Last Year's Mistake - Gina Ciocca Page 0,27

face. Then a split second of soft, delicious heat against my mouth. I gasped. I didn’t even realize the candy had been pulled from between my teeth until I blinked my eyes into focus and saw David, laughing victoriously as he rolled my candy around in his mouth.

I sat frozen, mouth gaping. My heart threatened to beat right out of my chest. I pictured it bouncing down the rocky incline until it landed with a splash in the ocean below.

Calm down!

But I couldn’t. Hadn’t he—didn’t that count as . . . ?

“Payback,” he garbled.

And his dumb ass sat there, chomping on taffy like he’d merely stolen a piece of candy and not put his nasty mouth that wasn’t even close to nasty all over mine.

Which meant I was the only one freaking out.

David laughed harder. “I really got you, didn’t I? How many times in your life have you been speechless?”

“Did you kiss me?”

“That wasn’t a kiss. If I kissed you, you’d know it.”

So I was the only one freaking out. I swallowed hard and shook myself, looking at the bottle of sunblock that had mysteriously appeared in my hand. Sunblock. Right.

“Very funny,” I said, popping the lid. “Hilarious. Here, put this—”

But David had already turned toward me and closed his eyes.

My jaw dropped again. “You want me to do it for you? Do I look like your mommy?”

“Nah.” He didn’t open his eyes, but the smile still played on his lips. I gave up, making an exasperated sound as I squirted the white lotion onto my fingertips. Then he added, “You’re prettier.”

I froze again. My heart flip-flopped as my hand hovered near his face. What the ef was up with him today? What the ef was up with me?

Refusing to be the only one rattled, I brought my fingers down on his nose, maybe a little harder than necessary.

“Ouch! Again, Kelse, not feeling the love today.”

“Sorry,” I mumbled.

“Was that for the taffy?” His eyes opened, alive with amusement as they gazed into mine. “Or for Amy?”

“You can do whatever you want with Amy.” I concentrated on the beauty mark beneath his lip, knowing he’d see my discomfort if I made eye contact. My new focal point wasn’t much help in the comfort department though, either. We were way too close to each other.

“I won’t see her if you don’t like her. Say the word and she’s out.”

“You would do that for me?”

“Of course. You’re my best friend. Ergo an excellent judge of character.”

I smiled and shook my head, touched that he’d place such importance on my opinion. Maybe there weren’t as many lines between us as I’d thought.

I hadn’t noticed that my hand had wandered as we talked. I’d started to work some of the excess sunblock around beneath his lips, letting my fingers graze his jawbone. The harshness I’d started with had been replaced by gentle, exploring strokes. My fingertips lingered over his skin, and I didn’t know why.

“I’d never tell you to stop seeing Amy if she’s who you want to see,” I said softly. “It’s not like you can control who you like.”

Our eyes met as I said it, and something in his seemed to darken. My thumb brushed the underside of his bottom lip, and I felt it in every cell of my body.

“I can’t, can I?” His voice was low, and his eyes searched mine. For a split second something electric passed between us—something I’d never felt before, never thought I’d want to feel. If I kept looking at him, I knew he’d kiss me. Except this time he’d mean to do it.

And I wasn’t even close to ready for that.

I sucked in a breath and looked away, snapping the cap of the sunblock in place. “No. No, I guess you can’t. But, um, thanks. For saying you’d put me first. It means a lot.”

I arranged my face into what I hoped looked like a composed smile, though the pace of my heart was more conducive to vomiting. David flashed one back. “Anytime. I meant it.”

With that, like a cloud that had passed over the sun, the weirdness was gone.

Eleven

Rhode Island

Senior Year

Over the next few weeks David and I became masters at paying minimal attention to each other, even in close range, like in English class or at our lunch table.

It was easier with Violet around, because we could talk to her without really talking to each other. And because the David-induced stars in her eyes seemed to keep her from noticing the tension