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Ally paused at the door. Her gaze moved down to the book in my hand and her eyes narrowed. “Doing a little light reading?”
Glancing down at my hands, I grimaced when I saw Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment. “Um...yeah, it’s my favorite.”
“Right.” Ally’s gaze shot back up to my face and she gave me a knowing grin. “Don’t read it all in one night, okay?”
And then she was gone, leaving me to hyperventilate as Collin broke into a hoarse laugh.
“That was...” He coughed and ran a hand over his chest. “That kiss was something.”
I needed my boy translator. Was something good or bad? Could he really tell it had been my first time? Did I have any potential?
He turned his back to me and walked to the other side of the room. “I don’t think we’re going to have any problem writing the song now.”
“No kidding.” I laughed nervously. “That was probably more than enough.”
“Right.” He turned back toward me suddenly, wearing a serious frown. “I think we’d better call it a night. Start fresh tomorrow.”
“Yeah.” I slid off the desk, pleasantly surprised that my knees didn’t buckle. My face still felt beet red, but there was nothing I could do about that until I could shove my whole head into our fridge at home. “Tomorrow.”
Collin walked me out and stayed with me as I waited for my mom to pick me up. The whole time, he was unusually quiet. No cracking jokes about me finding him irresistible. No snipes about my virgin kissing card being revoked. We stood side by side in near silence, the charge between us undeniable.
And when my mom finally arrived, I said goodbye, managing to look his way one last time. My stomach jolted when I realized he was already watching me, his dark eyes clouded with an emotion that made the heat instantly return to my stomach. Oh, how much I wished in that moment that we were still in his room. Alone.
I make a quick escape, plopping myself into the front seat of the car and feeling my heart thump loudly. And as I laid my head back against the headrest, fielding Mom’s questions about my evening and her soap gift, I thought about our quest to write the perfect love song.
We couldn’t be sure until tomorrow if our plan had worked, but there was one thing I knew: kissing Collin had been far more amazing than I ever could’ve imagined.
And if this song required a little more of that particular kind of practice, I certainly didn’t mind.
Chapter Seventeen
As it turned out, Collin and I wouldn’t get to start fresh on our song the next day after our epic kiss. Or the day after that. Between school and double practices, as the football district games approached, we were hardly able to see each other except in passing.
Still, that didn’t keep us from working on our song every spare second we got. We texted constantly about lyrics or changes to the tune. And sometimes, just about life in general. By the end of the week, we’d nailed down our song and resubmitted it to Mrs. Banks. All we needed now was her final approval, which had me eagerly checking my phone all day.
Collin: Any news??
Me: Not yet. Refreshing my email every 2 seconds.
Collin: Not good enough. Do it every 1 second.
Btw you still coming to the party tonight?
Me: Definitely.
Collin: Good. You better.
I smiled down at my phone as I sat on the edge of my bed. There had been no need to worry about that kiss changing things. We still worked well together. In fact, better than ever. And we’d perfected our song, I just knew it. Mrs. Banks was going to approve it.
But that didn’t mean I didn’t think about that kiss all the time. That toe curling, impossibly delicious first kiss. Sometimes, I could still feel the touch of his lips against mine. Hungry, insistent, and electrifying. I wondered if he thought about it, too.
Yesterday, I’d caught Collin staring at me twice during lunch. He turned away as soon as our eyes met, pretending like he wasn’t caught in the act. But I knew what I saw, and he was definitely thinking about me. The thought made me feel slightly giddy.
“Are you talking to that boy again?” Mom walked into my room, shaking her head. “You always get that silly look on your face when you’re texting him.”
“I do not.” I slammed my phone on top of my desk, as if to prove a point.
She crossed her arms and leaned against my dresser. “Are you sure there’s nothing going on between you? You can tell me, you know. I want to know what’s going on in my little girl’s life.”
