Cleo stared at me for a minute, her lips slightly parting at my honesty. “You want to kiss me?” Her words were slow, like she didn’t really believe what I’d said. I hated that more than her thinking she should get her own door. Why was that so hard to get through her head?
“Sure do,” I said. “But I’m trying to play my cards right, so you’ll wanna kiss me, too.”
Before she could say anything else, I pushed off the door and rounded the truck. The moment my ass hit the seat, I reached over and grabbed the aux cord and plugged it into my phone. Hands Down by Dashboard Confessional filled the speakers, and I turned to Cleo. Her face lit up with recognition.
“I love this song,” she said. “I put it on all my summer playlists.”
I laughed, making my way down the long driveway. “Oh yeah? And how many summer playlists do you have?”
“Three, I think. No, wait! Maybe four,” she said.
A woman after my own heart. I loved the idea of creating a playlist for every mood, but not everyone else felt the same way. “Why so many? Can’t you just throw them all together and have one big playlist?”
Cleo looked over at me in horror. “Uh, no way. Like, I have a playlist for work, which has a completely different vibe than oneI made for driving around the backroads with my windows down or sitting by the lake in the evening.”
“Okay, so that’s three. What’s the fourth then?”
She chewed on her bottom lip. “I guess I was wrong. There were just three.”
I didn’t believe her. Not for a second. Not when she had that damn blush creeping along her cheeks and wouldn’t meet my eye. “Alright, fine. Don’t tell me. I’ll figure it out eventually.” I glanced down at her purse clutched tightly in her lap. “Even if I have to pry it outta of you.”
Cleo laughed, but the sound was somewhat hollow. She stared out the window at the blurred landscape as we flew toward the highway. “I feel like I’m going to disappoint you.”
I tried to keep my voice even as alarm bells began sounding in my head. “Why’s that?”
She shrugged. “I’m really not that interesting, Grady. There’s not much more to me than what you’ve already seen.”
“I guess it’s a good thing I like what I see, huh?” I joked, but her smile didn’t return. “Besides, we’re always our toughest critic. I’m willing to bet there’s more to you than you think.” I tapped my fingers along the steering wheel as I drove, trying to melt the tension between us. So far, I felt like I was fumbling this date harder than our football team during the playoffs. We hadn’t even made it to the restaurant. At this point, I wasn’t sure if we would.
“You barely know me,” she said, her voice a little stronger than before. “I could actually be a horrible person. Maybe I’m just putting on a front since it’s our first date and all—” I burst out laughing, unable to contain myself. Cleo whipped her head in my direction, narrowing her eyes. “What’s so funny?”
I glanced over at her, noting the scowl that seemed to be etched onto her face at this point. Up ahead, there was a little clearing off the county road. I pulled over hard, skidding to astop. Cleo grabbed onto the handle as dust kicked up behind my tires.
“What the heck was that for? What’re you doing?” she asked, eyes wide. Her fingers had turned white from how hard she was clutching onto the flimsy plastic.
I didn’t answer as I got out and marched around to her side. She called my name, but I ignored her until I reached her door. I yanked it open, reached over, and unclipped her seatbelt, forcing her to turn my way.
“Grady, what?—”
I put my finger over her lips, trying to ignore how soft they were or the fact that I now wanted to feel them against my own. “I’m gonna talk, and you’re gonna listen, okay?” She didn’t say anything as I pulled away, but she slowly nodded her head. “Alright, first of all,” I said, holding up that same damn finger. “I know you, Cleo. You may think I don’t, but I promise you I do. We’ve known each other since we were kids. We may not have talked, but we literally started school together. Our graduating class will have—what? Fifty kids in it?”
“Sixty-seven, actually,” she said, sitting taller.
“Alright then, sixty-seven kids. And correct me if I’m wrong, but most of us started in kindergarten together?” She nodded again. “Could you, in theory, name every single person and tell me something about them?”
Cleo watched me closely, clearly waiting for me to get to the point, but I was going to drag this out until she understood where I was coming from. “I’m on the student council?—”
“Nope. Not what I asked. It’s a simple yes or no question.”
“Why don’t you do it then?” she snapped back. Her dark blue eyes sparked with subtle defiance, and there was something about it that got my blood boiling.
I shrugged, smirking as I began going through a list of names. “Sara Baker. Her birthday is in June, along with her best friend, Allie Wills. Tanner Holstein just got a new truck after heran his old one into a ditch at the beginning of summer. Jessie Chavez wants to get into bull riding so badly he lies to the event organizers and tells them he’s eighteen. And then there’s?—”
“Okay, point made! You know people, but that doesn’t mean you know me.”
“You’re on the fast track to becoming valedictorian and student body president.”
I widened my stance and folded my arms over my chest. The way her eyes dipped to my biceps had me showing off just a bit. I flexed, enjoying the way her breathing changed ever so slightly.
