Matchmaker (Empire High #4) - Ivy Smoak Page 0,111
harder.
“Okay. How about I call you my girlfriend?” It was a cheesy thing to say. I felt like an idiot as soon as her laughter died in her throat. What the hell was I thinking? It was too fast. She’d barely agreed to kiss me this morning. But when you spent 16 years being miserable, it was easy to latch on to happiness. And standing here with her? It didn’t feel like I’d wasted half my life away. I felt like I was 16 years old again. I felt young and alive and happy. Didn’t she?
“Girlfriend? I can’t be your girlfriend,” she whispered.
I dropped the equipment bag and put my hands on either side of the car, caging her in. “Why not?”
“You know why not. Matt, what are we doing?”
“Dating.”
“We’re not dating. I didn’t say yes.”
I leaned forward and kissed her. Despite her words, she kissed me back. Her throat making that adorable moaning noise I was starting to crave at all hours of the day. I pulled away just as she started to pull me closer. “Then what do you call this?”
“Kissing.”
I raised my eyebrow. “That’s it?”
“Really good kissing?”
“Don’t overthink this.” I dropped my forehead to hers.
“How can I not overthink this? You and I can’t be together. It breaks all the rules of friendship. I…I can’t. I shouldn’t have even kissed you. I’ve been twisted up inside all day.”
She didn’t think I’d been thinking of that? About how wrong this was? But I was fucking sick of living like this. Kennedy made me happy. And I just wanted to be happy. “Fine, I’ll call you Alcaraz.”
She groaned. “I don’t want you to call me that.”
“No? Well, it’s either that or girlfriend. Your choice.”
“You’re impossible.” She leaned back, folding her arms across her chest. “Fine. Whatever. Call me your girlfriend.”
I smiled.
“Stop smiling so hard. You’re not supposed to be happy about this. It’s weird.”
“It’s not that weird. But is this better?” I gave her an exaggerated frown.
She reached out, touching the corners of my mouth. “No. I changed my mind. Keep the smile.”
I smiled and her hands slid to my neck.
“Okay, we made it exclusive,” I said.
She rolled her eyes.
“How is your ankle doing?”
“What? Oh.” Her cheeks turned rosy. “It’s doing a lot better today.”
“Really? Wasn’t it still hurting pretty bad last night?” I’d been wondering about this all day. She’d run away from me this morning without a single grimace. I was starting to think she was a dirty liar. A very sexy dirty liar.
“Yes,” she said. “It hurt a lot last night.”
“Are you sure about that? You didn’t just want me to come over?”
“You texted me.”
I stared at her.
“It did hurt last night still. But fine, I may have overexaggerated slightly. Because I like hanging out with you. Is that a crime?” She lightly shoved my shoulder.
I was smiling so hard it hurt.
“You already asked me to be your girlfriend and there’s no takesie-backsies.”
I laughed. “Get in the car.”
She turned around. “What are you doing driving in the city? There’s a subway. And taxis. And no reason to own a car. It’s one of the best parts of being here.”
“Do you want a ride?”
She smiled. “Yes. I was just kidding. I hate the subway, it smells like pee. And taxis are for people who aren’t assistant coaches.”
I laughed and opened the passenger door for her. “The team has a bye this week. But next week be ready to take that title seriously.”
“Oh, I’ll take it very seriously. I promise.” She smiled at me and ducked in.
We were quiet as I pulled out of the parking lot.
“It’s too weird,” she finally said, breaking the silence. “We can’t date.”
“You already said no takesie-backsies.”
She smiled. “Fine. But we need a test drive. Where are we going for dinner?”
Oh. Shit. “I have dinner with a friend tonight. But tomorrow?”
She nodded. “Yeah, that’s fine.” But her face didn’t scream “it’s fine.” She looked worried. Like she’d just made a deal with the devil. Yesterday I’d had a business dinner. Today I had dinner with a friend. I knew what was going on in her mind. And she didn’t have a thing to worry about.
“Tomorrow,” I said more firmly. “It’s a date.”
She smiled up at me. “Okay then.”
“Our first official date. The pressure is on,” I said.
“Don’t make it even weirder.”
I smiled over at her. “I promise there will be nothing weird about our date tomorrow. It’s going to be the best date of your life.”