she was ready for me to argue or snap at her.

I couldn’t. She was right.

This wasn’t him, it was me.

I couldn’t be mad at him for telling me he liked me—me, the real me—I could only be mad at myself for not saying it back.

For not trusting myself and not trusting him…

I rubbed a hand over my eyes. I was seriously so tired of being scared.

“Let’s just get this over with,” I said, nodding toward the bottle of dye.

The next day, River joined us, showing up to our school early to help with the setup. I’d convinced the principal to let us use the entire back parking lot and we’d transformed it into a fair that was…well, not quite as cool as the one at the end of Grease, but it wasn’t too shabby.

Simone offered to deal with the kissing booth set up and I left Jax and his band buddies in charge of the makeshift stage and all the equipment.

One day.

That was all I had to get through. Then it would be back to my normal life with rehearsals and a scholarship competition and schoolwork and friends and…no Jax.

“You okay?” Hannah asked.

I turned to see her holding my clipboard. She’d taken over the to-do list, apparently, and River was standing beside her. They were both eyeing me oddly…like I might fall apart at any second.

“I’m fine!” I said for the millionth time.

They exchanged a look that said they didn’t believe me. I opened my mouth to try and convince them but stopped when I heard music.

Not just any music.

I heard… Grease?

I blinked a few times and spun in a circle like a moron before I realized it was coming from the stage.

The melody to “You’re the One That I Want” called to me like a siren song and I was only vaguely aware that Hannah and River were following behind me. “What on earth…” I started as the crowd of seniors parted to let me through.

There he was.

Jax.

My Jax.

And he was singing the John Travolta part with an entirely too smug Bianca.

His eyes met mine and I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. What the…

What was he doing? He hated this song. He despised this movie.

But he was singing a song from it and he was…singing it to me.

The moment I broke through, his gaze found mine and he never looked away.

He was singing it…

To me.

And it didn’t stop there.

My mouth was hanging open in a supremely unsexy way as he launched into a ballad from Les Misérables.

A ballad. The guy was singing a ballad to me. For me.

And it was beautiful.

“What is he doing?” I whispered.

“I’d say he’s trying to show you that he cares.” Hannah’s voice beside me had me realizing with a start that she and River had followed me all the way up to the front of the crowd. “But maybe that’s just me.”

“That’s my take, too,” River said. He cursed under his breath and his voice was filled with grudging admiration. “This guy has guts, I’ll give him that.”

I eyed the hottie before me with eyes wide with shock. He did have guts. But even this guy got scared sometimes. Even he did stupid things.

He ran away from something that felt too good. He was afraid of turning into his parents. He was afraid to admit that his feelings had been hurt and had lashed out like a jerk.

But then again, he was human. And he was flawed. And he was troubled.

And he was…perfect.

20

Jax

Bianca hugged me hard after the last song ended.

I felt lame. Also, I felt like puking. I’d just laid my heart out on the stage for all the world to see. And Rose?

She’d just stared at me with this look I couldn’t read. Her eyes were wide and filled with a million emotions but not a single one that I could pinpoint and explain.

My mouth was dry, my throat raw—and it had nothing to do with the fact that I’d just spent the past forty-five minutes singing show tunes.

Freakin’ show tunes.

If I hadn’t realized how much I cared about this girl before, that would have been one epic clue.

I’d just sung show tunes for her. And she…was nowhere to be found. When Bianca finally released me with one more squeal about how