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Almost a week had passed since he kissed me in the car after the party, and yet it dominated the better part of my thoughts, despite how badly I wanted to forget it. Even in my dreams, I couldn’t escape the feel of his lips and that yearning ache I felt inside every time I thought about him.
My gaze slid to my window where a sliver of sunlight filtered through my blinds, and I groaned, throwing myself back down onto my bed. Morning meant school, the bakery, and another day without Thorne. Apparently, he’d been on a media blitz all week, and the resulting communication had been rocky. We’d texted off and on, but not much else since our schedules conflicted. And though that shouldn’t bother me, it did more than I’d like to admit. Or maybe it was the way he spoke about me during these interviews that was getting to me. Either way, evenIwas starting to believe in us, which was nothing more than a one-way street to heartache.
Though I had to admit, there was an upside to our public relationship. It was working in ways I’d never imagined. In-between all of Thorne’s publicity stunts and interviews, the media had done a little digging, and I was being lauded as a hero for saving Cranky Lady’s life. Imagine that. The attorneys were thrilled.
On the downside, I’d been having to work every day after school at the bakery. Between all the coverage of my relationship with Thorne and my heroic acts, we were swamped with orders. Not only that, but our daily foot traffic had increased tenfold. Whether it was customers hoping to get a glimpse of Thorne or “America’s New Sweetheart,” my parents hired two new counter staff in the last week alone and were in talks about acquiring another baker, which was something I’d never thought I’d see. And though I was grateful for the press and the boom in business for my parent’s sake, I thought I’d cry if I had to ice another cupcake.
With a groan, I crawled over the top of my bed to the window where I grabbed the cord to my blinds, but not before I caught sight of something unusual.
I blinked, clearing the haze of sleep from my eyes, but the image remained. There, on the edge of our lawn, sat two men with cameras, and a rusted old van parked at the curb behind them.
My stomach dropped.
I’d spent enough time with Thorne over the past few weeks to know the paparazzi had found me. And they were camped out on my lawn.
The gym smelled like feet, and the overwhelming stench of the cologne the boy behind me wore did nothing to cover it up. I pulled the neck of my hoodie over my nose as I waved to Penelope and Topher from across the room. P smiled, and together, they cut across the freshly waxed floor to where I sat on the bleachers when a gaggle of cackling hens settled in beside me.
“Oh my gosh, the pictures of you and Thorne are all anyone can talk about,” Xia said with a flip of her dark hair.
“Yeah, I wish I had someone to fight for me like that. I mean, how romantic.” Gabby sighed as she settled in the open space on my other side, with Xia at my back.
“Uh . . . yeah,” I said because what else could I say? “You know, these seats are saved.” I motioned to the seats beside me when Penelope and Topher paused in front of me. “Hey guys,” I said through a tight-lipped smile. “So glad you could join me. Gabby and Xia were just leaching—I mean, leaving.”
Penelope bit her lip while Topher snickered.
“Oh, sure, sure.” Gabby stood. “Where is that beautiful boy of yours, anyway?” she asked, glancing around like Thorne might appear out of thin air.
“He’s on a press tour this week.”
“Ah, how exciting,” she said. “It’ll probably be weird for you when he leaves to resume filming, won’t it? Oh, you poor thing,” she said in a baby voice while she pouted. “But we can always hang anytime if you’re bored or feeling down.”
“We’re waiting,” Topher said, his tone impatient.
Gabby glanced up at him and Penelope, waiting to take their seats next to me. “Oh, right.” Then she slapped a hand over her thighs. “Anywho, we’ll let you get ready for the pep rally. Just thought we’d say, hey. Actually, how about a pic for the road?”
Before I could stop her, she whipped her phone out so fast it gave me whiplash. Then she squatted down beside me with Xia on her heels and smiled for the camera like we were BFFs and took the snapshot so fast, my head spun.
They stood and scurried off, leaving me disoriented and blinking up at my friends.
“What the hell?”
“You know that’s going to be on her Instagram in about five seconds, right?” Topher said as he sat down with Penelope, and I sighed.
“I guess that’s the price you pay when you’re dating a movie star,” P joked, wiggling her eyebrows.
I groaned. “Don’t remind me. I actually had paparazzi on my lawn this morning. How bizarre is that?”
“Seriously?” Penelope asked.
“Yep,” I said with a pop of my lips.
“What did you do?”
I shrugged. “Got in my car and barreled past them.”
“Does it bother you, all the attention? Your name being everywhere?”
I bit my lip, thinking about it. Dating Thorne and all that came with it should be weird. But somehow it wasn’t, because when I was with him, especially when it was just us, it felt normal. “I don’t know,” I said, conflicted.
