Kiss and Break Up (Magnolia Cove, #1)(3)

His bright whites held my attention. So much so, it took me too long to notice the smooth lips around them moving.

“I’m sorry, what?”

He chuckled. “I said, I just passed you outside, but you must not have seen me.”

“Oh, my bad.”

“I didn’t want to go all stalker on you, but …” He seemed to be flushing a little. “There’s a party this weekend at Wade’s house. Ah, so I just thought I’d see if you knew about it.”

I lowered my lashes, shifting. “I do now.”

“Right.” He ran a hand over his close-cropped hair, huffing out a laugh. “I guess what I meant to say is, it’d be pretty cool if I saw you there.”

My stomach dipped, and my hand grew clammy around the glossy cover of the magazine. He was asking me out? Maybe? I didn’t know. All I knew was that Byron was cute in that boy-next-door kind of way. Okay, cute was probably an understatement. He was tall, muscular in all kinds of lovely places thanks to being on the lacrosse team, and had deep brown hair and biting green eyes.

And, as far as I knew when school had let out, not single.

“Don’t you have a girlfriend?” I blurted, immediately cringing.

“Not anymore.” He eyed my phone, which was hanging precariously between my slippery fingers, as if he was contemplating asking for my number. “So I’ll see you Friday?”

All I could do was nod and watch him swagger outside to where his friend Danny was waiting.

Not anymore.

What did that even mean?

Panic mixed with excitement, and unable to pinpoint which one was winning, I fired off another text.



Me: Emergency meeting required. Meet me at my place tomorrow.





Peggy



“He and Kayla apparently broke up like two weeks ago after she was caught making out with some college guy at a party.” Willa took a sip of soda. “Pictures everywhere.” Setting her can down, she flipped some of her long, wavy brown hair over her shoulder and started fiddling with the box of lace.

Mom was at work, which was why I’d waited to hold this little gathering until today even though I’d been desperate.

It was hard enough to deal with Dash, who’d persistently said I was acting weird when I’d gotten home yesterday and logged on to play Blitz.

I’d brushed him off, but he wouldn’t be kept in the dark long.

The way he had to pry into every facet of my life infuriated me. Nothing was sacred. But when it came to him, he’d look at me like I was crazy if I ever dared to ask about what he was doing or who he’d slept with.

“That’s gotta suck.” I spun the glue gun around on the table, resting my chin on my fist.

Daphne was the only one of us actually scrapbooking. Today, she’d brought along some vintage stamps she’d purchased for a huge sum on eBay, and she was using them to make a border in the album she’d been working on.

Though she didn’t seem to care, Daphne was the most popular out of the three of us. Her green eyes glowed in a way that snatched anyone’s attention. Paired with her silky straight dark brown hair, she was damn near mesmerizing to look at. Her confidence was another striking quality. It was the ease in which she held herself and the way she didn’t care about anyone else’s opinions of her that drew me to her.

“I’m done with Kayla’s shit,” she said, a long finger smoothing over her page. “She’s the worst kind of bitch.”

“Does that mean you’ll sit with us at school now?” Willa asked.

Daphne’s brows furrowed, and she sat back in the dining chair. “I do sit with you.” When we said nothing, she looked at me. “Pegs?”

“Well,” I hemmed. “I mean … sometimes?”

Her lips pursed as she sat with that a moment. “As I said, done. So sometimes will now be all the time.”

Willa and I remained quiet.

It wasn’t that Daphne was ashamed to hang out with us. We weren’t exactly losers. It was that she’d befriended us over our mutual love for crafting early last year in art class, but she’d been with the it crowd all through high school. Elementary too.

“Back to Byron.” I shifted a little. “Was he asking me out?”

“He was so asking you out,” Willa said.

Daphne raked her hands through her hair. “He didn’t ask you out. It’s not a date, but he does want to hang with you. That, my friend, was the least formal, official way of asking you to.”

Willa and I glanced at one another, then I nodded. “And I should?”

Daphne made a sound of frustration. “Do you need a slap to the face?”

“Uh …”

She continued, “You’re freaking gorgeous. He wants you, just as a lot of guys at school probably secretly do. So quit acting like you’re so shocked.”

My tongue dried thanks to my mouth hanging wide open. “But, um, I am shocked.”

Willa’s eyes ping-ponged between us with her soda can poised at her lips.

Daphne’s expression smoothed, and her voice gentled. “Look, guys have always noticed you. Dash just doesn’t let them notice too long.”

“Dash?”

Willa coughed.

“Yes, dummy. He’s stamping out fires before they even start.” She paused, green eyes narrowing on me. “You so already know that.”