“Ha! I’m not the only one!”
“Quiet already. God you’re so damn loud!” Tate groans, his eyes snapping shut.
“Do you have headache medication?” I ask. “Did you buy the last pack from the gas station? I saw you take something.”
“See you back at the booth,” he says, ignoring my question completely as he starts walking again.
“Oh no. You’re not getting away,” I say and grab his arm again.
“I’ve got bagels for my family,” he says angrily and shakes the bag in my face as he breaks free of my grip again. “Some of us don’t have a mommy to make us lunch, okay?”
“You have a mom,” I argue back. “She lives a couple blocks from here. Stop being dramatic and give me an Advil already.”
He sighs and then, when I think he’s going to tell me off again, he starts to grin and I get a sinking feeling in my belly. “Okay. You want it? Admit I kicked your freckled butt at beer pong last night.”
“You didn’t kick my butt. We didn’t get to break the tie,” I reply calmly. “That is not my fault.”
“Caroline disappeared and didn’t come back. That’s a forfeit.”
“You threw like three shots with your elbow over the table,” I reply. “I called you on it and you ignored me. Those shots should have been forfeited.”
“Enjoy your headache.” Tate turns and starts to walk away.
“Argh!” I let out a disgruntled cry of pure annoyance. “Fine. Okay. You won the beer pong. Aren’t you a big hero. Such an important skill to have in life. Congrats!”
He turns back to me grinning that annoyingly adorable smirk he has. “I beat you. Say it. Say Tate Adler kicked Maggie Todd’s freckled ass at beer pong last night.”
My only response is a snort.
“It’s either that or admit you enjoyed the hell out of that kiss,” Tate says. My jaw drops. He grins. “Say I kissed Tate Adler and it was the best kiss I’ve ever had.”
“I didn’t kiss you. You kissed me,” I reply. My face feels like it’s on fire. “I would have walked out if I’d spun that bottle and it landed on you but you seemed damn eager to get your lips on me.”
“I’m about to become a professional athlete. I have a competitive streak that doesn’t stop because the challenge is…undesirable,” Tate replies and shrugs.
Well, that’s such a good burn I almost want to congratulate him.
He holds up the small travel pack of headache meds and gives it a shake. “So which is it, Firecracker? Are you going to say I kicked your freckled ass or I gave you the hots? Or are you going to suffer through the rest of the day unmedicated?”
I sigh irritably. We stare at each other and I swear his smile keeps getting more smug. I ball my fists. “Tater Tot Adler kicked Magnolia Todd’s ass—which is not at all freckled but you’ll have to take my word for it because you will never ever get anywhere near it—at beer pong. Good?”
Tate stares at me wordlessly and I feel that stupid flush happening. Then he bursts out laughing. “It’ll do, I guess.”
He pulls out the small packet from his pocket and hands it to me. He was the one who bought the last pack from the gas station. I shake two pills out of the packet and pop them in my mouth, swallowing them down with a swig of Gatorade. “Thanks. Bye.”
I start off back toward the market. He’s walking behind me the whole way, but I refuse to walk with him and he clearly doesn’t mind. Good. We are not friends. But I decide I need to stop him and say something before we get to the booth so I grab him again just before we turn into the market.
“You really just can’t keep your hands off me, can you?”
I roll my eyes. “Reality check time. That kiss was part of a stupid game and no one ever needs to know about it.”
“You think I’m going to brag about it or something?” Tate questions and laughs. “In case you haven’t noticed, my family hates you and if they ever found out I even played beer pong let alone touched you in any way they’d probably disown me.”
“Good,” I say flatly. “Because you mention that gross kiss again and I will plaster that picture of you in your undies holding a feather duster on a billboard in town.”
“We don’t have billboards in this town,” Tate replies.
“I’ll build one,” I call back as I walk away.
