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“No, don’t stop now. Like what?”
“Nothing,” she mumbled into her knees.
“No. I’m genuinely interested in hearing this scathing quip from you, Barlow.”
“Nothing,” she repeated, with a little more conviction this time.
“Come on, have a backbone,” I begged. “For once, say what’s on that tantalising mind of yours.”
I was so fucking close, I could practically touch it.
“Nothing’s on my perfectly normal mind,” she huffed.
“Do I need to break out the Katy Perry?”
She hid her laughter rather less impressively than me. “No.”
I was not above singing again if it meant she gave me a piece of her mind. I craved it. Of all my addictions, that one was the one I’d never actually tasted. Had I not known the power of cravings, I’d have wondered just how you could be so desperate for something you’d never had.
“Go on, then,” I pushed. “Tell me what you really think of me. Or, I’ll–”
“Like some venereal disease, all right? You just show up where you’re not wanted like some venereal disease.” She stuck her face into her knees like that somehow had the power to erase what she’d just said.
But she’d done it. It might not have been the most impressive burn I’d ever been given, but it was a start. And a fucking cute start it was. And I’d brought it out in her. It was enough to make a guy like me laugh.
I then realised I was throwing around words like ‘cute’ and felt a little ill.
“Well, I feel honoured to be torn down by the girl who’s chosen to sit on the shore of a lake by herself instead of being seen at tonight’s it party.”
“So, now it’s a bad thing I don’t go to all the raging bonfires and get drunk every night?” she asked, looking at me askance.
I felt my eyebrow rise, wondering how that could ever be a bad thing. Guys like me went to raging bonfires and got drunk every night. Girls like her… Well, they went to the movies, and had dinners, and engaged inhealthyconversations about theirfeelings, or some bullshit. Girls like her were as tempting as they were because they lived a whole different life.
“On the contrary, I have a new-found respect for you now,” I told her honestly.
It was good to remind myself who she was and who I was. It kept the dirty fantasies from rearing their ugly heads and make me do something I knew I – who cared little enough about his own life to regret nearly nothing – would regret.
“Right, because that makes sense,” she muttered.
I could only chuckle as I distracted myself with another stone. “It’s just refreshing to know you’re not a complete popular dick.”
“This from the guy voted most likely to nail and bail,” she spluttered.
I gave her my most charming smirk. Her eyes widened slightly, then she blinked quickly. She liked it. My face. The things I could do to her with it. I’d seen it at the bonfire the night before. She liked what she saw. But she didn’t like liking it.
“That title was aptly awarded, true,” I said proudly, ignoring how much I also liked what I saw. This – she – was not a part of the mating ritual.
She scoffed. “I’m surprised you even know the word ‘apt’.”
The kitten was completely out of the bag now. I just had to hope she was never getting back in.
Another laugh escaped me, and I had to wonder what in the hell it was about her that made me so prone to it. “I’m not as stupid as I look, Barlow.”
“No, I imagine not. Very few people could actually be as stupid as you look.” She delivered the line with the utmost perfection, even if the look in her eyes said she was totally horrified with herself.
Fuck, but that made me hard. The idea that she was as helpless in her reaction to me as I was to her.
“Ouch,” I chuckled. “Kudos on the insult. But, I’d be more offended if I didn’t see the way you look at me.”
