My Know-It-All Nemesis - Maggie Dallen Page 0,24

freak, I guess. I mean, I like myself the way I am and all that stuff, but…maybe I wanted to see what it felt like to be—”

“Sexy?” I interrupted. “Because you are. You definitely are.”

Her cheeks turned pink, and it was adorable. She recovered quickly, though, her head tilting to the side as she peered up at me. “Are you flirting with me, Miller? That would be a first.”

I teasingly peered right back with narrowed eyes. “Are you talking to me without glaring, Kate? Because that would also be a first.”

She laughed. “Touché.”

The silence that fell between us was heavy. Tense in a weird, new way I wasn’t used to. It wasn’t bad, necessarily, just weird. Bella and her friend Gigi passed by and called out a hello to Kate. She flashed them a smile, and I had this fear that she’d leave me to go talk to them. I didn’t want her to walk away.

I didn’t want to share.

I shifted, glancing over her shoulder at a party full of people I had no interest in talking to. “You want to see the pool house?”

She blinked. “You have a pool house?”

I laughed at her disbelief. “Yeah. Come on.” Without waiting for her to agree or argue, I snatched up her hand and half-dragged her away from the gawking eyes and the drooling mouths. “We’ll have a little privacy there.”

“Why do we need privacy, exactly?”

I gave her my best derisive look as I scrambled to think of an answer that was not because I want to be alone with you or because I hate the way these other guys are looking at you.

If I couldn’t explain these feelings to myself, I certainly couldn’t even begin to explain them to Kate. So “privacy” it would have to be. To her, I said, “We should talk about our approach.”

She didn’t argue and let me drag her past Jimmy Alton and some of his punk friends who were up to no good in the shadows, a cluster of cheerleaders who were sporting slutty nurse costumes, and some band geeks who were decked out in Star Wars gear.

The pool house was empty inside since everyone was mingling on the grounds on this unseasonably warm fall night, and I let out a sigh of relief at finally having a moment alone with Kate.

I took a second to look her over from head to toe, marveling at her new look, as well as the fact that I was actually relieved to be alone with this girl who’d done nothing but torture me with her very existence for the past two years.

“Thank you for sticking up for me,” she said. Her voice was stiff, her jaw tight like it actually hurt her to force those words out.

Meanwhile, my brain was scrambling to figure out what, exactly, she’d overheard. “What I said—”

She held up a hand. “It’s fine. Really. I am a freak. But what matters was that you put Tim in his place for the poster.” Now her hands were clenched at her sides, and her jaw was still too tight.

“Did you rehearse that?”

“Excuse me?”

I had to fight to hold back a laugh. “That little speech you just gave me.” I moved in closer. “Tell me honestly…how much did it kill you to thank me just now?”

Her lips twitched a bit, but her expression remained grim. “It hurt a lot,” she said. “It was very, very painful.”

I burst out laughing. “That’s what I thought.”

“But,” she said quickly. “I mean it. I know you and I haven’t always gotten along—”

“We’ve never gotten along,” I corrected.

“But that doesn’t mean I can’t give credit where credit is due. You didn’t have to call Tim out like that, and I…” She cleared her throat. “I appreciate it.”

I watched her for a minute, and I’m not gonna lie—I enjoyed watching her squirm. “You’re welcome.” I shoved my hands into the pockets of the ridiculous suit. “And for what it’s worth, I really am sorry about my Barbie joke last year.” I shifted, and this time I was the one to squirm. “I’m realizing now how not funny it was.”

She watched me squirm, and I had no doubt that she was enjoying it, too…at least a little. Finally, she shifted, crossing her arms with a sigh. “You’re forgiven.”

I grinned, and to my surprise, she did too.

She seemed to catch herself, because the smile dropped just as quickly, and she was all business. “So…” she said, glancing around the small confines of the pool house.