Arcadia's Gift - By Jesi Lea Ryan Page 0,54

as if startled out of some deep thought. “Uh, I need to talk to you about something.”

“Okay.” Oh, no! He regrets kissing me! “What is it?”

He glanced around at the thinning crowd. “Not now. We have to get to class. Want to go get some coffee or something after school?”

“Sure.” I didn’t know if I could wait that long. “Just tell me this one thing or I’ll obsess over it all day…are you going to tell me that kissing me was a mistake?”

One side of his mouth curled up into a grin. “Are you kidding? Kissing you was the most fun I’ve had all year.” To prove it, he leaned down and gave me a soft, lingering peck on the mouth, sending my pulse into a stampede. “I just have to explain something to you. It’s not that big of a deal, really.”

“Okay. I won’t worry about it then. See you at lunch?”

“Yeah,” he replied, giving my hand a squeeze before dropping it.

We headed off in different directions, me walking on clouds the whole way to second period, my botched quiz long forgotten.

As I stood at the cafeteria salad bar trying to decide between limp romaine and limp spinach, Bronwyn approached with a playful glare on her face.

“So,” she said, “when were you going to tell me you and Bryan are dating? I’m your best friend, and I had to hear it from the gossip chain?”

“We’re not dating…exactly. That is…I don’t know what you call it.” I decided on limp spinach, but drowned it in ranch dressing.

“But the two of you were making out against your locker today?”

My head snapped up in surprise. “We weren’t making out! We barely kissed!”

She chuckled at my reaction.

“I can’t believe you even heard about that. Dang. I don’t know why the school invests in an intercom system when all they have to do is send the morning announcements out through the grapevine.”

She laughed and the florescent lights glinted off of her retainer wire. “So it’s true? That’s so cool! How long has this been going on?”

At that moment, I honestly don’t think anything could have wiped the smile off my face. “Oh, Bronwyn! He’s so incredible!” As we stood in line at the check-out, I filled her in. “We had our first official date last night, but you know we’ve been talking for a few weeks now. And when he dropped me off, he gave me this good-night kiss that was so hot, it practically peeled the paint off the front door.”

Bronwyn stared off dreamily. “Sounds wonderful!”

“It was! But you know, I’m not exactly sure what this means. I mean, it’s not like he asked me to be his girlfriend or anything. I just don’t know where it stands right now.”

“But you are going to go out with him again, right?”

“That will be $4.15,” the lunch lady sporting a hair helmet said as she weighed my salad. I handed over exact change, and we made our way to our usual table in the back.

“Of course, I’ll go out with him again. In fact, he asked me to have coffee with him after school today. It will have to be fast though. I’m working at the shelter this afternoon.”

When we got to our table, Shawn was already there with Angelique Rasmusson, a senior girl who hangs out with him once in a while. I don’t know her all that well, but she’s in the drama club with Shawn.

“Hi, Ang,” I said as we sat down. I made sure to keep the spot next to me open for Bryan. “What’s up?”

“Bonjour,” she replied. Angelique has this whole French thing going on. She dresses like Audrey Hepburn and smokes unfiltered cigarettes. “Colin and I broke up, so Shawn agreed to stand in as my Homecoming date. We’re trying to figure out what to wear. I want to do a whole 1940’s theme. What do you think?”

“Oh, that’s this weekend?” A little knot formed in my gut. If Lony had been alive, she would’ve been talking about the dance non-stop.

“Yeah,” Angelique replied. “It’s kinda last minute, so we have to hit the stores after school today. There’s this really chic vintage place down in the Cable Car Square that I want to check out.”

With a model perfect body like Angelique’s —rail thin with legs that went on for miles —she could wear a trash bag and make it look like something off the cover of Vogue. “I’m sure you’ll find something.”

A warm hand touched my shoulder. I looked