Page 76 of Faking the Goal

A grin tugs at my lips. "Were you worried about me, Sunshine?"

Usually, this is where he scoffs.

Or tells me I'm full of myself.

Or gives me one of those blank stares that somehow manages to communicate please shut the fuck up without requiring a single word.

He does none of those things.

My grin stalls when he holds my gaze, his expression completely serious.

"Yeah. Because I remember how you looked that day," he says. "You were terrified. You had bruises around your neck from where he grabbed you." His expression hardens at the memory. "I wasn't going to assume everything was fine just because he stopped showing up."

Well.

Fuck.

My heart gives such a violent little thump that for one horrifying second I swear the traitorous bitch actually throws herself against my rib cage trying to get closer to him.

I look away and start flipping through the manga in my lap, probably a little faster than necessary considering I'm not absorbing a single damn word.

"Oh." I let out a small, awkward laugh. "And here I thought all you remembered from that night was how annoying I was for invading your room."

The tension in his face eases, one corner of his mouth threatening to twitch.

"That too."

I look back at him, narrowing my eyes in a playful glare.

His face is perfectly straight.

Another laugh slips out of me. "Asshole."

This time, the corner of his mouth actually lifts.

And somehow that stupid flutter in my chest gets worse.

CHAPTER 12

KENTARO

It's late enough that I should've gone upstairs a while ago.

Instead, I'm still sitting in Sakura with a manga open in my hands and Taylor curled up on the sofa across from me.

The lounge has been quiet all night. No customers came in after she did, probably because most normal people have better things to do on Thanksgiving than spend several hours reading manga.

I've barely gotten through the last ten pages of my own book.

Mostly because Taylor keeps distracting me.

My eyes have been drifting back to her more often than I care to admit, and I think part of it is because I'm still not used to seeing her like this. She looks completely different from the Taylor I'm used to seeing around campus.

I didn't even recognize her right away when she nearly walked into me earlier.

I'm used to seeing her dressed like she's permanently five minutes away from walking into a nightclub. Makeup thick enough that I don't think I've ever seen what her face actually looks like underneath it.

Tonight, she's wearing an oversized Ridgewater hoodie and loose sweatpants, both swallowing most of her figure. Her red hair is twisted into a messy bun on top of her head with pieces falling loose around her face, and there isn't a trace of makeup on her.