“I guess I do,” I grin at him before catching the ball mid-air and tossing it to Travis. “Got to be quicker than that.” I laugh at his annoyed face as I get in position to finish the game. Mythoughts keep going back to Eve and if she’ll back out tonight. I really wish I had gotten her number, just in case. Hopefully, her friend Brooklyn will get her there tonight because I have to get to know the girl who’s already captured a piece of my heart.
I lookaround for the millionth time, hoping to catch a glimpse of her auburn hair. Miles and I got here about thirty minutes ago, and I’ve been on edge ever since. We live in a small town, and I’ve never seen her around. I would have remembered. What if she doesn’t show up, and I never see her again? Fear has me gripping my beer tightly.
“Relax, Ryder. You’re going to crush that can in your hands. She’ll be here.” Miles chuckles softly.
“How do you know? She was already worried about her parents finding out. She may decide it’s not worth the risk.”
“Look at me?” He waves his arms down his body and smirks. “Her friend wants me. She’ll get her here.”
I roll my eyes and laugh. “If it depends on your looks to get them both here, then I might as well face the fact that I’ll never see her again.” Just saying the words causes a pain deep in my heart.
“Have a little faith, why don’t you? I’m going to go talk to our friends over there. You coming?” Miles gestures to a group standing by the fire.
“No, I’m going to hang out here for a little bit. I’ll be over soon.” He nods his head and walks away. I’m not in the mood to be thrown into conversations right now. I take a sip of my drink when I see her. The liquid has a hard time going down as I swallow hard.
She’s wearing a light blue sundress that makes her beautiful eyes stand out even more. Her hair is loose and down her back in soft curls. Every piece of me wants to dive my hands into it tosee if it’s as soft as it looks. She nervously looks around as if she doesn’t know if she should be here.
She finally spots me, and I don’t even pretend I wasn’t looking at her the whole time. I couldn’t look away if my life depended on it. A shy smile plays on her lips as I hold her gaze. My feet automatically gravitate toward her like an unseen force is pushing me from behind.
I stop in front of her and smile. A light strawberry scent hits me, and I force myself not to breathe deeply so that I can fill my lungs with her.
“Hi, I’m glad you came. I was afraid you had changed your mind.”
“Hi,” she says softly. “I almost did. I don’t usually go out to parties.” She gives a small laugh, and I immediately want to hear it again.
“It took a lot of convincing, but I finally got her butt out the door.” I turn to look at her friend Brooklyn.
“Then, I guess I should be thanking you.” I glance back to Eve and see her cheeks redden again. God, that does something to me. I notice she has cute freckles across her nose, and my finger itches to trace them.
Her friend softly chuckles beside her. “I see Miles over there. I’m going to say hi. Are you coming or staying with lover boy?” Eve’s gaze never leaves mine as her friend talks. I wait for her to answer as she searches my eyes. I know I’m not doing a good job hiding my feelings, but I don’t give a damn if she knows how much I like her. I want the whole fucking world to know. I just hope it doesn’t scare her away. I have a feeling I need to go real slow with her. She’s worth the wait, though.
She must be feeling something, too, because I hear her say, “I’ll stay here for a bit and meet you over there.”
“Come get me if you need anything.” I feel her friend's eyes on me, but I keep my focus on the girl in front of me. Eve nods as Brooklyn walks away in search of my brother.
Blinking my eyes, I try to snap out of it so I don’t waste this time getting to know her.
“Do you want something to drink? They have beer, or I’m sure they have some mixed drinks around here somewhere that I could find.” I look around for the coolers.
“I’m good. I don’t drink much. I guess that’s a lie,” she laughs nervously. “I’ve never actually been to a party before, so I’ve never drank at all.”
“You’ve never been to a party before? Like ever?” I ask, surprised. There’s literally one every weekend around here.
“Nope,” she smiles. “My parents are super strict and barely let me out of the house unless it’s to see Brooklyn or something school-related.” It’s starting to make sense why I’ve never seen her around before. “Do you do this every weekend?” She looks around and takes in all the people drinking and partying.
“Miles drags me along when I’m free, but I prefer to be under a car most days. I help Jimmy restore cars in town at his garage.”
“I think I know the place. We just moved here this summer, so I don’t know my way around very well yet.”
“Will you be going to Blue Haven High?” The thought of seeing her every day has me excited about school for the first time in my life.
“I am. My parents wanted to put me in this strict private school, but since Brooklyn’s dad works with mine, he convinced him to let me go with his daughter. She’s the only person I know, and the thought of starting my sophomore year all alone terrifies me, so I finally talked them into it.”
“Well, now you know two people at school. I’ll be a junior there this year. I’ll have to make sure the guys leave you alone.You’re beautiful and new, a deadly combination in this small town.”
She blushes at my compliment and looks nervously down at her feet. Does she not know how gorgeous she is? Were all the guys blind where she came from?
“Hey, who’s the hottie, Ryder? You’ve been holding out on us. It’s not nice not to share.” Jonathon comes up, and I can tell he’s already had too much to drink. I’ve never really liked the guy. He can be a complete ass most of the time, but I’ve never felt the need to punch him until now.
