Pull (Seaside #2)(54)

Chapter Twenty-five


Alyssa


Two days. It had been two days since I’d seen Demetri. He’d stopped by the store once. And sadly, I’d watched him through the window when he sang his jingle. He looked like hell.

I wanted to hug him, to touch him; was he upset with me or something? He’d texted me a few times, but we hadn’t really hung out and it sucked. It made me realize a few things about myself.

First, I was pathetic. And second, I really liked him. I more than liked him. I couldn’t even sleep anymore because memories of him with me in bed kept flooding into my consciousness, making me toss and turn like crazy.

It was time. I needed to be bold; otherwise, I was going to lose him. At least I knew I couldn’t stand to lose him. I felt like I was making progress, and it was all because of Demetri that I was!

I even put away the yearbooks scattered in my room. I didn’t have the heart to throw away Brady’s sweatshirt, so I hid it in my closet.

But at least I wasn’t wearing it. See? Progress!

I smiled to myself and wiped down the counters. I only had another hour and then I was going to hunt that boy down and kiss him. I shivered just thinking about it.

“Someone’s happy today,” a familiar voice announced. I hadn’t even heard the bell jingle above the door. Sam walked in, hands in his jean pockets. Handsome just like his brother, only this time when I thought of it, it made me smile instead of cry.

“Need a taffy fix?” I grinned. He didn’t smile back. “Sam, what’s up? You need sugar that bad?”

“No.” He shuffled his feet and refused to look at me directly in the eyes. Geez, what was his deal?

“So, you’re here to stare at the ground? You know you can do that outside, right?”

This time his lips tilted upward into a smile. “You make things hard on a guy, Alyssa.”

I didn’t like the tone of his voice. “Well, I have been told I’m difficult.”

“More than difficult.” He pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper from his pocket and fidgeted with it. “I, um, I have something for you.”

“Aw, a poem, you shouldn’t have,” I teased.

“Alyssa.” He groaned and stuffed the note back into his pocket. “Never mind. This isn’t right. I’ll… I’ll see you later.” And just like that he bolted.

“Weird,” I said aloud. If I didn’t know better I’d think he was just about to pass me a note that said, Do you like me? If you do, circle yes. If you don’t, circle no. The guy was super nervous-looking.

Oh well. I didn’t have time to think about his reaction much, considering four customers walked in when he walked out.

An hour later I was walking along the beach. I had texted Demetri and told him to meet me there. I don’t know why I was nervous. I mean, we’d kissed before. Actually, we’d kissed more than a few times, and every time we did I could have sworn I heard music.

I smiled. I was smiling a lot more now. Maybe there was more to all that regret stuff.

“Hey, sweetheart.” Demetri’s familiar voice made my head snap to attention. He was standing right next to me. Fitted jeans hugged his hips. He had on chucks and a tight black t-shirt that said Shaken not stirred.

“Nice shirt.” I pointed.

He laughed. “Yeah, it was a birthday gift from Nat. Alec made me swear I would wear it at least once and take a picture for her. Apparently, she thought it was funny.”

“Why?”

“Long story, movie quote thing with Alec that led to me telling him I was like James Bond. You know what? It’s not even funny. Never mind.” He pulled me into a side hug and kissed my head. “So how are you?”

“Hmm.” I slowly stepped back.

His eyebrows darted up. “Is that your answer? Hmm?”

“No.” I grinned. “This is.” I grabbed his head and kissed him on the mouth before I could chicken out. I trailed my tongue across his lower lip; he opened his mouth and then wrapped his arms around me in response. Chills ran down my arms as his tongue danced with mine. Heat spread throughout my body when his hands began to slowly run down my back.

Someone whistled. I jerked away. I only meant to give him one tiny kiss, not maul him in public.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I sure feel better.” He grinned and kissed me one more time before grabbing my hand and walking with me down the boardwalk. “Now what’s on your mind?”

“You,” I answered honestly. “Are you okay?”

He stopped walking. Crap, why did his face look like I just confessed to stealing his puppy?

“Um, sure.” He scratched his head and looked away. “I just, I had some stuff going on with our agent. They still want to do the show even though Alec and I are avidly against it. They want to launch the show this fall and push our spring back, so we can record while we shoot. Something about hitting the teen market, to up ticket sales. I don’t know though.”

“You should do it.” I shrugged. “I mean, how bad could it be? People already follow you and take pictures. Plus, don’t reality shows only run for a few weeks?”

“How do you even know a reality show schedule?” He laughed.

“I know you think I live under a rock.” I pushed him in the side. “But, I’m not totally disconnected from the world.”