I tried to ignore the way my face heated when he laughed quietly after, the sound muffled under the movie’s dialogue.
By the time the credits rolled, the bucket was almost empty and my stomach hurt from trying not to laugh. The lights came up slowly, the world feeling softer in that post-movie haze.
Tino turned toward me. “You’ve got butter on your fingers.”
“So do you.”
“Less than you—since you kept hitting my hand.”
“You already knew I was possessive of my food.”
He tilted his head, pretending to think. “So if I wanted some, I’d have to—what—bribe you?”
“Bribe, beg, sell your soul. Your choice.”
He leaned closer, voice low. “What about this?”
Before I could ask what this meant, he stole one last piece of popcorn—then kissed me. Quick, warm, almost teasing. The buttery taste hit me first, salty and soft and completely unexpected.
He pulled back before I could react, his grin lazy. “Guess that’s my bribe.”
I blinked. “You—you just?—”
“Relax,” he whispered. “We’re dating, remember?”
I glanced around the theater. There were still plenty of Hartwell students here, all getting up and pulling on their coats, chatting about what they thought of the movie. I was sure I wasn’t imagining that some of them were looking our way, which meant the kiss wasn’t totally unnecessary.
I shoved the popcorn bucket into his chest, hoping he couldn’t see my flaming cheeks. “Fine. You can have the rest. I just lost my appetite.”
“Sure you did.”
I ignored him as I got up and pulled my scarf and coat back on. As soon as we walked out of the theatre, I fell in step with Poppy and Saylor, leaving the boys to walk together behind us. Tino and I had done enough pretending to love each other for one night. Anyone who had seen us would go home and tell their friends that we totally were dating and the news would spread across school over the weekend. If I was lucky, nobody would care anymore by the middle of next week.
The night air hit me the second we stepped outside, sharp and cold, carrying that faint scent of snow. The parking lot wasmostly empty except for a few lingering groups of moviegoers laughing and brushing past us. I looked longingly at the cars everyone else was getting into, knowing that we either had to wait for the bus at the end of the block or hoof it all the way back to campus. In the warmer months, we sometimes went to earlier movies so we could do that, but tonight, by unspoken agreement, we all stopped at the end of the block to wait.
I was debating whether to sit on the metal bench when my phone started ringing in my pocket. Since all my closest friends were with me, I couldn’t imagine who would be calling right now, especially with it being so late—until I saw the caller ID and groaned.
Tino glanced over. “Who is it?”
“My brother.” Now, I loved my brother to bits and I loved talking to him, but the only reason he would be calling me on a whim this late in the evening would be if something bad happened, or more likely, he wanted to annoy me. I sighed and hit accept. “Hey, Luca.”
“Lilah Turner!” Luca’s voice boomed through the speaker, loud enough that Tino jumped. Yep, annoy me it was. “You got a boyfriend and didn’t tell me?”
I honestly hadn’t been expecting that to be what he was calling about, mostly because I didn’t think the news of this would ever reach him, but I wasn’t surprised that he would call me about it once he found out.
“It’s really new,” I said.
“That’s no excuse! Do you have any idea how embarrassing it is that I had to hear about this from a fan in my DMs sending me a photo of my baby sister kissing some thug in the hallway at school?”
“He’s not some th?—”
“And a Valentine brother no less!” Luca continued as if I hadn’t said anything. “Which one of them is it? I have to fight him.”
I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. “You do not have to fight him. And I’ll give you exactly one guess, since there’s only one of them who goes to my school.”
“Where is this guy? Put him on the phone.”
“Luca—”
