“I also want to take you out sometime. I can’t do fancy, but I’m hoping that doesn’t mattertoyou.”
“Trust me, it doesn’t matter. I don’t care aboutthatcrap.”
“What about that fancy car of yours?” I shouldn’t have said it. The moment had been perfect, but it still confused me how this girl could be so down to earth and yet go buy an expensive vehicle on a whim. It didn’t makesense.
“Yeah, I thought spending a ridiculous amount of money would help. That it would make me feel happy and ease the pain of missing my mom. But it didn’t. It turns out, the happiest I’ve been since my mom has died has been the time spent with myfriends.”
Well, damn, I felt like a jerk. “Sorry, Ididn’tknow.”
“You’re right. It doesn’t make a lot of sense. And I shouldn’t have done it. But it hurts so much. And I miss hersomuch.”
“Katie, I’msorry.”
“But you know what? We were talking about going on a date and I think we should stick to thatfornow.”
“How would you feel about a trip to thecaves?”
“I’dlovethat.”
“Do you worktomorrow?”
“Lunchshift.”
“Me too. Maybe we can go later thatafternoon.”
“Yeah.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled in a way that made me fall for her just alittlemore.
“But we’re taking my car.” I said before leaning in and giving her onemorekiss.
I kept it short and sweet, hopping off the trampoline as soon as our lips pulled apart. I reached out a hand to help her down. “Now, get out of here before I kiss you again andcan’tstop.”
ChapterSeventeen
Katie
Holy crap,I kissedJulian.
I. kissed. Julian.Alvarado.
It’s not like I hadn’t kissed boys before, or even gone beyond that. But there was something about kissing him that was so, so different from anything I hadexperienced.
When he had fed me those lines about being two souls that were drawn to each other, I had laughed. Only seeing the tough guy act he presented for everyone to see, there was no way he was beingserious.
But he was serious. And hekissedme.
Like, reallykissedme.
I meanthe sky could be falling and I wouldn’t even noticekindofkiss
Then he said he wanted to take me out of a date, and I melted. Gwen had suggested I make a move, so I did. I just didn’t think it would go the way it had. I imagined us dancing around each other for at least another week or two before getting down to business. Instead, here I was, recently kissed and about to go out on a date withJulian.
I felt like a normal freaking teen. I couldn’t stopsmiling.
“Hey, Katie,” my dad said hesitantly when I came out for breakfast the next morning. “You lookhappy.”
“I amhappy.”
“I’m so glad. What caused the change ofheart?”
