Kissing the Shy Guy - Stephanie Street Page 0,44

At least we didn’t have to scream to hear each other.

“Water.” The last thing I needed was alcohol. One, I was driving later. And two, drinking never seemed to improve my temper.

Lydia lifted the lid on a cooler near the back door. I reached in and grabbed a water bottle, but Lydia wasn’t about to wait for me to unscrew the cap and take a drink before pulling my arm again.

“Let’s go. Just wait till you see.”

I had no idea what she was talking about, but let her lead me out onto the patio outside the back door. The backyard had been decorated with twinkle lights and paper lanterns. There was a large swimming pool crammed with people, some in swimsuits, others in their clothes. But that wasn’t what caught my attention.

“O. M. G.” I’d stopped dead in the center of the patio, staring.

“I know, right? Just look at them.”

Them was Breakout. Lydia folded her arms over her chest and sighed with complete satisfaction as though she personally had something to do with them being there. But I wasn’t paying any attention to her. I was too busy checking out Adam. Suddenly, this night was looking a lot better.

Goodness, he was hot. I could have stood there watching him all night. Instead of his usual black, he wore gunmetal gray cargo shorts and a white t-shirt with leather sandals on his feet. His hair had been tucked up inside a baseball cap, his eyes intent on his guitar. He looked like he’d been in the sun all day. The added color looked so, so good on him.

“Oooh, girl. You’ve got it bad!” Lydia teased, nudging me with her elbow.

“He kissed me.” I still hadn’t taken my eyes off him. He was so into playing, he hadn’t looked up, which was a good thing considering all the girls hovering around his corner of the stage. I wanted to claw their eyes out.

Lydia gasped and gripped my arm. “Shut. Up.”

“No. He did. Two weeks ago. It was the night he agreed to help me with the DIVA scholarship.” Two weeks. It seemed so much longer than that.

“Gi-rl,” she dragged the word out for two syllables. “Where?”

“At that park on Main Street.” My whole body went hot, thinking about it.

“What are you going to do about it?”

“Absolutely nothing. Let’s move closer.”

Lydia was entirely on board with this idea. Despite our, or my, recent discovery of Adam, we’d been talking about Asher for the last six months along with the rest of the school. It was no big shock to see the biggest crowd had moved to surround the stage. People were dancing, girls were shouting their names. You’d have thought we were at a concert at the fairgrounds with the way everyone was acting. It was a miracle no one had called the police.

“What do you mean, nothing?” Lydia asked.

The closer we moved toward the stage, my nerves began to jangle. Would he notice me? I glanced at Lydia. My best friend was beautiful and poised. I’d never been jealous of her before, but for one irrational moment, I wanted to push her into the pool and go see Adam by myself.

I skirted past a couple dirty dancing at the edge of the stage. “I mean nothing.”

Lydia stopped dead and faced me. The speakers were loud and close, but from the expression on her face, Lydia was determined to know what I meant.

“After what happened with Josh, can you blame me?” I asked, shouting. No one would hear us over the noise or understand what we were talking about for that matter.

“What does Josh have to do with it? You’re lucky to be rid of that diva.” Lydia began moving to the beat of the music.

“Yeah, but he dumped me and left me high and dry without a partner!” Throwing my hands in the air, I matched my movements to hers. Soon, we’d lost ourselves in the music, everything else momentarily forgotten.

Not that I’d forgotten about Adam. It would have been impossible with him on stage, not twenty feet away. I never stopped thinking about him. Every day I spent with him, getting to know him better, the more I regretted the impulse that prompted me to demand he remain at arm’s length.

Still, I could dance all night and I’d all but forgotten my earlier irritation with my parents.

Fifteen minutes later, Asher announced the band would take a break. He jumped off the stage and right into the arms of Jordan Parks. I