This festival is already turning out to be a blast.
“I’M SORRY. FORwhatever I said that made you feel this way, I apologize. I never intended to hurt you.”
Nick found me despite my every attempt at avoiding him. He coaxed me into giving him a few minutes to make things right. Since we live next to each other, I thought it best to repair things a tad.
“It’s fine, Nick. We’ve been over this. You believe what you believe. I’m not trying to convince you of anything.”
“This is only for your safety, Alyssa. I’m done chasing these leads until my captain tells me otherwise. My job depends on it.”
I’m not mad anymore. I understand his stance. Nick’s an honorable man, and I can’t fault him for that. He didn’t call me names to my face, and he wasn’t rude. He may have insinuated that I was lying, but who wouldn’t have that knee-jerk reaction? The least I can do is drop it and move on. The only thing that changes is that I lose my help on the inside, which will likely delay Billy’s exit.
I lift my shoulders. “Fine. Can we talk about anything else? I’d rather forget about that and focus on being friendly neighbors.”
He smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “I still cannot believe you hit that target on your first try.”
“What? Why?” I place my hand over my chest, feigning offense. “I’m athletic.”
Nick turns to look at me, and those adorable dimples make an appearance. “I’ve seen you dance.”
I rack my brain to uncover when he could’ve possibly seen medancing. Did he look in my window? Because inside my house is the only place I’d be brave enough to let loose. I’m a crap dancer.How embarrassing. I have to do my best not to flush right in front of his face.
“Since when does dancing equate to athleticism?” I grumble, picking off a piece of fried pastry dough and shoving it into my mouth.
“Fair point.” He grabs for a chunk of the elephant ear, and I level him with a mock glare that he completely ignores. “Have you had a good time today?”
“I have. Ava, Nina, Lanie, and I all had dinner together.”
“What did you eat?”
I cock an eyebrow, wondering at his curiosity surrounding my fair food choice.
“What? It’s a fair question. You can tell a lot about a person based on what they eat at a festival.”
“Can you?” I drawl, smashing my lips together so that I don’t smile. “I had a corn dog.”
“With mustard or ketchup?”
“Both.” I tear off more of the treat and take a bite. “I also had meat on a stick, complete with fries drenched in vinegar.”
His eyes bug out. “You ate all of that?”
I shrug. “Like it’s hard.”
His lips tip up at the corners as he chews our apparently shared dessert. I’m not sure what it is about the act of chewing, but Nick makes it look like an art form. Sensual. Seductive.
Get a grip.
“What did you do after you gorged yourself on fried food?”
I cringe, knowing the effects of that binge will plague me later.
“We shopped at the vendor tents, and I bought Ava a hand-crafted metal bracelet that she insisted on having.”
“Yeah, I saw that.”
Nick found me at the checkout, claiming to be bound to his word. Now we’re seated on a bench on the outskirts of the hoopla, sharing an elephant ear.
“Thank you,” I say, lifting the plate just a bit. “You didn’t have to do this.”
