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I headed for the snack aisle. I wasn’t feeling quite so sorry for myself anymore, that impromptu little moment with Elliot having sustained my addiction to him for the time being, but I was still getting snacks. They were just no longer pity-party snacks. Now, they could just serve as a poor substitute for Elliot’s tongue in my mouth until we could be alone together again.

I was still getting the slushie, though. Although, maybe a bucket of sugar wasn’t actually a good idea at this time of night. I’d rather go to sleep as soon as possible so I didn’t have to consciously wait as long to see Elliot again. Damn, maybe moms were actually right sometimes.

I’d just picked up two giant bags of salt and vinegar chips, and was on my way to select a candy bar or two—or five—when I was hit with a sense of déjà vu, because I once again heard someone say my name from behind me. But this time, I recognized the voice immediately, and I was already grinning before I’d even spun around to see him striding down the aisle toward me.

He grinned back, giving me that devastating smile that made my knees weak. “Hey.”

“Hey.” The bags of chips in my hand crinkled as I clutched them tighter.

Elliot tilted his head toward the exit behind him. “Took a chance and told the others to go play pool without me this time.” As my insides roiled with a rush of excitement and want and pleasant nerves, that faint blush appeared on his high cheekbones again. “Just, uh, in case you wanted to hang out for a while.”

“Yes.” I was already nodding. I was so not cool, in any way, and I didn’t care at all. “Yeah, I want to.”

His grin widened and his shoulders relaxed a fraction, making me belatedly realize that he’d actually been nervous to ask me, which seemed unbelievable to me. The urge to close the distance between us and kiss him was so strong that I had to bite down hard on my bottom lip until the shock of pain brought me to my senses.

“Sweet.” His hands were stuffed in his jacket pockets, so he tilted an elbow in my direction to gesture at the snacks in my hands. “Loading up, huh?”

“Oh. Yeah.” I chuckled sheepishly. “Um, so, do you want to… We could get a bunch of snacks and go for a drive or something?” I blushed as soon as I said it, wondering if he’d think that was a totally lame suggestion.

But his face lit up and he nodded quickly. “That sounds perfect.”

I relaxed myself, once again grinning so wide my cheeks hurt. “Sweet. Let’s do it.”

Chapter Thirteen

Ricky

For some reason, choosing a bunch of snacks together made us turn into a pair of giggling little kids. Past the age of thirteen, there shouldn’t have been anything funny about the names of any candy bars, or the act of buying as many as we wanted, but we snickered as we roamed the aisles like it was a secret joke only the two of us were in on.

I was pretty sure we were both just a little giddy from unexpectedly getting to spend some time together tonight. God knew I was. I felt almost drunk with excitement. It was wild how strongly he affected me after such a short amount of time knowing each other, but nothing about it felt strange or wrong.

It almost felt inevitable. Like we were always meant to meet. Like it was completely pointless to do anything but accept that I wanted him so badly, that I couldn’t stay away from him, because we’d simply been written into the fabric of the universe together. A match that made sense on a cosmic level. An unavoidable magnetic force that would’ve drawn us together sooner or later, wherever we’d each been in the world, and however long it would’ve taken.

An inevitability.

We ended up buying an ungodly amount of snacks. I took notice of every single one Elliot picked. He liked dark chocolate over milk or white. He liked things with a crunch. He liked strawberry-flavored candy. He liked salt and vinegar chips best too, though, like me.

We got a giant slushie in the end—a mix of flavors that was probably going to taste gross, but I didn’t care. I wanted to see Elliot’s tongue stained a murky purple from it. I wanted to see how hyper he got from the sugar rush. I wanted to kiss him and taste the sweetness of his mouth for myself.

We were still all giggly and hyper as we got into my car, and the moment I pulled away from the gas station onto the dark road, Elliot grabbed my thigh and leaned over to kiss my cheek.

“I missed you, muffin.”

A rush of pure joy swelled in my chest. It felt like I’d eaten a pound of candy already. I laughed, fingers tightening on the steering wheel so I didn’t let go just to reach for him and send us careening off the road. “Muffin?”

He shrugged, sitting back but keeping his hand on my thigh. His long fingers massaged absently, squeezing and releasing, making my knees fall open wider to get closer to him as I drove. “’Cause you’re so sweet. My sweet little sugar muffin.”

I blushed and bit my lip to try and suppress my grin. To try and hide how happy that made me. But a second later, I thought, Why should I hide it? I couldn’t be the only one feeling this. I knew I wasn’t.

I took my eyes off the road for a split second to grin at him, letting him see the pleased flush his words had brought to my cheeks. He was already watching me, and his gaze softened instantly. When I looked back at the road, he leaned in once more to press another kiss to my cheek. This one was slower. Lingering. He nuzzled my jaw for the briefest moment afterward, then dropped another soft kiss there, and I couldn’t stop the shiver of pleasure that rolled through me.

“So where should we go?” I asked, still smiling as I watched the empty road ahead. Right now, in this moment, I felt freer than I ever had before. Freer than when I felt the first touch of his lips on mine that night in the office at work. Freer than last night on the beach. We could literally go anywhere we wanted. There was nothing stopping us.

Elliot must’ve been thinking something along the same lines, because he stretched languidly in the passenger seat and said, “Vegas?” Before I could respond, he chuckled and palmed my thigh again. “Nah, just kidding. I do know a good spot, though. Where we can be alone.”

I nodded quickly, then shot him a teasing smile. “Gonna take me to Make-Out Point?”

He snorted. “We won’t be alone if we go to Make-Out Point. There are always grody little teenagers there horning it up.”