Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 100612 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100612 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
First of all, how can I pay attention at a time like this? I can barely believe this shit is happening—the stuck-to-her stuff. Second, I should’ve known better. Why did I think I could superglue flowers without screwing it up? Does Harper think I want her glaring at me as if I were an idiot, especially with Maddie Miller bearing down on me in the middle of this…situation?
Of all the people to walk into the gym, it would be her.
Cell phone clutched in her palm, no doubt she’s here to film content. She told me she’d do as much, although to be honest, I didn’t think she would actually show up. And now? Now she’ll see me in the most embarrassing position I’ve ever been in: with my hand glued to another girl’s chest.
Could this get any worse?
Suddenly hyperaware of how sweaty my palms are, I wipe my free hand on the leg of my pants.
Shit.
Maddie is walking toward us.
Why is she still looking at me?
She never looks at me. Not the way Harper does, and don’t think I haven’t noticed the change in her since our second make-out session. If she wasn’t into me before, she is now. Not that I know what to do with that information…
Maddie continues to sashay through the gym, white sneakers squeaking against the shiny hardwood floor, broadcasting her every movement. I’m caught between wanting to hide and wanting to wave at her dumbly.
All I can do is stare at her, my mouth dry, my thoughts a jumbled mess.
“Guess you got what you wished for,” Harper mumbles beside me, holding totally still, her legs bent in in an awkward position.
“What I wished for? What’s that supposed to mean?”
She rolls her eyes. “Oh please. You were manifesting this so hard.”
I pull a face. Manifesting? “I don’t even know what that means.”
Harper huffs, nose stuck in the air. “It means that you’ve been obsessing over her for so long it’s like you’ve willed her into existence—right here, right now.”
Is it just me or does she sound pissed?
“That’s not…” I start to protest, but Maddie’s getting closer and closer and I lose my train of thought and let my sentence trail off because I am a numb nuts.
I swear my heart is about to explode out of my chest.
The smile she gives me might be like a neon sign flashing Too Good for You—and it’s the kind that makes her look like she’s stepped out of one of those Instagram filters—but it still sends a shock through my already scrambled brain.
She floats over and stops in front of us, holding up her phone with a gleaming ring light attached.
“Hey.” Her voice is upbeat—a little rehearsed—like she’s about to turn this whole scene into the latest trending video. That’s what she does, after all, and I know that’s what she’s here to do. Let’s face it, she’s not here to see me—that would be crazy talk.
My throat tightens, and I manage a half-assed smile.
The kind of smile a kid might give when they shit their pants and are trying to hide it.
“Hey.” I hate how stupid my voice is and wish it were deeper.
Maddie’s gaze flicks from me to Harper and back again, phone still aimed at us, eyes missing nothing.
“You guys are working on prom decorations?”
She’s looking directly at me; I can’t move, can’t blink.
Maybe if I stay perfectly still she’ll get bored and go away. Where is a giant boulder or hedge when you want a goddamn place to hide?
“Obviously that’s what we’re doing,” Harper mutters under her breath, too softly for Maddie to hear, and I bump her with my hip.
If Maddie notices us acting strange or standing too close, she doesn’t let on. I shift my stance to block the fact that my hand is planted on Harper’s chest, arm twisted in a way that cannot look natural to anyone paying close attention.
She wiggles her cell. “Mind if I film some of it for my page? People love behind-the-scenes stuff.”
“Behind the scenes implies that you’re helping, too,” Harper grumbles, again for my ears only.
I cough to cover her sarcastic remarks.
“We’re, uh, just finishing up.”
This time Maddie homes in on my hand. Fingers. Harper’s collarbone. The fact that I haven’t lowered my arm…
“Why are you both acting strange?” Maddie’s eyes narrow as she glances at Harper, then back at me. “Why do you have your hand on her?”
“No reason,” I say dumbly.
“Are you sure? Because it kind of looks like you’re stuck.”
Stuck? She doesn’t know the half of it.
I force a laugh; it comes out more like a nervous wheeze. “Oh, yeah—that. Ha ha. Just a little mishap with the glue.” Lying has never been my forte. “Tiny one.”
“Was this your fault?” Maddie smirks. “You always were kind of clumsy when we were younger, Easton.”
I was? She remembers that? “Gee, thanks.”